Buying Advice Calling Tractor Gurus!!!

[marxman]

Hi Everyone,

As with many other people on this forum I''m looking for some advice in buying a tractor. I have just purchased a house on 14 acres of land. 1.5 acres is "lawn" surrounding the house, currently I have a craftsman lawn tractor which may be able to tackle this area at first.

Outside of this area is a barn that used to house horses and goats, an over grown pasture which is fenced in. This area has tree growth but is accessible. I plan on keeping goats, sheep, llamas... some form of small farm animals. There as also a driveway about 200-300 feet of dirt road.

My primary needs for a tractor are:

1) snow removal - I live in New England.
2) brush cutting - in the areas out side of the lawn, there is an old overgrown cart path that I wish to reclaim and use
3) finish mowing - possibly... if the craftsman can't handle it
4) moving rocks - opening parts of an old rock wall
5) driveway / cart path grading
6) other tasks that you do on a small "hobby" farm

I have been looking at whether to get a tractor or a big bore ATV. It seems to me that a tractor will make these tasks easier. Also the PTO will mean any implements won't need another engine.

I think my initial purchase would be the tractor with a FEL. Bearing in mind I would be willing to spend up to about 15k, but hoping to spend nearer to 10k. What size in terms of HP should I be looking at? Would a JD or Kubota Sub Compact be too small and underpowered for my needs?

Thanks in advance for your input, like I said I'm new to tractors so any advice you have would be great.

marc

 

[boggen]

*shakes head no to ATV* they are very nice to get around on. and for say spot spray or say spraying a fence line to keep weeds down. or check on animals in a pasture. but there be a big difference between ATV and good tractor.

a FEL to me would be automatic.

any tractor can work, but bigger the tractor is, the more you can do in a shorter amount of time. but within reason. the implements you will use can also determined size of tractor you will want.

rest are mainly 3pt hitch implements....
--rotatory cutter (many call bush hog) or a fail mower (both geared towards cutting heavy brush / aka tall weeds)
--rear blade some times call rear grading blade. normally you can rotate it and if need be use the 3 point hitch and adjust one or both arms some to angle it some as well. ((clear snow, and grade driveway / lane))
--box blade, ((good at tearing up ground and moving dirt to different places, but more to the point much easier to get nice level roadway, or say lawn after you tore it up or like, also helps fill in pot holes and smooth them out in a road way))

--rock sled, goto scrap yard find a old ""metal"" hood from a vehicle. turn it upside down. hook a chain on it. and then low on tractor. and you have a rock sled

--if need be perhaps a belly finishing mower or a 3pt hitch finishing mower.

for fencing....
--3pt post hole digger ((for posts))
--fence stretcher comes in handy for wire mesh fencing.

--3pt backhoe can be extremely nice and very handy, though it is a pricey little item and ranks in price just like a FEL and bare bones tractor. and a backhoe can make or break some deals. due to extra cost to say custom fab a third party backhoe to a given make/model of tractor.

there are times when live stock do die, pending on regulations in New England, you may or not be able to bury them. For me i have to burry live stock X distance away from water supplies, X distance from this and that. and i have to burry the animal so deep. and after dirt is back on. there needs to be just enough slope of ground over burial site. i bring this up due to yes you can do it with FEL, but backhoe makes it easy.

backhoes can do a lot of moving of dirt. and can be used to pickup things as well. (tree, brushes, dig out stumps, put in trenches for gas, water, electrical, etc...)

==============
i would caution animals, there is a lot of upkeep, and need to know. and pending on what they need to eat or they can be feed year long. hey, various types of grains. etc... a bigger tractor might be wanted to handle say pulling a hay baler with hay wagon behind that, or perhaps a grain mixer or grain auger to get grain into a silo / grain bin.

if ya planting a garden / food plot or like, a plow, disc, harrow, planter, and like can all have different HP requirements to pull them. granted higher HP the better.

