Buying Advice Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm

   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #1  

rclow

New member
Joined
Feb 4, 2010
Messages
2
Location
Lewis Center Ohio
Tractor
JD4520
I have just purchased a small hobby farm (50 acres) and have a question around what would be the best tractor to maintain the land.

I am looking at a 2005 4520 JD Tractor with 400 Loader, turbo and Turf Tires (185 hours) - listed price (Private Owner) is $20K. Is this a fair price?

Also, what would be the best attachements to purchase and what is the best method to move forward

Haying
sickle mower
square baler
rake

Yard
Finish mower attachment


Any other feedback on attachments would be welcome.

thanks for your time
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #2  
Don't know about the price for your area but the advice I have is Never buy a used baler !! From my experience over the years you want to buy that new...unless you really know the mechanics of them well. and welcome.
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #3  
What tasks do you see that will need to be done? Bush hogging rough terrain and grasses? Finish mowing of large lawns? Clearing land and cutting down trees or extensive limbing? Preparation of soil for planting by tilling or plowing? Moving hay bales or baling hay? Maintaining dirt or gravel roads? Planting seed or fertilizatrion? The list is endless depending on what the farm is like, what your interest is, and what needs to be done.

Secondly, what is the terrain? Muddy and unimproved or more like a golf course? Hilly or flat?

And what is your budget?
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #4  
first of all welcome to the forum,

I have a 2009 4520 with cab and a few attachments, and really like it. It would be helpful to know more about your terrain and uses as mentioned above. One thing you should know is that the new 4520s' have more power than the early ones.
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #5  
Go to the "My Home" section and fill out information like where you are, what you've got, lot size, etc. too. You can check out my information to see what I mean, and I think you'll find it applicable to the questions you're asking.

Pete
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Terrain - Small hills, Orchard Grass, very easy to navigate as pasture is mature (could drive small car throughout without any worries)

Main usage
- 40 Acres of Hay - would mow, rake, square bale
- 5 Acres grass - Would like to finish mow around pound, farm yard/barn area
- 1/2 mile gravel road to farm yard - would like to maintain / blade
- approx 2 acre garden area - basically work ground prior to planting garden
- 8 acres of wood - some wood cutting etc


Are the turf tires a good thing or bad thing for this type of operation?


My budget is somewhat flexible, but would like to purchase tractor and all attachements for less than $30K
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #7  
My thought would be to buy Ag (R1) tires, frankly. Your tasks are genuine farm work and any tractor you buy to deal with hay is going to be too darn big to be your lawn mower, that is, fine house lawn, as well.

Pick up a small riding lawn mower or Zero turn for that.
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #8  
With what you have in mind I think a 4520 will work well, good size for what you are doing. I would definately buy a 4520 cab for that. Since your place is open and you want to do hay work a cab is the way to go. All this equipment and implements adds up rather quickly though so your budget is too low to buy a tractor with fel and hay equipment. I have built my equipment up a piece at a time, for the most part trying to buy it once and buy it right. You should be able to purchase a 4520 with cab and extras (without a fel) for about $34,000 new this would be a 60 hp tractor with 50 pto hp. Trading up later after you realize you want a cab is costly, and there are alot of threads on TBN with people doing just that. So I urge you to give that some time and consideration before you decide.
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #9  
I would question the turf tires for haying. A tractor that size is pretty heavy for finish mowing. You will also need remote hydraulics for the hay work.

MarkV
 
   / Advice on purchasing new JD 4520 tractor and needed attachments - 50 acre hobby farm #10  
Can it be done? Yes. But. You are going to wear out that little tractor pretty quickly trying to do much hay with it. Yes, I know that in the old days we did hay with small tractors. Engines were different and there were a lot of kids to pickup bales. With a sickle mower you can cut with very little horse power, doesn't take much for raking either, baling needs 35 hp (maybe you can do it with less but balers are hard on tractors). Now, how are you going to get the bales out of the field and stacked? If you're old enough to buy a "hobby farm", you should be wise enough to buy the proper equipment to do what you want to do. The cheapest thing you can buy is the land....don't try to do the equipment cheap.....Unless you want to be a "hobby mechanic" also.
 
 
Top