Looking to start a small beef farm- need tractor advice.

[LouNY]

Well here is a bit of a different take.
Depending on your ground if you have hills like we do in Eastern NY I would recommend an over 100HP tractor for a round baler.
I would also recommend a silage capable baler as many times it will not be possible to get quality hay cut and cured for dry baling,
while a haylage bale can be done easily. With having the capability of making a silage bale or a dry bale the flexibility of making quality
forage becomes much easier.
Also unless you have more then adequate dry bale storage, a round bale wrapper will be very beneficial.
You will notice that I have mentioned quality forage, for the best quality beef you need quality forage.
Once a brood cow becomes a mature animal she can survive on much lower quality feed and actually raise a calve on such feed.
However if raising feeder beef to use and sell poor quality forage will slow down the growth rate and reduce the quality of the beef.
I can not understand the mentality of raising quality forage, baleing such, then leaving it out in the field to mold and rot, then feeding that garbage to beef animals your are raising.
I do realize that some parts of the country can get by leaving bales outside on the ground in the wet humid Northeast you will have at least 30% spoilage when doing so.
If you are baleing late July or August cut first cutting hay that will not make my definition of quality forage. It will have low protein and low digestibility, it may keep animals alive it will not raise quality beef.
To get back on track yes I'd want over 100HP on hilly ground with a round baler or even a small square if towing a wagon while baling.
I would definitely want 4wd on my loader tractor especially in the winter.
A small tractor can rake or ted hay and run a bale wrapper but that is about it.
For routinely carrying round bales on rough frozen ground in the winter, stacking bales 2 high, handling silage bales, the ability to haul a loaded feed wagon through mud and manure you need size and strength.

 

[oldnslo]

Consider base weight of tractor if intending to use it for field work. 100 - 130 lbs per HP is required to tie the power to the ground and is also a factor on how well you can handle bales. The Deere 5000M series are very, very borderline on meeting that requirement. 5000 E series aren’t even close.

 

[woolyAcres]

We run a 2nd generation hobby farm currently with beef and sheep. So some of what's worked for us (and not worked) might be of interest to you.

We've currently got 11 brood mothers, 9 yearlings, and 10 calves. The yearlings were born 14 months ago and will be finished and sold this January. This years calves will be on the farm for another 14ish months till they are sold. So for winter we're feeding all of those animals through Jan and then only about 20 animals the rest of the winter/spring. For sheep we've got about 50 right now total.

Overall we're a bit smaller with only about 110 acres and of that probably about 30 in hay and 30 in pasture. We make both small square bales and round bales. The rounds are 4x4 and we make both wet (in the spring/early summer) and dry for the later/summer cuttings. We normally put up about 150 rounds and ~1000 dry bales each year.

The farm has been through a number of (old and (well) used) tractors over the years. The one with the most hours is the NH TC45 (similar to your Kubota I believe). It's big enough to do everything in a pinch and small enough to fit just about everywhere. Since it arrived it's been the go-to machine. A fairly new addition (~4 years ago) to the farm is a Kioti RX7320 with loader. It was the right price and right size. That's the machine we use for running the cutter machine (Krone 9' 3pt disc mower) and round baler (Krone 130). Both machines are easy work for the Kioti but the NH can (and has) run them in the past. It's part of why we bought them. They require lower HP.

Prior to the Kioti we had a string of old but big and heavy 2wd machines. They had no trouble doing the work, it's just they always seemed to need some amount of wrenching before they could be used. As a hobby farmer, I may not be doing this because I have to but I don't have a ton of time to do it. When the weather around here is cooperative you better have your equipment ready to go and I just couldn't keep up with the old stuff, a family, and a full time job and still get hay made.

I really like the Krone baler. It makes bales that are very easy to handle with the Kioti but that can also be moved by the NH (including the wet ones). We've kinda worked at keeping things (size/weights) manageable so that we can get by with only one machine if we need to. I suppose it creates a bit more work (we'd have fewer bales if we did 4x5) but easier on the machines and they don't need to be so big/expensive.

We also have some small and steep hills but we have worked it out that those areas are pasture. We've converted the flat ground into hay fields and left the hillier stuff for pasture. We rotationally graze our cows so we normally come through after the cows and brush hog the pastures so we still operate on the steep stuff but it's only a brush hog behind the machine not a baler and/or wagon.

