Buying Advice How much Tractor Do I need for 300 acre farm

[blueriver]

Farming is a difficult task ... sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

Money is important or a source of money, if your source is a bank ... be carefull your good credit can allow you to go overboard and thus good credit may go bad.

New equipment is nice, cost nice too!!

 

[flusher]

I recently acquired a 300 acre farm through inheritance. The farm has not been worked in many years. There are roughly 150 to 160 acres of tillable land and about 100 acres of good rolling pasture land with about 40 or 50 acres of timber. I plan to purchase a tractor and some equipment to work this farm but I am unsure of the size/type of equipment to buy. I plan to plant corn/soybeans on the 160 acres of tillable land and start a cattle herd on the 100 acres of pasture. I don't expect to do all of this over night but I want to purchase a tractor and some row crop equipment. What size and type of tractor should I purchase and what size disc, cultivator and planter should I purchase to row crop 160 acres?

Ask yourself how much time you intend to devote to farming. If it's full time, then you probably can get by with a smaller tractor (50-80 hp pto) and smaller implements 8-12ft wide and keep your equipment costs down.

If you're a part time farmer, time becomes an issue. Then you might want to consider a larger tractor (100-150 hp pto) and bigger implements (up to 20 ft wide).

One of my neighbors farms part time and plants a 200 acre hayfield with a 165 hp Steiger Super Wildcat and a 100 hp IH tractor using 10-20 ft wide implements.

 

[Duffster]

Just throwing stuff out there, so maybe not, but when we were farming we lost a lot of money when we had to wait to have someone do this. We could not afford to wait a few years as we had to have other jobs. We sold all of our equipment, but kept the land. An important component left out or missed by me was the OP financial situation which would significantly impact how much he could invest and how long he could hold out.

I do not mean to be a complete downer, but I and my wife have seen too many farmers of this size lose everything including their land. It happened to our neighbor a couple of years ago. He had to sell the family farm and he grew up farming.

Refer to the last line of my post. "Also, I am not saying it can't be done, just not by me."

That is a shame but I would have to think that there was some managerial or business practice issues at hand. Or maybe they just live to high on the hog.

I guess I am looking at things differently than most here. Most are saying to rent it out. Not bad idea but if the renter can make money while paying rent then the owner should be able to make money with out the rent coming right off the top.

If this farm was here it would rent for north of $300/acre. Assuming that "inherited" means that the farm is paid for or nearly paid for. If that was the case here he would have a $48,000 dollar head start.

As far as the equipment issues, everything that needs to be done could easily be hired done or the equipment rented to do it if the equipment was not/can not be purchased in a timely manner. Here there are tons of guys doing custom combining and planting, including us. Corn and beans have a large enough planting and harvesting window that hiring it done if needed should not cause any real financial harm.

 

[radman1]

IMHO, do not try starting farming from the beginning. My original family farm, combined with my land and brothers land is about 1200 acres. I have a full time job and mostly weekend farmer. My brother has full time job but has much more flexibility in his job and can take times as he needs it. Strongly recommend renting out all the acres to begin with. It would seem the OP has no experience in this field. No offense but starting with "what kind of tractor to buy" and asking TBNers is a little on the wild side IMHO. Why hasn't the land been worked for many years? That alone makes me nervous about the land. Will it require lots of work to get it back in production? Is the soil poor? Is it overgrown? Where is it located? Are you willing to buy a tractor, planter, sprayer, fertilizer machine, cultivator, disc, chisel ect? Do you know how to maintain much of this equipment? No till verses tilling the land requires different equipment. Will you need to have the soil tested? Do you know the seeding rates, fertilizer rates, spraying what chemicals, which chemicals, when to spray? Honestly, farming corn and soybeans for 100-150 acres of land it really a waste of time and not profitable. The overhead is just way to high. Why are farms getting larger and larger? Because they can use 1 relatively large machine to do many acres. Our 1200 acres uses primarily 2 tractors (245hp and 125 hp), 1 16 row no till planter, 90' sprayer, 1 fertilizer machine, ect. The efficiency of a farm actually goes down when they become over a few thousand acres because now they need 2 planters, more expensive sprayers, more tractors, ect to make the next level of production and they don't really have the land to make it as profitable for all the equipment.