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anything in above that you will need vs want to have?

for my on 80 acres. 20hp would be bare min. and that would be slow doings. 30hp ok, 40hp would be about right as descent min for me and let me get things down in a reasonable amount of time. but this is me. and puts me in CUTS and Utilty class HP tractors and more so into a higher UTILTY class tractor for me. and SCUTs way to small for me. and i am going to guess SCUT's to small for you as well. CUT's be kinda boarder line.

the weight of tractor can be important factor. and when ya move from say riding lawn mowers and SCUTS to say CUTs and then into Utilty tractors the sub frames are different with higher ground clearance. this ground clearance can be a big thing and getting through mud and snow. other words think of a car that seats a couple inches off a ground vs a truck that seats 1 foot off the ground. the truck more likely to go through some descent deep snow vs car that would be stuck. the tractor needs to be geared for all terrain year round so you can do what needs to be done.

there are plenty of other things. but above comes first to mind.

 

[flusher]

Hi Everyone,

As with many other people on this forum I''m looking for some advice in buying a tractor. I have just purchased a house on 14 acres of land. 1.5 acres is "lawn" surrounding the house, currently I have a craftsman lawn tractor which may be able to tackle this area at first.

Outside of this area is a barn that used to house horses and goats, an over grown pasture which is fenced in. This area has tree growth but is accessible. I plan on keeping goats, sheep, llamas... some form of small farm animals. There as also a driveway about 200-300 feet of dirt road.

My primary needs for a tractor are:

1) snow removal - I live in New England.
2) brush cutting - in the areas out side of the lawn, there is an old overgrown cart path that I wish to reclaim and use
3) finish mowing - possibly... if the craftsman can't handle it
4) moving rocks - opening parts of an old rock wall
5) driveway / cart path grading
6) other tasks that you do on a small "hobby" farm

I have been looking at whether to get a tractor or a big bore ATV. It seems to me that a tractor will make these tasks easier. Also the PTO will mean any implements won't need another engine.

I think my initial purchase would be the tractor with a FEL. Bearing in mind I would be willing to spend up to about 15k, but hoping to spend nearer to 10k. What size in terms of HP should I be looking at? Would a JD or Kubota Sub Compact be too small and underpowered for my needs?

Thanks in advance for your input, like I said I'm new to tractors so any advice you have would be great.

marc

YOu could find a 4-5 year old Kubota B-series SCUT like a B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD, power steering with FEL for less than $10K (a 2005 7510HST was my first tractor bought new for $12,600 plus tax). But with your acreage, I'd shoot for a used CUT with 30 hp engine with FEL to squeeze into your $15K budget.

 

[mjncad]

Welcome Marxman.

I think you're going to be hard pressed to find what you want at those price points; but at least you east coast boys have plenty of used equipment choices unlike those of us in the Rocky Mountain states and points west.

Keep the Crapsman lawn tractor for the lawn, and when it eventually pukes, get another lawn tractor for that purpose.

I don't have any ATV experience; but I wouldn't even consider one for any serious work on that amount of land you have. Use it for chasing down the critters, getting the mail, and for recreation.

Others have already given you good advice.

 

[TripleR]

Boggen pretty much sums it up, we have a 700 cc Yamaha Grizzly and 660 Rhino and love them, but they simply can't come close to a tractor. We rarely need a back hoe, so we rent one.

I would be looking at something along the lines of a B Series Kubota with 25-30 HP or its equivalent in one of the other brands, all make good tractors.

Depending on what I can find, I buy new or used.

Good luck.

 

[nwngunner]

You can get an atv and do alot of work with them. Pulling a trailer to put in your fencing, using your winch to stretch the fence. Useing the quad to pull cut down trees over to the burn pile ect ect. I have had tractors long before i had my quads and i wouldnt give up my quads for anything. I have a small rough cut mower that i like over my 7foot brush hog on the tractor. I can get in alot more places with it. How ever there is no replacement for the tractor.

