2-wheeled or compact tractor?

[motownbrowne]

Lots and lots of great info here. Maybe you've already done this, but Google "tractors for vegetable production". Lots of great PDFs from extension agencies on the topic.

Of course there's tons of ways to skin a cat, but I'll say that for farming, 4wd isn't a must. Often if the ground is wet enough to need 4wd it's too wet to be in the field. Don't get me wrong. I love my 4wd, but I'm lifting pallets of firewood, feed, skidding logs, etc. It doesn't sound like you're doing that stuff.

By the way, we grow a touch more than an acre of vegetables for wholesale market. Before the Kubota, we had two 8ns, a Troy-bilt horse, and two wheel hoes. Dad did it that way for 40 years. You don't need to spend 10-20 grand to get started. You should look around at other veggie operations and see what works for them. If you have flat land and can do straight rows a cultivating tractor could be slick. Some like the offset Ford workmaster also have a PTO and three point. A tractor like that could do everything you need. There's one on c-list here for 6500 in great shape. That'd leave room in the budget for a troy-bilt and some implements too. Then in a couple years if you're making money and having fun but want a nice little 4x4 tractor/loader you can buy one and have yourself a real nice setup.

Good luck.

 

[Flatlandfarmer]

farmerboybill and motownbrowne, thanks for the perspective. What you say makes a lot of sense. My terrain and usage won't be unusually challenging and farmers have been using 2WD quite successfully for a long time. I think in the end, it's not the equipment that makes the farm or the farmer. Right now I'm sifting through a few JD like the 850, 950, 870, 970, etc. and trying to learn what I can. I'm making progress!

 

[farmerboybill]

My FIL has a 1050. It's a nice little tractor. Unfortunately, JD is not supporting it very well anymore. Fortunately, the little 1050 seldom needs any parts, either. It's basically a Yanmar painted green.

 

[TomSeller]

farmerboybill and motownbrowne, thanks for the perspective. What you say makes a lot of sense. My terrain and usage won't be unusually challenging and farmers have been using 2WD quite successfully for a long time. I think in the end, it's not the equipment that makes the farm or the farmer. Right now I'm sifting through a few JD like the 850, 950, 870, 970, etc. and trying to learn what I can. I'm making progress!

Those are all good choices. If your loyalty is green because of a specific dealer, you might want to check Yanmar dealers in your area. Deere is losing some sourcing of spare parts on Yanmar made tractors such as these.

 

[ironwood]

Watch MANY of the newer tractors are having rear casting/front knuckle issues with the thin aluminum and under engineering...look around TBN by brand and you will see some of the issues. I have had/built form parts, the 8N's they are great......finally went with a 955 JD...hyrostat, FEL, etc....old enough to be well made, new enough to throw my son/wife on to do all sorts of work. We are VERY hilly here and the 8N was just too tough to get stopped at times and no power steering made it a no go for a FEL. I am going 955 and some walk behinds for cultivating in my organic fields...