Hello and another newbie tractor thread. 5 acres in NE Tennessee.

[jeff9366]

EVERYONE mentions Kubota to me.

Japanese company but by and large built here correct? Well I am fiercely loyal to my fellow Americans and I try to buy everything USA made and sometimes I pay through the nose for it, but I just feel the job I save may one day be my own. Is John Deere going to let me down if I go that route?

Is my loyalty to USA made good misplaced in this endeavor, like JD is no more USA made than Kubota?

Kubota has 50% market share of new compact tractor market in USA. Deere has 20% market share of new compact tractor market in USA. Twenty-five other tractor brands compete for the 30% residual market share for new compact tractors in the USA.

All compact tractors sold in the USA are comprised of USA and imported components. Component origins change over time, depending on foreign exchange rates.

I speculate that Kubota and Deere compact tractors are around 40% USA parts and assembly, 60% imported components, usually engines, by dollar sales value. SPECULATION!

Both Kubota and Deere have major compact tractor manufacturing and assembly plants in Georgia.

USA was 35% of Kubota's worldwide revenue in 2019. I have no idea for Deere.

 

[ACfixer]

Thank you Jeff, you've been really helpful and I appreciate your time.

I see you own orange, do you feel apples and apples I am going to get less apples if they are green? I mean there must be a reason why Kubota is hands down the leader in the compact market, probably several... That kind of thing doesn't happen by accident. The idea of that beautiful green and yellow tractor under the shed roof attached to my shop, if there are no other headaches other than a couple grand on the front end I'll consider it. But if for the same class machine it's going to cost me untold thousands going forward from that point, well you get the idea and it probably goes back to why one company dominates the market.

 

[jeff9366]

Kubota entered the USA market with subcompact tractors. Kubota has the advantage that subcompact and compact tractor markets have been the sectors with greatest unit growth. With '0" interest rates in Japan for twenty years or so, Kubota introduced '0' interest financing on tractors and implements purchased together. Zero interest financing has been a huge tractor marketing advantage. Kubota has also resisted licensing their name to others who put cheap, minimum quality products not manufactured by Deere, with Deere green and yellow applied, into big box stores.

Deere may lead Kubota in total USA tractor revenue. Deere makes compacts equal to Kubota but the priority for Deere is 100-horsepower to 600-horsepower high tech 'big ag' tractors. Threads are posted here regularly about compact tractor shoppers being ignored or given short shift at Deere dealers. Most Deere dealers are parts of regional chains these days and seem to have lost the common touch. There are few family owned and operated Deere dealerships in 2020.

Aside from scaling up and scaling down the Three Point Hitch equipped tractor has not changed in basic design since Henry Ford licensed Harry Ferguson's Three Point Hitch design on Harry Ferguson's tractor design in 1939. When men left the farm for WW2 shortly thereafter Ford owned the tractor market. Ferguson's patents expired in the mid-1950s.

Today many decide on which tractor model primarily by HST pedal design and ergonomics as the essential tractors are so similar. (Nothing wrong with comfort.) Parts availability and warranty service vary considerably between brands and dealers.

I have purchased two new Kubotas because the five-person-staffed Kubota dealer is six miles from my home and has always been fair and helpful. Always. The Deere dealer, owned by Ag South, is ten miles distant and ignored me, a cash customer, when I was shopping both times. ( My first tractor was a very used Deere 750 "learner".)

Tractors are a tough business:
https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...defunct-tractor-manufacturers.html?highlight=

 

[dodge man]

When I bought a Kubota 11 years ago the local JD dealer didn’t seem interested in my business. I traded my Kubota in a little over a year ago and this time the JD dealer seemed interested in selling me a tractor and the Kubota dealer didn’t even call me back with a price. In my area farming is really big so there aren’t many dealers that just sell small tractors. Depending on the dealer and a salesman’s attitude he may blow you off to sell a 250k combine to someone. I’ve only bought 2 tractors but both times it was different than buying a car or truck. Car salesman want to sell you something that day, with tractors they don’t seem to expect to make a sale that day.

Dumb question, is there a house on the 5 acres or are you building.

 

[shooterdon]

I was going to buy a Kubota last year and went with an LS. Saved about $10k. I have 20 acres and got an LS4140 For 5 acres I agree with the others...your choice is too big.

Look at the other brands and evaluate the dealers. You will likely put 100 hrs a year on the machine. A "commercial" duty tractor is not needed for guys like us.

I recently had my range extended into the woods by 100 yards. My neighbor had hired a contractor to put in a trail and I had the contractor stop in when he was done with my neighbors project. $250 ($125/hr) was all it cost me to extend by shooting lane 100 yards. A bulldozer with a good operator is a bargain. Even if I had paid $750, that is a lot cheaper than a huge tractor and the BH. And bulldozer is three times faster.

Hire out the big stuff. Buy a smaller tractor.

BTW, the only reason I got the 4140 was to get the lift capacity I needed to handle firewood and enough tractor weight to deal with snow removal. My firewood is stored in modified IBC totes that weigh about 2000 lbs with green wood.

Be cognizant of the jobs you will be doing regularly and what your needs are. Wanting something like a BH because you might need it is an expensive desire. In 6 years I have spent $600 to have all my BH work done. One last thought. If you have a neighbor with a BH, it is cheaper to use him...and at times "free" if you can barter other jobs you can do for him.

