1.5 acres. Am I nuts for thinking about a tractor?

[Mike1955]

Hey all! I've been lurking for a bit but I've yet to see a use case quite like mine.

We recently bought a large ~1.5 acre property and historic home in a small town center in Maine. Originally a small horse farm, it was at one point extensively landscaped like a park, with lots of garden plots and about 60 old growth maples and while it's not a big property, it's been a fairly high maintenance one for its small size. The whole property is on a gently sloping hillside with about an acre of lawn, which currently takes me about 90+ minutes to mow with a commercial walk behind (there's a ZTR in our near future). On top of that, it had been neglected for a couple of decades when we bought it, and we're in the process of digging it out from the overgrowth and restoring it to its former glory.

We've got a long list of major landscaping projects planned, including building stone stairs and doing a lot of terracing/retaining wall construction to build foundations for an outdoor dining pavilion as well as a workshop/sugar shack/garage for the ZTR. In addition, the 60 maples generate about 20 cubic yards of leaves every year, which has been "fun" to manage and sustains a leaf pile that's about 45'x25'x6' deep. We're also doing the millennial hobby farmer thing and expanding a large vegetable garden and I'm growing a large hobbyist/small commercial scale maple syrup operation.

With the cost of getting any work done these days, I figure I'm easily at $30-40k or more to get all of the outstanding landscaping projects done, and between moving sap barrels around the yard during syrup season, gardening/landscaping odds and ends, and turning over our large compost pile, a loader would be nice to have. Am I crazy for thinking that a tractor more than pays for itself with the landscaping/earthmoving projects and afterwards becomes a useful tool for managing a small but high maintenance property while raising a growing family and often being pressed for time? What size/hp range should I be considering?

The only rear implements I'd likely be running are a box blade, a small rotary cultivator, and probably a wood chipper. I'd like to be able to lift/move ~800lbs for the landscaping projects. I was thinking that a 25hp emissions-exempt compact with loaded tires would be a good place to start. My local dealerships sell Deere, Kubota, Kioti, Massey Ferguson, and Yanmar, and they all seem pretty decent. If I even need a tractor, what should I look for?

Absolutely not. Get on big enough. 40 hp. No less than 35. You will love it and don’t be afraid to buy a used one. People do pass and their equipment has to be sold. Just stay away from the stealerships. Lol

 

[buckeyefarmer]

A BX would be perfect

 

[boatmoter]

60 trees? that would be a lot of serious zig zagging with a tractor. I have 1 acre with bout 20 trees, I use a JD 320 48" cut hydro for yrs and now only use it in my fenced back yard and I have a international 234 compact tractor I use on the other 3/4 of the property with a 60" belly mower and a 48" 3 point rake,this set up works great

 

[Soloz2]

60 trees? that would be a lot of serious zig zagging with a tractor. I have 1 acre with bout 20 trees, I use a JD 320 48" cut hydro for yrs and now only use it in my fenced back yard and I have a international 234 compact tractor I use on the other 3/4 of the property with a 60" belly mower and a 48" 3 point rake,this set up works great

60 trees on 1 acre is nothing. I had double that on my just over acre lot when I moved in. Sadly, many were ash and I've removed 81 so far and have 4 more standing dead still. I have 3 more that I've been able to successfully treat so for now they are alive and doing well. The rest of the trees are a mix of maple, pine, spruce, and fruit. I'm planning to add a couple more spruce, another shade tree, and a cherry tree or two.
Definitely wish I would have gotten a zero turn as mowing takes a few hours to navigate everything with my 46" cub cadet XT2.

 

[rScotty]

A BX would be perfect

A little small for dealing with trees. Even on an acre, with that many trees I'd not be afraid of something in the 40 to 60 hp range. It needs the frame strength for lifting.

 

[boatmoter]

60 trees on 1 acre is nothing. I had double that on my just over acre lot when I moved in. Sadly, many were ash and I've removed 81 so far and have 4 more standing dead still. I have 3 more that I've been able to successfully treat so for now they are alive and doing well. The rest of the trees are a mix of maple, pine, spruce, and fruit. I'm planning to add a couple more spruce, another shade tree, and a cherry tree or two.
Definitely wish I would have gotten a zero turn as mowing takes a few hours to navigate everything with my 46" cub cadet XT2.

you have more patience then I, it would drive me nuts. I have 1 acre and I have 15 on mine. I use a JD 18hp hydraulic deck,hydrostat for the back yard bout 1/3 of and acre fenced in and a compact tractor with a 60" cut belly mower on the rest