New Kid on the Block

   / New Kid on the Block #1  

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I am 31 yrs old - just bought 20 acres in Chelsea, AL. Building a "Morton" Horse Barn and will eventually have 2 or 3 horses. Need tractor to MAINTAIN partially wooded (seeded for grass) and pasture land on my little ponderosa. My wife is the horse lover and my two boys (3yrs and 4yrs)will probably want lots of rides on the tractor. What advice I could get from EXPERIENCED tractors folks would be greatly appreciated.
dp
 
   / New Kid on the Block #2  
dfpainter, Welcome to the group. But for us to give you a sensible answer to your question as to which tractor, you'll have to give us more information about exactly what you expect to do with it (and of course after you get one, you'll find a lot of other things to do with it that you didn't think of before buying). Obviously you intend to do some mowing (need a brush hog). Do you intend to mow a yard or lawn also with it? If so, may want a finish mower. Are you going to be cleaning out and moving horse manure, or moving dirt (need a front end loader - nearly everyone needs one of those)? Have you ever used a tractor? Will you be leveling or spreading dirt or gravel or grading a driveway (need a box blade maybe). I think most of us want a hydrostatic transmission and power steering. Three and four year old boys want tractor rides? Every tractor I know of (unless it's the big cab tractors) warn you not to take any passengers; too dangerous. They just have one seat for one person. And of course, probably most of us have taken our kids or grandkids for rides on them; just be very careful!

As a very general answer, for 20 acres, I'd suggest you start looking at 25 to 40hp tractors, and go to the dealers and try out different ones to see which one suits you best. I'm partial to Kubotas; now have my second one, but I think you ought to at least look at the big 3; Kubota, John Deere, and New Holland.

Good luck and happy ranching./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird
 
   / New Kid on the Block #3  
JD,
I have 40 acres in Jemison. I have a John Deere5210 (53hp) with a front end loader. I do not have the PowerReverser transmission. That's one thing I wish I had because I use my loader a lot. I wanted 4wheel drive too but just could not afford it. I started to get a 4600 with 4wd and HST but went to the 5210 for more hp. You will get a lot of use out of a front end loader. Where have you been tractor shopping? I bought mine at Tracator and Turf in Bessemer. I starated to buy a Kubota from Cahaba Tractor in Pelham but finally decided on the JD. I am fairly new tracator owner but if I can help send me an email. I am trying to decide on a barn also. What is a "Morton" barn? I have not seen any info on them. Have you looked at the BarnMaster barns. A friend of mine in Helena has a nice one by BarnMaster. It is all steel, inside and out. It is about 36 x 44. I think he paid about $30k for it. I want a 40 x 60 with a loft and a 14 ft. lean to each side. It will be used for tractor and equipment storage and storing other stuff. No animals. Also, I plan to finish out a living space in it.
 
   / New Kid on the Block #4  
Morton buildings:

<url>http://mortonbuildings.com/</url>
 
   / New Kid on the Block #5  
Hi,

I'm a new owner of a Kubota B2910, but I would also recommend you look at all the offerings by NH, Deere and Kubota. I chose Kubota because I felt comfortable with my local dealer, my own research and recommendations of this group. "Tractorbynet" is a phenomenal resource and I suggest you do a lot of surfing over it's posts. You won't be disappointed.

My biggest comment regarding you post has to deal with your two boys wanting tractor rides. Of course they will. You, as a responsible owner, must tell them NO!!! These are not toys, can be very prone to tipping, are very heavy and in some cases can kill in moments. The standard ROPS and seatbelt will protect the driver only. In the event of a rollover and without a seatbelt, any passengers very likely would be crushed by the ROPS or the weight of the tractor. The closest I would come to giving tractor rides is to pull a wagon with the tractor and let the kids ride in that.

If you had a small lawn tractor, which has a much lower center of gravity (and they only weigh about 600 lbs. or so) you might give a ride on that. However, tractors in the class you most likely will be buying are very power tools, and NOT for play.

There are go-carts and things available with roll-bar protection, 2-seats, seat belts, etc. that would be a much better choice for a couple of growing boys. (In a couple of years, of course.)

I don't mean to "dampen" your enthusiasm about a new tractor and I hope I don't, but I do feel very strongly about safety, and these tractors are not toys. (Really, they're not, although we do have a lot of fun with them.)

Good Luck in your search, and please feel free to post any questions you might have on this group.

~Rick
 
   / New Kid on the Block
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Thanks for the info.......I would never.......ride them on anything bigger than the craftsman lawn tractor that I have....my first post was intended to UNCOVER which RESPONSIBLE owners that I wanted to listen to and take advice from.........you seem to be one of those. The Kubota is my first choice......but I will look at others. Thanks for your response and I may be in touch later.\
dp
 
   / New Kid on the Block
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Morton Barns:

mortonbuildings.com

I took one of their "PLANS" and customized it to get exactly what I wanted. I think the barn you mentioned would be a good one, however, after looking at all and I mean ALL of the choices, we decided on the MORTON because of warranties (look at the DETAILS) and we had a lot of happy MORTON owners that we spoke to. They are going to start mine tomorrow 7/11 and you can ask what I think of the construction process in a few days. Thanks for your info.
 
   / New Kid on the Block #8  
DF, A little off topic but a word to the wise is in order about MORTON buildings. I was accepting bids for a 2,000 sq ft barn-utility bldg not long ago and had accumulated about 8 bids from various established barn builders and when I got the bid from Morton, it was twice as high, for all of the same spec's as the rest of the people bid on. When I complained, all of a sudden they dropped their price down to what everyone else was submitting. Sort of makes me wonder about integrity on their part. I didn't let them build my building because of that. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Sam

"I love the smell of diesel in the morning."
 
   / New Kid on the Block #9  
dfpainter,I'll be 30 this friday...(get to spend the day at the dentist /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif)I currently live THE NEW CITY OF CLAY..but am moving to Blount moutain to 8.8 acers...Just above springville...I have been looking at the B2400 and the NH TC21D (JIMB has a TC 18)(Jims been such a helpfull fellow I just had to plug him his blue is so out #'d)/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I 've also been looking at the Jd 4100 but JD is quite proud of there equipment...For 20 acres you may need some thing a little bigger. These fellows out here are a better judge on that. Since I haven't bought my first tractor yet...I will be mostly mowing so I don't need a haws...I or rather the wife wants horses so I told her if I have to shovel it will be with a loader or not at all....Any way I have been to the JD in Bessemer as well, they have a nice selection and have been helpfull in answering questions,also been to Cahaba tractor they have both Kubota and New holland and have been helpfull as well...If you want a place with plenty of room to test drive the JD in Bessemer has plenty of room as for Kabota there is a dealer in Talladega on hwy 21 with a nice big lot thats friendly...Cahaba tractor has lots of different tractors but its kinda tight..I work for a comminications co. located in Pelham.I travel most of the state and stop as often as i can to talkto dealers..Still this group as been more helpfull to me than any other source (thanks again to all) If I can help with dealer locations or direction shoot me an e-mail...If you have ms word and a good connection I can probaly send you a map if your not familiar with a particular area...Good luck let me know what you get....I'd like to know what made up your mind about a particular tractor...

Lil' Paul

Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
 
 
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