Atlanta Panther
Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2013
- Messages
- 45
- Location
- Madison, Ga
- Tractor
- Kubota L3200HST with LA524 Loader, Quick Connect; Loaded R4 Tires
My wife and I are new at all this. We were raised in the city but our daughters got us into horses 20 years ago which has led to us buying 20 acres that we are developing into a horse farm as we move towards retirement. Five acres are in woods, 11 in pasture and the other 4 between the house, lawn, 7-stall barn, 85'x150' arena and 1800' of gravel driveways which we've had all built in the last year. We've got 6 horses now and the mare is pregnant so we are filling up fast.
So why do I need a tractor? I initially thought about getting a UTV but after research it did not appear like it would do what I would need it to but it definitely has some advantages in mobility so maybe I will be able to get one in the future. I've tried to follow the advice I've seen here and list what I would need a tractor for to figure out the right size and model. Here's what I came up with...
The important thing first - I will NOT need a snowblower! I left that 40 years ago when I moved south!
What I will need to do is mow! Prior to building the previous owner had an arrangement which I kept where a guy mowed the pasture and kept the hay for his cows. However, with fencing now and the horses eating I want to upgrade the pasture quality so I'm having someone spray Grazeon to kill the weeds so I can start to hopefully see that Bermuda flourish. I mowed the front 6 acres this past week since it had not been cut since last year and it took me 15 hours with my zero turn mower to cut through all of weeds, tall grass, thistle, manure piles and fire ant hills! My land has a gentle grade and the ZTM worked fine but I really need a beefier rough cut mower to cut the pastures. I'll save the ZTM for the finish cut lawn around the house. Consequently I would probably not need a finishing mower for the tractor.
If the pasture eventually need to be reestablished I could try to do it myself with the tractor (maybe rent a disc or tiller some other implements for the 3PH) but could also have someone else do it since it would not be a recurring thing.
The next thing I will need is some type of harrow to groom the working surface of the arena but also to break up the manure piles in the pasture.
Speaking of manure, I expect that I will eventually need to haul a manure spreader to distribute the soiled shavings and manure once we have more show horses that we would probably keep in the stalls more although I eventually really want to build a composting setup at some point. I'm thinking I would use the loader to carry the stall cleanouts to the compost facility, then use the loader to load and haul the manure spreader. If I'm real lucky I would sell the well seasoned compost and just take a bucket load to someone's truck.
I can see myself putting in some posts for more fencing but would probably just rent a post hole digger when I needed one to fit on the 3 point hitch.
Speaking of fencing, I can see myself spraying roundup around the fence line on a semi regular basis to kill the grass so I don't have to mow under the 4000 feet of 4-board fence. I guess that would need some kind of sprayer. Probably some kind of hand held gun would do the trick.
Once in a while I would probably try to bush hog the riding trails that go through our back 5 acres (and connect with neighbors). I'd probably do some firewood cutting as well and haul the cut firewood up to the house.
The big thing would be to see if I could build my own Pole Barn to put a roof over my 33' LQ Horse trailer as well as a place to store hay, shavings and the tractor and implements. I'm not sure I could do it as I've never tried anything like that before but I am pretty handy with tools and have finished several basements but this is getting into something completely different than what I'm used to doing. If I tried this I would probably need to level the ground, dig the post holes, haul materials, etc. with the tractor.
One other thing I would probably try to do is use the tractor as an emergency generator and get one that hooks onto the 3P hitch.
Now that you know what I am looking at doing, let me tell you that I have tried to research the choices online as best as I can and it looks like an L3200 seems to fit the best. I definitely want an HST as the wife will probably want to drive it as well (after all she will tell you this is HER farm!)
Any particular options I should get on it? I'm thinking HST, 4WD, R4s, FEL with 60" bucket, bucket rod lever indicator kit (don't know what this does but its only a few bucks), telescopic stabilizers, drawbar clevis, cruise control. Any thoughts on the sunshade vs the deluxe canopy? May get other things later but this will more than exhaust the budget for now. The MSRP on the website comes to $21,924.
I saw where folks said it is reasonable to ask for 15% off MSRP for cash. Would that be in ADDITION to the $2000 Kubota is giving for a rebate on the L3200? If this is the case it sounds like I should be able to get the one specd out above for $21,924 - 15% = $18,635 -$2000 = $16,635. Is this unreasonable?
Speaking of rebates, I saw where Kubota says the rebates and 0% financing ends 6/30/13. Anyone know if it will be extended? I want to move on this but don't know if I can get it done before the end of the month. I want to have exactly what I want and then shop price from as many dealers as I can before pulling the trigger.
I had a suggestion to put some hydraulic remotes on the back. I'm thinking two. Kubota lists the following:
1ST POSITION DOUBLE ACTING VALVE KIT - $501
HYDRAULIC HOSE KIT FOR TRACTORS WITH LOADERS - $235.00
SECOND POSITION VALVE KIT$50.00
AND
1 DETENT VALVE (NON-SELF-CANCELING) - $273.00
OR
1 FLOAT DETENT VALVE - $319.00
What's the difference between a Detent and a Float valve ? What should I get? Can I add these later? (I'm running out of budget.)
