Just got my 80 acres -- now what?

[Ken45101]

That was my thought. If you are going to have horses why don't you rotate them through different pastures?

Horses eat clover and fresh grass. You have to mow the weeds or they will eventually take over. Horses don't even like mature grass very much.

Ken

 

[Soundguy]

or blacktops.. ot stickers. they will ead a wide path around it.. and then it will spread.. after a while you have huge patches of weeds in your pasture.. after enough time.. you have a field of weeds with patches of grass..

 

[Tororider]

Add a couple goats to the horses and no mowing?

 

[Ken45101]

Add a couple goats to the horses and no mowing?

Then you need to vastly improve the fencing and provide protection for the goats (such as adding a mule or llama to protect the goats) I think mowing is a more simple solution. YMMV.

Ken

 

[dmccarty]

OP, pay attention to The Pasture Talk on this thread. I really do think this is going to drive your tractor buying decision. You need to decide what they heck you are going to do with that pasture.

My land is almost all woods and my JD4700 is just the right size of my use. If I had pasture to deal maintain the tractor might not be the right size.

I don't know much about pastures but I have read a bit for curiosity sake and something a cattle rancher said stuck with me. She said if you are raising cattle you really have to grow good grass for the cattle. She really focused on growing good grass. There is a nearby farm with a herd of cattle. The owners are elderly and I don't know who is taking care of the place but it is in really bad shape. I have watched the pasture quality go from pretty danged good to a weed infested mess over the last decade. In the last year or two the weeds really kicked in and much of the good grass is gone. I drive buy a couple of horse farms and the horses are keeping the grass sort short but the weeds are taking over and you can see what the horses are eating and what they avoid.

If you want to raise cattle and/or horses on the place, it is likely your tractor requirements are going to be different compared to a tractor that is just used to mow that open land.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Double post for some reason.....

Can't delete either.

Oh Well, gotta do something to catch up to Bird's post count. :laughing:

 

[Phast12]

We have 50 acres with Horses other animals and Hay. We have a 65 hp tractor that is perfect for doing hay, mowing etc...(i wouldn't go any smaller) We have a quad with a trailer to do the smaller tasks. That combination is pretty close to perfect for getting almost everything done. I would say if you are going to put horses or other animals in pastures in the next couple of years and they are not already set up for them (proper forage) begin that process now. It takes a couple of years for grasses to really setup. That along with proper pasture management (rotating the animals on several pastures, treating the fields with fertilizer and weed control) will make your life so much easier.

 

[GentleMFer]

Hi everyone - thanks for all the great advice. Despite some of the advice to the contrary, we are considering a tractor now as we can pull the money out of the sale of our current place and we're a bit concerned with the upcoming Saskatchewan winter season. Like a lot of people we're now stretching to get into this place so we don't exactly feel flush with money and the mortgage has ballooned to a healthy enough size. If I was good with a wrench I'd possibly consider something used but I am also surprised how much people want for used tractors. Right now my head is more with a compact utility at about 35hp. I'd like some confidence I can push some snow around and I can handle feed and grab some wood if I need to. We can swallow 20k for a tractor to go with the place but I think any more is pushing it for us at this point. Most people I talk to don't think the time or the economics line up to get the equipment to do my own hay and/or manage the pasture (at least with larger scale equipment). My wife's new pastime is looking at horse classifieds though. I had started at 15k at the small end of the spectrum, talked myself up to 20, then started looking at cabs around 30. Now I'm back to 15k talking myself back to the 20k mark . I'll probably post to the tractor buying forum for more advice on that front. For me the tractor is about not getting snowed in and getting to my job when I need to. Beyond that it's about feed and possibly moving a round bale if need be and hey -- I'm the one who gave in on the acreage so I should also get a toy that goes with. Our minivan and Prius are probably not the best vehicles to get us through snow either. We will have a couple of quads and trucks available to us but I don't feel very confident in using them to move snow around. Thanks again for all your thoughts and well wishes. I looked at a user's posts the other day and it was neat to follow the journey of a person as they figure out this lifestyle and post questions and get answers. Thanks again.

 

[Soundguy]

good luck.

lots of options.

let us know what you find

 

[dmccarty]

To move around snow and wood the 35 HP tractor I think is good enough but I suspect you will really want a snow blower so you need to check the specs on those attachments. My tractor is 48 engine HP and I have put in close to a thousand feet of gravel driveway with the JD. Moving snow would not be a problem and I think my JD has enough PTO HP to blow snow but that is not something I researched.

You WILL want a MFD tractor. Front wheel drive makes a huge difference when moving heaving loads with the FEL as well as using attachments like a box blade.

For haying, I would guess you would need more tractor. There are quite a few threads on TBN about tractor specs for haying. You need to consider how much land you would be cutting and then the size of the bales you will produce. There is much more to haying than growing some green stuff in the field.

Later,
Dan