1st Time Buyer needs help, asking the experts...

[Wistractorguy]

Hi, My wife and I purchased 17acres, rolling hills, mostly an old alfalfa field. We just planted approx 1,700 trees on the front 3-4 acres. In addition, our drive way will be approx 2000 ft from the road to the house, so its well set back. We are from East central wisconsin, so we endure all 4 seasons.
We are planning on building next year and I am looking for a compact tractor to handle all of our needs. (which after going to a few dealers, have found that may be a difficult thing to do). So I am searching for some real "users" professional help.
This is our situation, in order to help our trees grow, we would like something to work in between the rows, to keep the weeds and other grasses under control, so they dont starve out our seedlings. In addition to that, there will be quite some landscaping to do after the house is built. We plan on having a pond (which will be professional dug), and are uncertain as to how much grass we will be mowing, although we would like to cut a nice sized area to make our home look nice. Then in winter I have issues with the snow removal from our 2000 ft gravel driveway. (which by the way, I start work at 5am, must leave by 0425 and would like to get the snow removed to be able to make it to work--as we do not own a 4x4 truck) The other thing is, I dont care to get up at 2am to clear the drive to make it to work on time.
I have been researching Kubota's line of tractors, specifically in the B7800 area, to include the B2910 and the 3130. I know they are offering some awsum financing rates right now.
However if anyone can tell me what the other brands comparable models are, I would be open to suggestions.
I am no different than anyone else on here, I am hoping to find the best machine that suits our needs for the best price. If you could also include the list of implements that we should plan on having, that may help as well. Plus it appears the Kubota dealers have told me they will include those in the financing.
So if anyone can help me out, It would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks....Todd (City boy, moving to the country)

 

[Bird]

Todd, I think you're already looking at the right tractors, although if there are dealers nearby, I think you ought to look at John Deere and New Holland. They, and the Kubota, are the "big 3", but if you've been reading on this forum, you undoubtedly know there are quite a number of other brands that you may, or may not, want to consider. As for the ones you've looked at, the smaller one will get into tighter places (between trees, etc.) and will perhaps compact the soil less for finish mowing, while the larger will handle larger implements and get the work done faster.

As for implements, you definitely will want the front end loader. Then you'll want mower(s). For lawn mowing, a lot of folks prefer the mid-mount mowers, while I personally would prefer a 3-point rear discharge mower. Then you'll want a brush hog or rotary cutter for pasture type mowing. However, you might consider a flail mower, sometimes known as orchard mowers. I don't know if a flail mower would do a smooth enough job for you to like it on the lawn or not, but there's just the possibility that the one flail might be substituted for the other two mowers. If the driveway is not going to be paved, I'd want a box blade to maintain it (and you'll find lots of other uses as well for a box blade). Adding hydraulic top 'n tilt to the 3-point will save you lots of time on jobs.

And then you'll want snow removal equipment. Now I don't play in the snow /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif, so I'll let others tell you about snow blowers and/or blades, but you'll want the optional worklights installed on the ROPS (or the canopy if you're getting one) and you'll undoubtedly want lights facing both forward and backward. You can have the dealer add them, or you can buy them elsewhere and install them yourself. Do you have any slopes or hills? You might want to consider a tiltmeter from R&B Manufacturing.

Hope this helps you get started, and lots of folks here can help more if you have specific questions.

 

[JATO_RaT]

Are the trees part of a orchard? Will they be in rows? I am not familiar with Wisconsin, but here in CA, orchards are eliminating the grass between trees and going to drip or zone irrgation for each tree. Mowing is still done between rows, but not nearly as often. I know back East, irrigation is a bit more foreign as rain takes care off a lot of those needs. We get no rain in the Summer and into Fall.

If your planning on doing any sizeable loader work, the Kubota L3130 or even larger with the LA 723 would make a nice fit for your place. If your on hills and also mow a lot, the HST transmission is ideal. Going to the L3830 or L4330 gives you a bit more PTO HP which in turn will run larger width mowers. I think a brush mower would be ideal since you can use it to mulch a great deal of the tree trimmings as well. I would go as wide as you can. We use a 16' brush mower at our orchard. It's run by a much larger tractor, but the row is done in one pass. A foldable ROPS (basically a rollbar) is also a necessity or no ROPS at all or your going to break way to many branches. Todays compacts all come with ROPS with the option to fold it down. The new Kubota L30 series is awesome. I bought a L3830 HST 3 weeks ago after taking a hard look at both Deere and NH. I have yet to run anything as smooth including my recently sold L48. Both NH and JD also make some great tractors and deserve your attention and comparison. Other brands like Kioti are also available and if you have a dealer anywhere in the vicinity, check them out as well. I too am in much the same position as you. We will be building a home in the near future. We have some orchard here at home. I know the loader will get plenty of use for home building and the convenience is especially important. A good quality box scraper is almost a necessity for any amount of grading you plan to do and makes a great and safe way to ballast your tractor from tipping forward with heavy loads in the loader bucket. You should get plenty of advice from the good folks here. My thoughts are the Kubota L3130, L3830 or even the L4330 for its great loader. NH will be the TC 33D, TC 35D, TC 40D and the JD will be the 4310, 4410, or even the 4610. The fun is just begining! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Rat...