If the OP does not want to rent the farm land, try share cropping the tillable land. In my area, the owner puts up the land, pays the taxes and pays half of the input costs including fertilizer, seed, chemical ect. The other guy provides all the equipment, fuel, labor and does the harvesting. OP assumes some of the risk and potential reward. This would also allow the OP time to find equipment, see how the farming is done and give time to decide if this is a viable venture.

The pasture maybe a little easier to start with less initial output but does the OP know how to care for the cattle? Will the cattle be in the pasture all year? Will they have to be fed in the winter? Will it be cow/calf operation, feeders ect? Does OP know how to care and look out for the cattle. Facilities to vaccinate, or treat animals? Do you have means to haul the cattle when needed? Cattle require frequent checking. 1-2 dead or sick animals really eats into the profits. How good is the pasture and fence? How many head/acre can it support? I rent out some pasture. So much $ per head/day. Renter maintains the fence but I supply the materials.

 

[Bob Ha]

I'll give a little advice that I haven't read yet. Contact the USDA/NRCS/FSA if your state/county has this service. I'm not sure they can or will help with the tractor choice but the land management they are wonderful. From analyzing your soil and giving recommendations to partially funding your projects. The Ponds, Bermuda grass (sprigged) and erosion are my projects under the Beginning farmer section.

 

[nwngunner]

I would start looking at good used equipment. Will save you alot of cash in the long run. Get your self a good field tractor and get your self a skid loader. Your going to be running cattle your going to need a skid loader to clean barns ect ect. Along with the skid loader you can use it for setting your new fence ect ect.

I would rent out the row crop for the first few years and start getting the property cleaned up. Get your fences and buildings back in to shape along with your pastures. Along with that get an atv, you will use the **** out of it.

Also, one thing that most people are looking over is repairs. Your going to need tools ect ect to do alot of your own repairs. Not every thing can be done by you, but alot of things can be fixed at home. Its going to take you most likely at least a year to get all of this togeather.

Once you get your pastures cleaned up and good to go start getting cattle. How ever you will need to get hay equipment. Also contact your local coop about getting lime put down on your pastures and hay fields. Another thing your going to have to consider what type of cattle are you going to run? Also your winters how bad are they, are you going to feed lot your cattle? If your going to feed lot are you going to just feed them corn and put bales of hay out, or are you going to grind silage in with hay and put silage out to the cattle each and every day. Along with that are you going to sell fat cattle or sell off calfs.

There is a **** of alot involved with cattle, includeing doing the vet work. If you do decided to do the vet work your self, now your looking at chutes and runways ect ect. Also looking at a semi and cattle hauler to transport them to market each year. Will have to put in automatic water tanks that are heated for winter. Also one last thing if you plan on feed lotting, you are going to want to put in bridge rail as fenceing as its going to be about the only real application for feed lotting cattle.

 

[Mace Canute]

oshills, there's been a lot of advice given here, but I have to side with the people who have said to forget about farming it yourself and just rent it out. That way you can watch for awhile and see what it takes to actually do it. A mixed farm takes lots of money, lots of time, quite a bit of knowledge, a little bit of good luck, a whole lot of hard work (some very hard work at times) and then you can cross your fingers that you don't go T.U.

You say you "unsure of the size/type of equipment to buy" and ask "What size and type of tractor should I purchase and what size disc, cultivator and planter should I purchase to row crop 160 acres?" It is obvious you are at the low point of the learning curve and I think you should not commit yourself to a course of action where the outcome is likely that you will lose your shirt. I grew up on a mixed farm, 1440 acres and about 150 to 200 head of cattle, so I do have a background to draw my opinion from.

 

[TripleR]

That is a shame but I would have to think that there was some managerial or business practice issues at hand. Or maybe they just live to high on the hog.

I guess I am looking at things differently than most here. Most are saying to rent it out. Not bad idea but if the renter can make money while paying rent then the owner should be able to make money with out the rent coming right off the top.