Here's a quick rundown of what gets normal use on our farm:
New Holland TC45 - raking, cleaning barn, pulling wagons, 5' brush hog, 5' tiller, pulling wagons, loading hay
Kioti RX7320 - cutting, baling, stacking wrapped bales with bale clamp, pulling discs, pulls manure spreader
Krone disc mower 9' 3pt
Krone 130 baler (4x4)
Kverneland table wrapper
MF 520 disc 10' (usable)
NH roll-bar rake
2 old hay wagons
old John Deere square baler (can't recall model)
Antonio Carraro TTR 4400 - pulls wagons, 5' flail mower, runs table wrapper
Bobcat CT2025 - cleaning barn, pulling wagons, stacking/moving dry bales, 5' brush hog
old drum manure spreader

We purchased the disc mower, the Kioti, and the CT2025 brand new. Everything else was bought used. I just did the 400hr service on the Kioti. It gets less than 100hr/year. We've had the little bobcat about a year and it's approaching 200 hours. It's been very useful but mostly for chores and not 'real' work. Our barn is more than 100 years old and just isn't very tall. The kioti is much too tall to fit, the NH fits but you're banging your head on the ceiling when cleaning pens so the shorter/smaller CT2025 has moved into that roll. It also does yard work and house chores (hauling firewood).

The 75HP machine has been just fine for what we need. I have other posts about our experience with the Kioti specifically but I think the HP is in the right range for what we need/do.

 

[Turbo5upra]

We run a 2nd generation hobby farm currently with beef and sheep. So some of what's worked for us (and not worked) might be of interest to you.

We've currently got 11 brood mothers, 9 yearlings, and 10 calves. The yearlings were born 14 months ago and will be finished and sold this January. This years calves will be on the farm for another 14ish months till they are sold. So for winter we're feeding all of those animals through Jan and then only about 20 animals the rest of the winter/spring. For sheep we've got about 50 right now total.

Overall we're a bit smaller with only about 110 acres and of that probably about 30 in hay and 30 in pasture. We make both small square bales and round bales. The rounds are 4x4 and we make both wet (in the spring/early summer) and dry for the later/summer cuttings. We normally put up about 150 rounds and ~1000 dry bales each year.

The farm has been through a number of (old and (well) used) tractors over the years. The one with the most hours is the NH TC45 (similar to your Kubota I believe). It's big enough to do everything in a pinch and small enough to fit just about everywhere. Since it arrived it's been the go-to machine. A fairly new addition (~4 years ago) to the farm is a Kioti RX7320 with loader. It was the right price and right size. That's the machine we use for running the cutter machine (Krone 9' 3pt disc mower) and round baler (Krone 130). Both machines are easy work for the Kioti but the NH can (and has) run them in the past. It's part of why we bought them. They require lower HP.

Prior to the Kioti we had a string of old but big and heavy 2wd machines. They had no trouble doing the work, it's just they always seemed to need some amount of wrenching before they could be used. As a hobby farmer, I may not be doing this because I have to but I don't have a ton of time to do it. When the weather around here is cooperative you better have your equipment ready to go and I just couldn't keep up with the old stuff, a family, and a full time job and still get hay made.

I really like the Krone baler. It makes bales that are very easy to handle with the Kioti but that can also be moved by the NH (including the wet ones). We've kinda worked at keeping things (size/weights) manageable so that we can get by with only one machine if we need to. I suppose it creates a bit more work (we'd have fewer bales if we did 4x5) but easier on the machines and they don't need to be so big/expensive.

We also have some small and steep hills but we have worked it out that those areas are pasture. We've converted the flat ground into hay fields and left the hillier stuff for pasture. We rotationally graze our cows so we normally come through after the cows and brush hog the pastures so we still operate on the steep stuff but it's only a brush hog behind the machine not a baler and/or wagon.

Here's a quick rundown of what gets normal use on our farm:
New Holland TC45 - raking, cleaning barn, pulling wagons, 5' brush hog, 5' tiller, pulling wagons, loading hay
Kioti RX7320 - cutting, baling, stacking wrapped bales with bale clamp, pulling discs, pulls manure spreader
Krone disc mower 9' 3pt
Krone 130 baler (4x4)
Kverneland table wrapper
MF 520 disc 10' (usable)
NH roll-bar rake
2 old hay wagons
old John Deere square baler (can't recall model)
Antonio Carraro TTR 4400 - pulls wagons, 5' flail mower, runs table wrapper
Bobcat CT2025 - cleaning barn, pulling wagons, stacking/moving dry bales, 5' brush hog
old drum manure spreader

We purchased the disc mower, the Kioti, and the CT2025 brand new. Everything else was bought used. I just did the 400hr service on the Kioti. It gets less than 100hr/year. We've had the little bobcat about a year and it's approaching 200 hours. It's been very useful but mostly for chores and not 'real' work. Our barn is more than 100 years old and just isn't very tall. The kioti is much too tall to fit, the NH fits but you're banging your head on the ceiling when cleaning pens so the shorter/smaller CT2025 has moved into that roll. It also does yard work and house chores (hauling firewood).

