Buying Advice First time tractor purchase...need advice

Don87 · Feb 13, 2011

TripleR said:
I was not interested. I have owned and driven enough tractors over the past fifty years to know there is no such thing.

When providing advice, I try to be as objective as I possibly can and don't brand bash or blindly recommend one over the other.

And as you can see, neither was I. I just linked to a post that I found interesting, it would appear that the writer of that post did his homework.

And as you saw, I told the OP of this thread to read that entire thread also. I personally made no claims of anything.

DAY · Feb 13, 2011

asi424 said:
I am a first time tractor buyer in need of some guidance. Here is what I am looking for: a 40 to 55 HP tractor with 4WD, live independent PTO, high capacity hyd pumps, creeper gear, R1 or R4 tires, and loader. I will be using a brush hog, 3pt disc, rotovator, manure spreder, flail chopper, grain drill, cultivator and transplanter (pull behind) with the tractor. I figure on putting about 300 hours a year on the tractor, growing 10 acres of vegetable crops.
-Dave

You say you are a first time buyer, so I have to ask, what are you planning to raise on your 10 acres of veggies? And where? What is the bush hog for? Why do you need a flail chopper and grain drill? For green manure?
Here in Eastern PA most farmers have more than one tractor. A loader to muck out the barn and fill/pull the manure spreader. An old "Poppin' Johnny" with a narrow front end for cultivating row crops, transplanting seedlings, hauling a field wagon full of produce back to the barn. And a Big One. On 10 acres, you sure could use a three bottom plow. I'm not too sure just one machine will do it all for you.

Talk to neighbors and the dealers, see what they use, before pulling the trigger on a used piece of equipment. 18K is a mighty tight budget.

bp fick · Feb 13, 2011

I know it sounds like a nostalgic, old guy posting, but I gotta say it anyhow.

I grew up on a truck farm of 10 acres and we had a traditional 80 acre farm of Grandpa down the road. (Ford 8N and Massey 30)

We farmed that 10 acres of vegetables with a 15 hp Massey designed exactly for this kind of work. It compared to a Farmall Cub or A, if you're familiar. It was one row tractor, one bottom plow. We thought we had it made!!!! Frankly, it was an awesome truck farming tractor and I still wish something like it was still made.

With truck farming, it's far different than anything else, and, bigger is absolutely not better.

For the other stuff? Well, that is different.

asi424 · Feb 13, 2011

DAY said:
You say you are a first time buyer, so I have to ask, what are you planning to raise on your 10 acres of veggies? And where? What is the bush hog for? Why do you need a flail chopper and grain drill? For green manure?
Here in Eastern PA most farmers have more than one tractor. A loader to muck out the barn and fill/pull the manure spreader. An old "Poppin' Johnny" with a narrow front end for cultivating row crops, transplanting seedlings, hauling a field wagon full of produce back to the barn. And a Big One. On 10 acres, you sure could use a three bottom plow. I'm not too sure just one machine will do it all for you.

Talk to neighbors and the dealers, see what they use, before pulling the trigger on a used piece of equipment. 18K is a mighty tight budget.

I hope to raise a large variety of mixed vegetable crops for direct marketing here in central PA starting in 2012. To be honest, I plan on alternating 5 acres of vegetable crops, and 5 acres cover crop/green manure, managed with the flail chopper and no-till drill. I am leasing the land, and the farmer that I am leasing from owns the chopper and drill, and will let me use them in exchange for keeping them in good repair. I guess the only reason that I want to get a brush hog is to mow the grass alleyways, and to have some vercitility in mowing; the chopper is off-set, and the brush hog will be directly behind the tractor. I figure that the brush hog would come in handy to mow down a single bed of crop, like tomatoes or broccoli, after they are done producing. I agree though, having another tractor would be extremely helpful, especially when loading the spreader. I worked on farms that had multiple tractors, and they sure made life a little easier. The one farm had a Farmall Super "C" with belly mounted cultivators, that was a great tractor. I would love to pick up one of those down the road.

DAY · Feb 14, 2011

More unasked for questions and advice: The flail mower will do a better job on the grass walkways than the bush hog. And you don't want to 'mow down' the tomatoes and broccoli, you want to turn them under- either with a moldboard plow, or that three point disc, although a wheeled disc with hydraulic cylinders will do a much better job. You can adjust its angle of attack to be very aggressive on those row crops- almost like a plow. (YouTube is a great place to "learn" farming. I saw several videos on just this topic (discing) last week.)

Where is the manure coming from? Is it close by? Cows? Are you planning to disc it in "raw", or will you compost it? Are you thinking about going full or partially organic? For many farmers manure is a nuisance, something to get rid of. Since you don't mention livestock as part of your operation, I assume you are using the manure by choice. How far do you have to haul it? I can say from experience that you want to get the biggest spreader you can pull/afford. Get a PTO, not ground driven. That way you can mix in other soil amendments, and can windrow for composting.

A bit off topic, but if you don't know about Elliot Coleman's organic operation in Maine, check it out. He has LOTS of info on tools, machinery, crop rotation, and all that good farming stuff. Plus a wealth of info on direct marketing, farmers markets, coops, etc.

-DAY "too old to farm, and too dumb to quit."

asi424 · Dec 28, 2011

Well as it turns out, I ended up finding a real nice Ford 2120 diesel 4x4 with a loader in April of 2011 for $11,000. I used it all summer and it works great. I gave some thought to what you said DAY, and since I still had some money in the budget, I ended up getting a second tractor. I just purchased a International 444 diesel for $4000, still keeping me under budget (till I need to get parts):thumbsup: Thanks for all the advice. Now it is on to winter repairs.