pax
Member
Hi everyone, I have been following every thread here as I have been in the shopping/comparison mode for a couple of months now, have been to all the local dealers, sat on many different tractors and read more literature than is probably good for me. (I am sure you all know what I'm talking about ) This is my second post and am in search of some experience from all you good folks.
A little history and bio:
A few years ago I sold most of the farm but kept the 15 acres of flat (mostly) open land that used to be my farmstead. I also maintained the rights of usage to 80 acres of river front land that went with the sale of the farm. I keep about 7-8 acres of the 15 mowed around a lot of trees that were planted 40 years ago, and have now become a forest out on the prairies AND need to clear and mow trails in the river land occasionally.
Last fall my mower died during the last mow of the season (21 yr old JD front mount) and that put me into a mower shopping mode. After looking at all the great new ZTR's etc, I just have a hard time spending $5-8 thousand on a mowing machine that ONLY mows and will be parked all winter. That got me looking into other avenues to be able to still do my mowing but also give me the ability to landscape, move all our Canadian snow, mow trails through the river front land, till garden plots, maintain gravel drives and so on.
As I was doing my research I was approached by the village that I live next to doing pasture mowing for the residents who have vacant lots and so my looking went form SCUT's to CUT's. I had been considering such a thing anyway and so I will be doing this and offering my services of small landscaping jobs and tilling to these neighbors of mine.
I have been looking at tractors from JD, Kubota, MF, Mahindra, Kioti, Montana in that 25-30 hp range.
So far things were good and I was getting close to pulling the trigger and then another fly-in-the-ointment came along. My mother's (she lives out on the 15 acres in her own house) septic field went south and needs to be replaced. That forest that was planted 40 years ago have grown roots through the field lines and plugged her run. Her tank is still in excellent condition and only the field needs replaced.
Now my question........ Can one of these small 25-30 hp CUT's with a backhoe handle such a job in a fairly manageable fashion?
Or would it pay just to hire it out? I am very adept at running equipment as I have farmed my whole life. I have run a backhoe, but would not call myself a pro by any means. Would this size of CUT/Backhoe handle the roots that thread through the land from the trees. The field passes near this (planned) forest (it is all planted in rows with new trees sprouting up from the cones here an there) and will be dealing with roots of evergreens that are 20-30 ft away and will need to go right through some lilac trees to get to where the field will be. I don't have any idea of what I can expect from a small backhoe setup. It would be a nice way to help pay for the hoe. Now if not feasible, I will probably not get a hoe at this time.
As a note, I still have a small ag tractor (65 pto hp) w/fel that is now way too big/heavy/awkward for maintaining this small acreage and I will be able to sell it to help finance this new purchase.
Well, thanks for those of you that made it through this rambling post. I would appreciate any feedback and thoughts on the ability, usefulness, sanity of using a small CUT/BH for this purpose.
Pax
A little history and bio:
A few years ago I sold most of the farm but kept the 15 acres of flat (mostly) open land that used to be my farmstead. I also maintained the rights of usage to 80 acres of river front land that went with the sale of the farm. I keep about 7-8 acres of the 15 mowed around a lot of trees that were planted 40 years ago, and have now become a forest out on the prairies AND need to clear and mow trails in the river land occasionally.
Last fall my mower died during the last mow of the season (21 yr old JD front mount) and that put me into a mower shopping mode. After looking at all the great new ZTR's etc, I just have a hard time spending $5-8 thousand on a mowing machine that ONLY mows and will be parked all winter. That got me looking into other avenues to be able to still do my mowing but also give me the ability to landscape, move all our Canadian snow, mow trails through the river front land, till garden plots, maintain gravel drives and so on.
As I was doing my research I was approached by the village that I live next to doing pasture mowing for the residents who have vacant lots and so my looking went form SCUT's to CUT's. I had been considering such a thing anyway and so I will be doing this and offering my services of small landscaping jobs and tilling to these neighbors of mine.
I have been looking at tractors from JD, Kubota, MF, Mahindra, Kioti, Montana in that 25-30 hp range.
So far things were good and I was getting close to pulling the trigger and then another fly-in-the-ointment came along. My mother's (she lives out on the 15 acres in her own house) septic field went south and needs to be replaced. That forest that was planted 40 years ago have grown roots through the field lines and plugged her run. Her tank is still in excellent condition and only the field needs replaced.
Now my question........ Can one of these small 25-30 hp CUT's with a backhoe handle such a job in a fairly manageable fashion?
Or would it pay just to hire it out? I am very adept at running equipment as I have farmed my whole life. I have run a backhoe, but would not call myself a pro by any means. Would this size of CUT/Backhoe handle the roots that thread through the land from the trees. The field passes near this (planned) forest (it is all planted in rows with new trees sprouting up from the cones here an there) and will be dealing with roots of evergreens that are 20-30 ft away and will need to go right through some lilac trees to get to where the field will be. I don't have any idea of what I can expect from a small backhoe setup. It would be a nice way to help pay for the hoe. Now if not feasible, I will probably not get a hoe at this time.
As a note, I still have a small ag tractor (65 pto hp) w/fel that is now way too big/heavy/awkward for maintaining this small acreage and I will be able to sell it to help finance this new purchase.
Well, thanks for those of you that made it through this rambling post. I would appreciate any feedback and thoughts on the ability, usefulness, sanity of using a small CUT/BH for this purpose.
Pax