40-55hp CUT or Utility Tractor for 20 acre horse farm in Michigan

[Oleozz]

My closest Kioti dealer is 40 miles away and the one I purchased my 45 from is 180 miles away. Hard to beat their 4 yr warranty.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Do you plan on using your tractor in any tight spaces, such as in the horse barn to clean out manure?
Bob

 

[Z-Michigan]

Do you plan on using your tractor in any tight spaces, such as in the horse barn to clean out manure?
Bob

Not really. The stall doors for each horse stall are only about 4' wide, too narrow for anything we could use otherwise. The main doors to the barn are at least 10' tall and wide, so we can get the tractor into the rest of the barn no problem.

 

[LoneCowboy]

As far as using the chain drag, how big a drag do you pull with how big an ATV? Might be a good option for us to consider. I should have mentioned that we have a 20hp "lawn tractor" with 42" mower that will be used for finish mowing around the house and possibly along the driveway. We could use that for pulling the drag if the drag isn't too big for its power. On the other hand, I would prefer not to routinely drag the area between our equipment storage and pastures, and having the drag on a 3ph seems like a good way to avoid this.

I pull a 6' (6' wide x6' long) chain harrow with my ATV and it pulls great. It would easily pull an 8', even in hte most aggressive position, and that's with a Honda 500, a bigger one would do even more.
I've tried the lawn tractor thing (20hp riding lawn mower)
No chance, bogs down all the time and I'm sure I took big life off the transmission of it. i would learn from my mistakes and not do that.

Also, which NH do you have and what do you like/dislike about it vs. Kubota and JD?

Currently I own a Massey and we are real close to adding another tractor, and we're going bigger. (boy is my accountant going to be pissed) so, No NH yet, but really really close.
Spent a lot of time looking at that 70hp range of both green, blue and orange.
The NH has the best layout of the cab (not enclosed, can't afford that. ) best layout of the hands to the controls. Lots of space (i'm a big guy, both tall and ummm wide). Been looking real real hard at the TN75. Now part of it is that the Kubota/Nh dealer is way better than the JD dealer, so that matter.
The Kubota is nice, it's just not quite as well laid out and definately not as big in the cab area. It's also physically a bigger machine for the same HP. Not necessarily good, I'd like the tractor to be as small as possible. The TN is the same width as my Massey (compact, 1400 series) and 3' longer so ti's not huge, but it's dramatically stronger. 3pt lift weight of like 4000lbs, huge difference.

JD's are nice and WAY OVERPRICED, just can't do it. My neighbor has a 55hp compact JD, brand new two years ago and it was like 33,000 dollars, that's almost double what I paid for my Massey and almost as much as the TN75. And it has those plastic fenders, that just kills me, them suckers are going to break. It's a tractor, who cares about losing some weight?

Anyway, I don't think you could go wrong with any of those 3, but sit in them all and see what fits you best, comes to hand best, etc. My wife drives the tractor a lot, so her opinion mattered a lot. (plus, if you got a utility tractor, you could put a 8' or 10' Bush hog on it, and rip those 20 acres).

Oh, good thought on the broadcast seeder, I use mine a lot (and get good money for it), they only cost like $700 bucks. Total PITA to hook up though. (as bad as a PHD)

 

[schmism]

I really belive you get more tractor in a blue paint than orange for roughly the same $$'s. (perhaps a few more $$ but worth it IMO) But i could be bias

I have little experience on a larger cat 1 CUT ie TC45/55 but i always got the impresson (from what ive seen on the boards) that "real" tractor work like you need should be left to the TN series (new holland) and up. Not to say that the TC45/55 wont do a lot of the same. just more of a "lightweight"
(stole from the NH website)

<-- TN series

( a used TN70/75 with less than 700 hrs ~5 year old, 4wd, loader, no cab is in the 25K range)

Ive alwasy thought an operation like yours would benfit from more than one unit. a small CUT or even a SCUT for the small chores around the barn/house and a larger ag tractor for feild work. But because of budgetary concerns usually the AG has to be used to make that happen for the same $$ as a single larger CUT that can "sorta" pull double duty.

 

[BBB]

Z, The other guys know a lot more about tractors then I do, but I can comment on the finish mower. When I bought my tractor it came with a 6' finish mower. I had to clear and maintain 3 acres. The 1st few times I cut it I held the mower about 8" off the ground and made two passes. By the third cutting I let the mower rest on the ground and the 3 acres of overgrown pasture started to look like a lawn. Only problem I ever had was I jammed a 1X4 between the blades and the housing and burned up a belt. BTW my tractor is only 21 HP.

 

[flusher]

I am planning on R4 tires with any of these and am still debating getting them filled. I would prefer not to fill them, to minimize lawn damage when mowing or doing miscellaneous FEL chores. When doing heavy FEL work (rocks or bales) I would plan to use a heavy weight on 3PH (either the box blade or possibly a ballast box loaded to 1000lbs).

!

Impressive post. But I would advise you to do a little more thinking about your tractor needs.

For example, I don't think you want to run any type of 40+hp tractor on your lawn areas. You minimize lawn damage by using small, lightweight equipment. Kubota has many small CUTs for that type of work.

You're probably better off with two tractors. One under 30hp and one in the 50-60hp range. My recommendation is a new 30-40hp CUT with FEL and mid mounted mower and a pre-owned utility tractor the 50-60 hp range for field work.

 

[Agro-oti]

Z-man,been some good ideas,as always around here. Things I'd like to add areefinately look at Kioti the DK45S would work for you. Also another often overlooked choice is the Deutz-Fahr AgroKid series of tractors. They are more a utility tractor in a smaller size really than a true compact tractor. DEUTZ-FAHR - Range Agrokid 35-55 To find your closest D-F dealer DEUTZ FAHR

 

[NoMo]

Well, I'll be the odd man out. It's easy to spend other people's money, but I still like to be practical. I don't think you need over 40HP unless you're really determined to bale your own hay.

I've got 20 acres- 10 in hay and 10 "pasture". The hay is cut & baled on "halves" with a local rancher. IMO, that's the only way to go. No need for me to have expensive equipment for such a small plot and no worries about maintenance, taxes and the other headaches that come with that equipment plus having it sit mostly un-used during the year.

In the meantime, I'm using my little CUT to renovate the 'pasture' to get it into hay production. I run unloaded R4s to cut down on soil compaction and have no problems pulling a 6' cutter. Obviously the tractor will pull a harrow and it can handle round bales with no problems- just have to go slow.

Of course you know there are blades (box, straight, etc) for CUTs as well as post hole diggers, so those aren't an issue either.

While I have the brand you don't really prefer, the rancher who bales my place does all of your tasks plus a whole lot more with a TC35.

As always, you should buy what you want- it's your money!

 

[Fredex]

I'll agree with the majority; go utility. It will handle those large round bales with more safety and stability. And get the rear tires loaded for the same reason.
For another brand option, check out the Mahindra machines if you have a nearby dealer. Either the 5500 or 6000 (45 & 50 pto hp) should do nicely. Don't really need 50 hp at pto for 6' mower, but you may want to get a bigger mower eventually. Both those machines are essentially the same dimensions; 6000 just has more hp and one size wider tires.
Fred