Another help pick a tractor thread

[eskimo]

Hi everyone im new to this forum and im looking for a little advice.
My family and i recently purchased some land in vermont and i need help selecting a tractor. I have worked on a farm for a little while but the tractors i used there were for plowing and moving produce around. So i dont really know much about the type of tractor that i will need as a general work horse.

The land is 30 acres which most was clear cut by a previous owner who ran out of hay for his 300 goats and fed them using the felled trees. That left us with a bunch of rotting stumps and fallen logs. Most of the logs with be cut up and shredded and used for compost. Most of the stumps I would like to pull and have the areas immediately planted with other things. We also will be composting a lot of other material and plan to have at least one compost windrow going at a time so we will need a FEL to turn the compost. We also have 5 feet of goat bedding in the barn we need to clear out.
On a good amount of the property we are planning to build swales on contour so a backhoe will be needed. We also plan on building a root cellar and a few smaller foundations and potentially a septic system for a new building. A digging depth of 10' would be ideal i think but am up for suggestions. The property is on a slope. Some parts are pretty steep others are almost flat and we will need to haul things up it since our buildings are at the top of the hill. I attached a picture of one of the slopes with stumps sticking out. This is pretty much the steepest part that the tractor will see. We also will probably need to build some paths and level them out. I dont know if it that requires alot more horse power than the other things and if so we could rent or borrow something bigger to get it done. We plan on renting/buying a excavator to build some larger ponds on the property in the next few years then selling it when we are done with it.
Most of the property will be planted with new trees and perennial vegetable and fruit plants and the rest will be mowed with our handy scythe, and anything that is tilled will be with our walk behind.

Sorry for writing such a block of text but i wanted to try to get as much information in this first post. Hopefully you guys have some advice for me. And i can answer any follow up questions to help narrow down what i will need to do.

 

[Soundguy]

my advice.. if you have alot of stumps, and you will want to be using that ground area for crops, is to have heavy equipment come in.. IE.. a dozer or excavator.. dig the stumps out.. then have the dozer or loader run atound with a root rake.. otherwise plowing an area with lots of old roots will make you miserable.

after that.. 30ac? probably get by with a cut sized tractor.. all depends on how much mowing.. and / or other tasks you wil be doing. perhaps say 40ishhp and a loader.. etc.

soundguy

 

[eskimo]

We wont be tilling the land with this tractor. If there is a big section of land that we want to do for the berries we would borrow/rent one. We also will have most of the lawn being cut by a few goats and chickens. In spots that they dont get to we will be doing it the old fashion way with a scythe.

How much of a difference will be between a 30-35 horse backhoe/loader's abilities vs a 40-45? We would like something that is relatively nimble to get around in but also can do a good amount of work.

 

[chamjoe]

I would rent or have someone pull up the stumps for you with a big loader. In the long run it would be money saved and easy work for 80+hp loader which you would never use again in your farm.

It sounds like your day to day operations could be easily be done with something in the 30-35hp range with a loader. A backoe could build your swails but again that sounds like a one time use thing so I would consider renting instead of purchasing espically since a big BH will be there to dig your pond for you have them do the big work and you can refine it with a smaller loader.

You mentioned planting new trees if you plan on doing any sort of tree farm that will take some serious weight and may take a big tractor. But i'm assuming you are just trying to rebuild what the old guy knocked down.

 

[eskimo]

I think your guys are right about all the stumps. They are not a hug priority in 95% of the areas they are still in. Most of those areas will be replanted with new trees so the old roots wont be such a problem and in other places our grazers will be doing most of the work so we wont have to worry about hitting them with the tractor. We are mostly replanted to build back the woods that use to be there and eventually have a nice supply of maple syrup. One section will be coppiced but it will be at the top of the hill and im not to worried about have to make lots of smaller trips for the very limited amount of time we will be having to haul wood.

I still think we want to have the back hoe attachment. What are the normal digging depths for the tractors in the 30-35 horse range? Does it make a big difference when you go to 40-45?

I have begun to calculate how much we can spend on this tractor. And since it will be a business expense and not just me having a toy im willing to spend a bit more for better uptime. We can manage around 5-9000 for a down payment and then finance the rest from around 15-25k depending on what we find.

 

[Soundguy]

hit a few dealers and see if you can demo some of the hoes they offer.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

If you require the 10 foot digging depth it may be best to go to an industrial back hoe or work the excavator in for those jobs.

It would almost appear you need two tractors. One for initial preparation and the other for maintenance?

 

[eskimo]

Through my girlfriends dad we will now be getting a big excavator for a year or two starting this summer. I now have to think of a tractor that would be good for our general use stuff.

 

[whistlepig]

If you want to greatly shorten your life span you can take a chain saw, shovel, mattock, spud bar, chain, and a tractor and dig up and pull these stumps. I did this with about 50 Black Locust stumps years ago. Took all summer. Do yourself a favor and rent an excavator.

 

[xrjohndeere]

With that many stumps and the size of your pasture I would rent a dozer or highlift and push all of them out, dig a big hole at the bottom, push them in, burn and bury the rest. You can buy a nice small used dozer in the 10-$12000 range, do all your work and sell it when you are done. And then buy your tractor for every day use. I would take the stumps out, they will haunt you if you leave them there. Plant your trees far enough apart and in rows where you can brushhog easily around them. As far as a good tractor goes with backhoe in your price range you are probably looking at used. Kubota, Johndeere, etc. They are all good machines just find one that has been taken care of and have a tractor mechanic look it over if you don't know alot about mechanics. I have the JD 4520 and I really like it. I think if I was you I would stay in the 35-50 hp range and in the CUT series. Too small and you really limit what you can do. Good Luck.: