SHatFT
New member
Like many others that post for the first time I have been browsing around this site and a couple others for quite some time trying to figure out what I need to buy and hoping that I will have a reason to do so. Well, this past Friday my wife and I started the loan process on the reason I feel I will need a tractor.
We are buying a home and roughly 22 acres of mostly flat land. The primary use for the tractor will be mowing at least two acres of yard that is already established and if we close on Oct. 2nd as planned I figure that I will need to settle on something pretty quickly so I can get the last couple of mowings of the season in without using a push mower.
These are the reasons I am considering buying a tractor instead of a mower:
1. The finish grade (partially hard-packed clay) directly against the home we are buying was never graded properly. A good portion of it drains toward the house instead of away. I know I could fix this with a tractor, but with what implements? FEL w/toothbar and box blade?
2. Large portions of the yard were once garden and are very rough with some very sizeable ruts (some a few inches or more). Again...FEL and box blade? I am leaning toward the 60" MMM since I will have two acres to mow soon and know that more will be in the making.
3. I know at some point we will be clearing (just scrub brush) more of the land underneath some huge old-growth trees for additional yard, approximately another acre, making three acres of yard. The brush in this area is nothing that couldn't be knocked down with a brush hog (with a neighboring farmer's help) and then maintained with a MMM.
4. There is an old tobacco patch and barn seat (another 3 to 4 acres) that I willl want to have brush hogged and then keep knocked down until I am able to put in a rifle/pistol/driving range. I am planning to have a linear burm backstop for the rifle range, but I plan for it to extend into a circular burm at one end or another for a pistol range. The pistol range burm would need to be as tall a I could possibly make it due to the IDPA style practice I will be doing. I know I would have to have material hauled-in to build the berms, I'm just wondering if this task wouldn't be too big the size tractors I am considering. This land takes the total amount of regulary mowed ground to 6 or 7 acres eventually.
5. My wife and I want a vegetable garden. I know the tractor will come in handy for tilling, etc., but I would probably just rent or borrow a tiller since it would not be needed as often as the other implements.
6. The home we are buying is my wife's grandmother's and is surrounded by her plantings from over half her life and they mean the world to my wife. There is a lot of landscaping in my future.
7. I know I will find numerous uses for the tractor especially w/FEL on 22 acres of land.
Now, the sales guy at my local dealer keeps pushing me to get a BX2360 w/FEL and MMM. He keeps trying to convince me that it is all I will need. I haven't visited any other dealers, just called around for pricing. I'm concerned that the 2360 may not have enough hindend or reach to do some of the things I plan to do. Considering this I have also priced the BX2660 w/FEL and MMM and the B7800 w/MMM only for the time being and here are the results (all prices without tax, withouth a box blade, and without mention of a toothbar for FEL):
BX2360 w/FEL & 60" MMM = $13,300 to $13,500
BX2660 w/FEL & 60" MMM = $14,350 to $15,000
B7800 w/60" MMM only = $13,800 to $14,500 (I would buy FEL once we move and sell the place we are currently living to keep payments down)
So, now that I have written a novel that most likely put some of you to sleep or just made you skip on to something else, do you have any advice regarding which tractor I need? Also, my local dealer told me that I will not have to pay sales tax and as long as we own more than 10 acres we will not have to worry about property tax on the tractor either. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks in advance for any advice.
We are buying a home and roughly 22 acres of mostly flat land. The primary use for the tractor will be mowing at least two acres of yard that is already established and if we close on Oct. 2nd as planned I figure that I will need to settle on something pretty quickly so I can get the last couple of mowings of the season in without using a push mower.
These are the reasons I am considering buying a tractor instead of a mower:
1. The finish grade (partially hard-packed clay) directly against the home we are buying was never graded properly. A good portion of it drains toward the house instead of away. I know I could fix this with a tractor, but with what implements? FEL w/toothbar and box blade?
2. Large portions of the yard were once garden and are very rough with some very sizeable ruts (some a few inches or more). Again...FEL and box blade? I am leaning toward the 60" MMM since I will have two acres to mow soon and know that more will be in the making.
3. I know at some point we will be clearing (just scrub brush) more of the land underneath some huge old-growth trees for additional yard, approximately another acre, making three acres of yard. The brush in this area is nothing that couldn't be knocked down with a brush hog (with a neighboring farmer's help) and then maintained with a MMM.
4. There is an old tobacco patch and barn seat (another 3 to 4 acres) that I willl want to have brush hogged and then keep knocked down until I am able to put in a rifle/pistol/driving range. I am planning to have a linear burm backstop for the rifle range, but I plan for it to extend into a circular burm at one end or another for a pistol range. The pistol range burm would need to be as tall a I could possibly make it due to the IDPA style practice I will be doing. I know I would have to have material hauled-in to build the berms, I'm just wondering if this task wouldn't be too big the size tractors I am considering. This land takes the total amount of regulary mowed ground to 6 or 7 acres eventually.
5. My wife and I want a vegetable garden. I know the tractor will come in handy for tilling, etc., but I would probably just rent or borrow a tiller since it would not be needed as often as the other implements.
6. The home we are buying is my wife's grandmother's and is surrounded by her plantings from over half her life and they mean the world to my wife. There is a lot of landscaping in my future.
7. I know I will find numerous uses for the tractor especially w/FEL on 22 acres of land.
Now, the sales guy at my local dealer keeps pushing me to get a BX2360 w/FEL and MMM. He keeps trying to convince me that it is all I will need. I haven't visited any other dealers, just called around for pricing. I'm concerned that the 2360 may not have enough hindend or reach to do some of the things I plan to do. Considering this I have also priced the BX2660 w/FEL and MMM and the B7800 w/MMM only for the time being and here are the results (all prices without tax, withouth a box blade, and without mention of a toothbar for FEL):
BX2360 w/FEL & 60" MMM = $13,300 to $13,500
BX2660 w/FEL & 60" MMM = $14,350 to $15,000
B7800 w/60" MMM only = $13,800 to $14,500 (I would buy FEL once we move and sell the place we are currently living to keep payments down)
So, now that I have written a novel that most likely put some of you to sleep or just made you skip on to something else, do you have any advice regarding which tractor I need? Also, my local dealer told me that I will not have to pay sales tax and as long as we own more than 10 acres we will not have to worry about property tax on the tractor either. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks in advance for any advice.
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