BTW, I did a small job for one of my neighbors and charged him $75 for an hours work. I would have done it for nothing but I do not want to be pestered every time someone needs a "little" job done. And some neighbors and better than others...LOL

 

[kenmbz]

Seems like it's time to actually go out and ride a few, if the dealer won;t let you test ride, then maybe it's time for another dealer, but most will accommodate.

 

[ACfixer]

Dumb question, is there a house on the 5 acres or are you building.

Haha not a dumb question at all since I guess I didn't mention it originally. Yeah, there is a 2,000 sq. ft. two story house on the property. Centrally located on the property, I have about 2 acres of jungle on one side and about 2.5 acres of wooded on the other.

I recently had my range extended into the woods by 100 yards.

That's part of the work I need to do Don. I'll only be able to safely get out to about 150 yards (I have 510 feet across that property line), but to do so I will need some clearing and a nice berm down on the business end. On the other side of that is slightly rising terrain and the neighbor's cows. But coming from SoCal even being able to shoot on my property is a HUGE blessing, having a 100+ yard range is a dream. Enough to sight in my hunting rifles right? To the right is rising terrain towards my house so cutting away some earth will make a great pistol range, in fact I've done some of the clearing with my chainsaw and have already utilized it for pistols and rifles. But my plan is a shooting shack on the S/E corner, rifles out to 100+ to the west and pistols maybe 25 yards to the north.

All of my neighbors are firearms friendly as you would probably expect in rural TN. I've caught all manner of Tennessee wildlife on my game cams... I'll probably buy another 100 acres somewhere near after I finish my move. I'm seriously excited about this!

Seems like it's time to actually go out and ride a few, if the dealer won;t let you test ride, then maybe it's time for another dealer, but most will accommodate.

I was even thinking of the local rental yard Ken, they are great folks there and I'll bet I can rent a few to get the idea. But they are a Bobcat dealer... Not sure what else they handle off the top of my head. I do have a local tractor dealer within 15 miles for nearly every major brand name. Johnson City Kubota guys were really friendly but I visited during the most restrictive of the COVID stuff so my interaction was really limited.

 

[Grandad4]

Have to give another vote for getting the big iron in to do your major clearing and grading work. The Appalachians are very old mountains but were once equal to the Rockies or Sierras in size, so running into rocks, boulders or solid rock is not uncommon when doing construction work in Eastern Tennessee. While you might get lucky if you're doing your own work, you could also find the tip of another Rock of Gibraltar hidden underneath your 5 acres. i would size your future equipment to the needs after the trails are cut and the land cleared.

 

[ACfixer]

I completely see your point folks, a bulldozer and a competent operator will do in two hours what it would take me weeks to do with pretty much anything I would buy. Keeping my goals and expectations realistic will save me some frustration and money.

 

[rScotty]

Well hello everyone, my name is Lance... moving from SoCal to my newly purchased 5 acres in Jonesborough TN. Was suggested by some great folks on another site to glean from your wisdom here at TBN so here I am! I just posted all this info and tried to link a picture of my property and my entire post was deleted due to not having enough posts, so I'll post the pic in the next entry. Look forward to getting to know you folks, and I am in the HVAC biz for the last 40 years so if there's anything I can do to help by answering any tech questions for you please feel free to ask. Happy to give back when I can. And if you want to talk about airplanes, Harleys, shooting, and guitars... well I am always game for that. :thumbsup:

Anyway, I am considering perhaps the Kubota L47 TLB to work my fairly heavily wooded 5 acre land, fairly sloped in most areas. Clearing trees, setting posts, terracing, you know.... tractor stuff.

Regards,
Lance

The L47 is a heavy duty TLB - only a short step below a commercial type TLB but in a smaller more maneuverable package. TLBs are purpose-built, & basically stronger everywhere, more stable, and more expensive than a tractor with a loader and backhoe combination. I'd say it looks about right for the pictures you posted and the work you have planned.

Which type - TLB or tractor with loader and backhoe - is the right type for you depends a lot on how much of the work on your land you would rather do yourself, versus how much you prefer to hire out. Having your own Kubota TLB doesn't stop you from hiring heavier equipment whenever you want, it just means that by havingyour own equipment you get to do more of the work yourself whenever you want and on your own schedule. You don't have to do the work yourself, but you can do most of it. Especially with a thumb on the backhoe.

You asked about downsides to a TLB. Expense is the big one. TLBs cost more. Another downside is that you have to drop off the backhoe to mount the 3pt. hitch. That's about a 20 minute job. But really not much different than a utility tractor with loader oand backhoe attachment on which you have to disable or remove 3pt functions to hook the backhoe attachment up to the subframe. Again, about a 20 minute job.

Another downside to the TLB is mowing. Tractors are made to do a variety of mowing and haying jobs. Theoretically the TLB could too, as it has a PTO and a 3pt hitch. But other than towing a brush cutter over rough pasture, mowing with a heavy fat tire TLB it would be sort of like doing precision carpentry with a pocket sledgehammer. Yes, it does drive nails just fine.....but....

Which implement you leave on and whether that is an advantage or not depends on the work to be done. The tractor is set primarily for towed 3pt implements on improved ground, as in agriculture. The TLB is set up primarily for lifting, carrying, and digging operations on rougher ground that is being cleared or landscaped. But either will do what the other will. They are just specialized on different directions.

Having either one doesn't stop you from hiring - or buying - other equipment as needed. But expense might.
rScotty