Can you give me recommendations on the rough cut mower, harrow for the arena, and box blade(?) to smooth out the gravel driveway. I was thinking a 60" Land Pride BB25 box blade. Any other ideas?
Thanks...this will really help this City(?) Slicker!
So why do I need a tractor? I initially thought about getting a UTV but after research it did not appear like it would do what I would need it to but it definitely has some advantages in mobility so maybe I will be able to get one in the future. I've tried to follow the advice I've seen here and list what I would need a tractor for to figure out the right size and model. Here's what I came up with...
The important thing first - I will NOT need a snowblower! I left that 40 years ago when I moved south!
What I will need to do is mow! Prior to building the previous owner had an arrangement which I kept where a guy mowed the pasture and kept the hay for his cows. However, with fencing now and the horses eating I want to upgrade the pasture quality so I'm having someone spray Grazeon to kill the weeds so I can start to hopefully see that Bermuda flourish. I mowed the front 6 acres this past week since it had not been cut since last year and it took me 15 hours with my zero turn mower to cut through all of weeds, tall grass, thistle, manure piles and fire ant hills! My land has a gentle grade and the ZTM worked fine but I really need a beefier rough cut mower to cut the pastures. I'll save the ZTM for the finish cut lawn around the house. Consequently I would probably not need a finishing mower for the tractor.
If the pasture eventually need to be reestablished I could try to do it myself with the tractor (maybe rent a disc or tiller some other implements for the 3PH) but could also have someone else do it since it would not be a recurring thing.
The next thing I will need is some type of harrow to groom the working surface of the arena but also to break up the manure piles in the pasture.
Speaking of manure, I expect that I will eventually need to haul a manure spreader to distribute the soiled shavings and manure once we have more show horses that we would probably keep in the stalls more although I eventually really want to build a composting setup at some point. I'm thinking I would use the loader to carry the stall cleanouts to the compost facility, then use the loader to load and haul the manure spreader. If I'm real lucky I would sell the well seasoned compost and just take a bucket load to someone's truck.
I can see myself putting in some posts for more fencing but would probably just rent a post hole digger when I needed one to fit on the 3 point hitch.
Speaking of fencing, I can see myself spraying roundup around the fence line on a semi regular basis to kill the grass so I don't have to mow under the 4000 feet of 4-board fence. I guess that would need some kind of sprayer. Probably some kind of hand held gun would do the trick.
Once in a while I would probably try to bush hog the riding trails that go through our back 5 acres (and connect with neighbors). I'd probably do some firewood cutting as well and haul the cut firewood up to the house.
The big thing would be to see if I could build my own Pole Barn to put a roof over my 33' LQ Horse trailer as well as a place to store hay, shavings and the tractor and implements. I'm not sure I could do it as I've never tried anything like that before but I am pretty handy with tools and have finished several basements but this is getting into something completely different than what I'm used to doing. If I tried this I would probably need to level the ground, dig the post holes, haul materials, etc. with the tractor.
One other thing I would probably try to do is use the tractor as an emergency generator and get one that hooks onto the 3P hitch.
Now that you know what I am looking at doing, let me tell you that I have tried to research the choices online as best as I can and it looks like an L3200 seems to fit the best. I definitely want an HST as the wife will probably want to drive it as well (after all she will tell you this is HER farm!)
Any particular options I should get on it? I'm thinking HST, 4WD, R4s, FEL with 60" bucket, bucket rod lever indicator kit (don't know what this does but its only a few bucks), telescopic stabilizers, drawbar clevis, cruise control. Any thoughts on the sunshade vs the deluxe canopy? May get other things later but this will more than exhaust the budget for now. The MSRP on the website comes to $21,924.
I saw where folks said it is reasonable to ask for 15% off MSRP for cash. Would that be in ADDITION to the $2000 Kubota is giving for a rebate on the L3200? If this is the case it sounds like I should be able to get the one specd out above for $21,924 - 15% = $18,635 -$2000 = $16,635. Is this unreasonable?
Speaking of rebates, I saw where Kubota says the rebates and 0% financing ends 6/30/13. Anyone know if it will be extended? I want to move on this but don't know if I can get it done before the end of the month. I want to have exactly what I want and then shop price from as many dealers as I can before pulling the trigger.
I had a suggestion to put some hydraulic remotes on the back. I'm thinking two. Kubota lists the following:
1ST POSITION DOUBLE ACTING VALVE KIT - $501
HYDRAULIC HOSE KIT FOR TRACTORS WITH LOADERS - $235.00
SECOND POSITION VALVE KIT$50.00
AND
1 DETENT VALVE (NON-SELF-CANCELING) - $273.00
OR
1 FLOAT DETENT VALVE - $319.00
What's the difference between a Detent and a Float valve ? What should I get? Can I add these later? (I'm running out of budget.)
Can you give me recommendations on the rough cut mower, harrow for the arena, and box blade(?) to smooth out the gravel driveway. I was thinking a 60" Land Pride BB25 box blade. Any other ideas?
Thanks...this will really help this City(?) Slicker!