If this farm was here it would rent for north of $300/acre. Assuming that "inherited" means that the farm is paid for or nearly paid for. If that was the case here he would have a $48,000 dollar head start.

As far as the equipment issues, everything that needs to be done could easily be hired done or the equipment rented to do it if the equipment was not/can not be purchased in a timely manner. Here there are tons of guys doing custom combining and planting, including us. Corn and beans have a large enough planting and harvesting window that hiring it done if needed should not cause any real financial harm.

The mere fact that he lost his farm is evidence of some level of mismanagement or poor planning, but my point is that someone with a lifetime of farming experience can lose it all, so what are the chances someone with no experience on farmland that has been out of production is going to succeed. It took us several years to build our ground back up after someone farmed it to death; very, very lean years.

Yes, where you live makes a difference as there is no one here who will run their equipment down the road for small acreage unless they are close enough not to break their equipment down and even then you will get hind teat.

IMHO, do not try starting farming from the beginning. My original family farm, combined with my land and brothers land is about 1200 acres. I have a full time job and mostly weekend farmer. My brother has full time job but has much more flexibility in his job and can take times as he needs it. Strongly recommend renting out all the acres to begin with. It would seem the OP has no experience in this field. No offense but starting with "what kind of tractor to buy" and asking TBNers is a little on the wild side IMHO. Why hasn't the land been worked for many years? That alone makes me nervous about the land. Will it require lots of work to get it back in production? Is the soil poor? Is it overgrown? Where is it located? Are you willing to buy a tractor, planter, sprayer, fertilizer machine, cultivator, disc, chisel ect? Do you know how to maintain much of this equipment? No till verses tilling the land requires different equipment. Will you need to have the soil tested? Do you know the seeding rates, fertilizer rates, spraying what chemicals, which chemicals, when to spray? Honestly, farming corn and soybeans for 100-150 acres of land it really a waste of time and not profitable. The overhead is just way to high. Why are farms getting larger and larger? Because they can use 1 relatively large machine to do many acres. Our 1200 acres uses primarily 2 tractors (245hp and 125 hp), 1 16 row no till planter, 90' sprayer, 1 fertilizer machine, ect. The efficiency of a farm actually goes down when they become over a few thousand acres because now they need 2 planters, more expensive sprayers, more tractors, ect to make the next level of production and they don't really have the land to make it as profitable for all the equipment.

If the OP does not want to rent the farm land, try share cropping the tillable land. In my area, the owner puts up the land, pays the taxes and pays half of the input costs including fertilizer, seed, chemical ect. The other guy provides all the equipment, fuel, labor and does the harvesting. OP assumes some of the risk and potential reward. This would also allow the OP time to find equipment, see how the farming is done and give time to decide if this is a viable venture.

The pasture maybe a little easier to start with less initial output but does the OP know how to care for the cattle? Will the cattle be in the pasture all year? Will they have to be fed in the winter? Will it be cow/calf operation, feeders ect? Does OP know how to care and look out for the cattle. Facilities to vaccinate, or treat animals? Do you have means to haul the cattle when needed? Cattle require frequent checking. 1-2 dead or sick animals really eats into the profits. How good is the pasture and fence? How many head/acre can it support? I rent out some pasture. So much $ per head/day. Renter maintains the fence but I supply the materials.

Very impressive, wish I had said that.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Why is it that in these type of threads the OP is seldom heard from? He has made 2 posts 22 minutes apart and has not been heard from since. To me, there have been enough questions raised that I would think that he would want to answer so that we can help him out with some better advice. I know maybe something came up, and time will tell. It just seems odd to me.

Just my :2cents:

 

[Pushing_Tin]

Why is it that in these type of threads the OP is seldom heard from? He has made 2 posts 22 minutes apart and has not been heard from since. To me, there have been enough questions raised that I would think that he would want to answer so that we can help him out with some better advice. I know maybe something came up, and time will tell. It just seems odd to me.

Just my :2cents:

Agree, I think it's disrespectful to come here, ask a question and then have people with decades of experience spend a great deal of time thoughtfully answering questions... and then the OP never even comes back. It seems to happen here quite frequently. The "RTV or Tractor" thread is another example.