Alot of work sounds like you would be better off with a skid loader then a tractor its self.

 

[RoyJackson]

I'd look for a Deere 4300, 4400, 4310 or 4410. Maybe a Deere 990. They're all late 1990's through mid 2000's tractors and are priced around what you want to spend ($15K).
Good machines, all of 'em.

As far as Kubota...also great machines, but I don't know enough about their model numbers for specific recommendations...the Deeres I wrote about above range from 27 to 34 PTO HP. You'd want the same power from a Kubota.

Since you live in New England, you'll probably find prices are higher in that area. You might want to look further south (northern PA, southern New York State) for better prices (don't forget to calculate transportation costs).

Good luck!

 

[bigbull338]

the best thing you can do is try an get the right tractor for you the 1st time.now that could mean that you have to spend more than you want.when im looking to buy something i know what the max amount i can spend is,an i know what itll get me.

 

[IslandTractor]

A small to mid sized used compact utility tractor is within range of your stated budget. Ideally for a property your size you might want 30hp or so but I would not hesitate to buy a 20+hp CUT which can clearly do the work albeit a bit more slowly. I would steer you away from what are called sub compact utility tractors or SCUTs. Those are useful in a few acres but have limitations that would quickly frustrate you with 13 acres I think. The Kubota BX line and the JD 2300 and I think 2500 series fit into that category.

There are a number of very good brands you might look for in addition to the well known Kubota and JD. New Holland (NH), Kioti, Mahindra, Cub, TYM and a number of others are equal to the task and almost always less expensive mostly because of lack of brand name recognition (by folks like yourself for example). Check out tractor dealers within a reasonable radius to see what your options are for dealer support. If you can change oil and trouble shoot basic issues yourself or if you can trailer the tractor then your options will increase. If you need turnkey service you may have to stick with higher priced JD and Kubota offerings.

Keep an eye on Craigslist. I'm in Eastern MA and I see lots of good low hour tractors for sale. If you use a program like SearchTempest to screen for "tractor" in the farm and garden section for a hundred miles or so around you will find good used tractors quite frequently. $10K is on the low side but for $15K you can get a 3-5 year old Kubota B series. Unless you are very handy with a wrench I would stay away from "old iron" even though those 1950's Fords etc are excellent bangs for the buck.

To give you a specific recommendation, my first tractor was a Kioti CK20, a 21hp CUT with FEL. I got it from a dealer with about thirty hours on the clock (trade up) and the cost of the tractor/FEL was $10K. That little tractor did a huge amount of work and was tough as nails. The equivalent Kubota is the B7510 which is also excellent but will cost about $2K more for an equivalent age/hour example. The Kubota B7800 is great and might be in your budget. Kioti CK25 and 30 also. Similar JDs would cost more used. The JD790 and 4000 series are closer to 30hp but might be in your budget and they are all very fine machines.

Again, screen your local tractor dealers and identify possible used tractors on Craigslist. Post more specific questions back here once you have identified some candidates and I'm sure you will get lots of useful advice.

 

[Grandad4]

Never figured I qualified as any kind of "guru"; least of all a tractor guru. But Boggen's comments seem spot on to me. A subcut might "do" your work, but it's just too small and chores would take forever. A new 30-40 hp, larger sized CUT would have your work requirements covered like a blanket, but you won't find a new one from the top manufacturers in your price range.

So your options seem to be a) go smaller and work both it and yourself a little longer and harder; b) go with a secondary brand and maybe get more size and horsepower for your money; c) go used. I guess you could also consider the great financing packages available now on new equipment. There are obvious pro's and con's to each approach, of course. What makes sense for one person may not work for the next guy.

Also, ATV's are great for what they do, but I once watched a neighbor on his ATV spraying dirt all over the place trying to pull a log that was child's play for my BX subcut. Your chore list has "tractor work" written all over it.