I've got a B2910 now with a backhoe, rotary mower, wood
chipper, logging winch, back blade, snow blower, tiller, wood splitter (what did I leave out?). I use all of the above. It works great, but there are just too many times where the 2910 is too small for the 250 acres I need to maintain. When I've posed the question to this group about what size tractor I should have, most say it should be an M series, not even an L, but I'm stuck on HST. When the 5740 came out, I said "that's the tractor for me". My wallet might soon be able to agree, so I'm starting to look more seriously at what I want. Here are some examples of the limitations I current encounter.
1) I regularly try to dig out rocks that are too big for my BH, and I spend more time than I'd like repositioning the tractor due to limited BH reach. I use the BH all the time, weather it's trenching a road for water/runoff control, stump removal, rock removal, etc. I also have a couple of foundations to dig for a barn and shed, and a 1500' water line to run for a micro hyro power plant. The bottom line is that I use it all the time. For my new tractor, I like the Bradco's bcause of their digging power and solid build, and I like the 511 for the extra reach.
2) Today I mow about 5 acres of field once or twice a year (we let the wild flowers and milk weed grow for the buterflies). With the 4' mower I have today this takes nearly two days because a) it's broken up into a bunch of pieces (it's really 6 distinct areas) and b) there's a lot in dodging stumps and trees. Each year I clean it up a bit more and it gets easier, but 48" is a narrow swath. I'm unsure whether to go to a 6' mower to try and maintain some degree of manuverability, or a 7'. I also have another 20 acres of field that I currently have someone else hay, but it's hard finding someone to do it, and I expect one day I'll be just cutting it myself, so that makes the 7' mower look real nice.
3) My wood
chipper (Salsco 824) is great, but the 2910 can barely lift it, and once it does the tractor is not very stable because the weight is up high. It really wants to be on a larger tractor.
4) My logging winch (Farmi 351) is wonderful, but the tractor is really too small for it. It moves rather than the logs sometimes, and it struggles to drag anything other than a small/med size hitch of logs.
5) The road/drive to my house is 1/2 mile of unmaintained (other than by me) road. A neighbor plows it when I'm not around, adn I snow blow it when I am around. Snow blowing takes 1-2 hour, including thr parking area etc. I've considered a plow rather than snow blower, but much of the road is narrow and choaked in and after a few snow falls the snow just falls right back into the road if you are just plowing. The snow blower throws it away enough to solve this problem. It's also miserable snowblowing in 10 degree windy weather with the snow blowing back in your face, hence my insistance on a Cab.
These are the key things driving my decision.