The 75HP machine has been just fine for what we need. I have other posts about our experience with the Kioti specifically but I think the HP is in the right range for what we need/do.

Thank you for the extensive input!

I’m thinking to get started I’m going to buy a newer 75ish engine hp tractor with a cab to replace the kubota- I’m thinking next spring I’ll start with between 7 and 10 head and scale up from there- most likely start with buying hay and slowly start gathering the equipment to put it up myself.

That said I think what I’m currently in the market for is a emissions free or close to it lower hour utility tractor in the 60-70 pto hp range and as I scale up Id consider a larger older tractor just for field work.

 

[woolyAcres]

A couple final comments. I don't know what your building/barn situation is but the larger cabbed tractor won't fit in the barn. I wouldn't be comfortable pulling it inside/upstairs and there's no way it fits in the downstairs area where we need something clean pens. If we had only one tractor it would have to be small enough to fit into the barn so more like the 45HP machine than 75HP.

Secondly, although I've had no trouble with the emissions stuff on the Kioti, it's nice to have the old pre-emissions NH. We can run it at low rpms, let it idle, run the log splitter, wood chipper, etc. When feeding in the winter the kioti never warms up if we're just moving hay. We feed 2 bales every other day. Feeding only takes about 5 minutes and the tractor never gets warm. That's part of the reason we bought the CT2025. It's low enough HP to no have any emissions stuff on it and strong enough to move the dry 4x4s.

Before buying the Kioti I looked at a number of machines but in the end wanted the warranty and to know that no one had mistreated it. If I were buying again I might be less concerned about that but I was gun-shy from all the problems with had the the string of machines that came before: Oliver, David Brown, and Case. None of them bad machines just worn out.

Good luck and enjoy the lifestyle. After all that's why you're doing all this, right?

 

[Turbo5upra]

A couple final comments. I don't know what your building/barn situation is but the larger cabbed tractor won't fit in the barn. I wouldn't be comfortable pulling it inside/upstairs and there's no way it fits in the downstairs area where we need something clean pens. If we had only one tractor it would have to be small enough to fit into the barn so more like the 45HP machine than 75HP.

Secondly, although I've had no trouble with the emissions stuff on the Kioti, it's nice to have the old pre-emissions NH. We can run it at low rpms, let it idle, run the log splitter, wood chipper, etc. When feeding in the winter the kioti never warms up if we're just moving hay. We feed 2 bales every other day. Feeding only takes about 5 minutes and the tractor never gets warm. That's part of the reason we bought the CT2025. It's low enough HP to no have any emissions stuff on it and strong enough to move the dry 4x4s.

Before buying the Kioti I looked at a number of machines but in the end wanted the warranty and to know that no one had mistreated it. If I were buying again I might be less concerned about that but I was gun-shy from all the problems with had the the string of machines that came before: Oliver, David Brown, and Case. None of them bad machines just worn out.

Good luck and enjoy the lifestyle. After all that's why you're doing all this, right?

I plan on building a “run in building” for them. I’m just wrapping up building a 30x48’ for a “shop” but bails will be wrapped and stored outside.

After some digging a John Deere 5425 seems like it might be a good fit to get started.

I love my day job and the lifestyle that it affords but coming home and hopping on a tractor for a few hours to unwind is one of my favorite things to do… if I can offset the toys and teach my daughter some valuable lessons at the same time while putting good quality food on the table I’d be a happy camper!

 

[MechanicalGuy]

I don't know how we'd get by on our 1000+ acre beef farm without the three 100 horse tractors we have. But we have 200-250 head at any one time.

 

[woolyAcres]

@MechanicalGuy - that's one heck of a hobby. I'm afraid to ask what you do for your 'real' job

 

[kthompson]

My operation was/is much smaller than yours and only crops. Row crops moved to hay only. Buy the large tractor you need and even here near Myrtle Beach like a cab in the winter and of course on our hot summer days. But a cab brings other advantages, safety. Helps protect from wasp and such, blown sprayer hoses with chemicals spraying everywhere, dust, trash and debris from mowers, the list goes on. Oh, if you have a child they can ride with you much safer in a cab than open station.

The other suggestion is, big tractor gets old for small jobs it also will not fit some places and it's weight will be an issue sometimes. Your L series will do more than you realize if you have the right size equipment for it.

 

[lman]

@MechanicalGuy - that's one heck of a hobby. I'm afraid to ask what you do for your 'real' job

Could be a mechanic?