Vas
Beautiful property. I've been working on a similar type of project (restoring an old New England village-that I now call my "farm). I've had several sizes of tractors over the years and am in the process of selling my TN75D with only 198 hours because it is too big for this type of work and makes too much of a mess. I also have a 2120 (equilavent to current New Holland TC 48/TC55 frame size that I have been using since 1987. 2 years ago I purchased a "old" 1986 Hitachi UH083LC 44,000 excavator. What a difference... on an excavator you can really get some serious work done in a short period of time. I am selling the TN to get a 8,000 class compact excavator (on rubber tracks with a 6 foot dozer blade)... Kubota 91 or Hew Holland 35B (made by Kobelco and Yanmar powered) I ran the New Holland the other night for a couple of hours on the dealer lot adn was I impressed. With the compact excavator, I think I will be able to get done what I can't with all my other machines combined. All for less than $40,000. Many smaller models available. NO problem at altitude or on slopes. BTW, diesels are routinely recalbrated to run at altitude. Turbo will help, but normally aspirated ones can be made to run. And do not be fooled by 3% power loss. You probably never notice it. Years ago when I was designing consumer electronic equipment, people were all hung up on power. Many people do not realize that a 3dB loss in sound pressure level ( a level change detectable by most peole as a loss in volume) is infact half power. If you look at a dyno while a diesel is working during a normal day, you would suprised to see how little power is being called for. Certain types of usage are not included (like brush hogging, and wood chipping -even those uses are not where near steady full power) Ground engaging equipment, especially draft equipment can require heavy power)
Good luck in you decision, mine would be 1) compact excavator, 2) tracked skidsteer, 3) nontracke skidsteer, 4) Power Track, 5) Compact Tractor 4WD- forget the power, the issues I see are stabuility and more important just the ability to get the machine to where you want to work. If I wasto choose a compact tractor, Iwould give serious consideration to a Kubota L39 or one of Kubotas smaller TLB's
Good luck with your decision.
Andy