2410 or 2710

[David USMC]

Im really dumb, forgot to use the profile section. Cathy where are you located in NC. If you are around Winston Salem or MT Airy I can really give you some advice on dealers. Either post on the forum or E-Mail me. P.S., most of the info I have on soil compaction came from Dr Mary Peet at NCSU...being a Wolfpack alumni I am of course favorable to her input.LOL

 

[Bird]

JimBinMI, maybe one of these days I'll find a convenient opportunity to weigh my tractor, but in the meantime, I really don't know what it weighs. As far as leaving tire impressions in the lawn? (you'll notice I said "yard"; not "lawn"). I don't have the kind of manicured lawn out here that I had in town. From the road it looks great, but it's actually pretty rough, and I'm sure I have a different kind of soil from what you are accustomed to. It's a black clay that is very soft, muddy, sticks to your shoes, etc. in cultivated ground like my garden. But where it is not plowed, it's firm and solid even when wet. I could drive my pickup across the front yard in a rainstorm and not leave any tracks, except in the grass. When it gets really dry in the summer, big cracks appear, then when it rains, it settles and I have new low spots to haul more dirt from the back of the pasture to fill in (there's no way I can afford the time and money to water about 3 acres of yard and a vegetable garden). And when it's dry, I'm not going to leave much in the way of tractor tracks even though I'm running R1 tires (if I had thought of it when I bought the tractor, I'd have probably specified R4s).

And if Cathy wants a smaller tractor, that's fine. Maybe she'd like it better, and she can find them in blue, green, or orange, and it'll do what she says she's going to do right now, and maybe into the future. However, if she acquires more land later, she may want to trade up, so she might be ahead to buy bigger to start with. Or she might be like me, and price might be a major factor./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[Bird]

Yeah, David, making the rows 5 feet apart does waste a lot of space; however, it makes it easier to till between the rows (I don't like those long handled tools like a hoe!), and I hand water by walking up and down the rows with the wand; serves two purposes, use less water and keeps down the weeds and grass between the rows.

Of course, my garden is really tapering off already this year, partly because I started early and partly because of the grasshopper plague. I only picked 2.5 gallons of black-eyed peas, 5 gallons of cucumbers, 5 gallons of squash, 8 gallons of bell peppers, and 12 gallons of tomatoes this morning (I picked about 4 gallons of tomatoes yesterday; now if I just had someone who'd come pick about that many more tomatoes . ..) And I picked a couple of gallons of okra and 3 gallons of plums yesterday. I finished picking all the corn and mowed down the stalks day before yesterday. And my wife is saying, enough already. She says all her canning jars and the freezers are full, and to plant less next year.

Bird

 

[David USMC]

Bird, I heard a radio report on those grasshoppers. What are you doing to control them. The person interviewed stated that if he used a chemical control there is not a benefit if his neighbor does not do the same thing. Sounds like you have a great garden. I dont consider it wasted space, just wish I could do the same thing. What do the local experts advise on how to deal with the grasshoppers...QQQ

 

[stvman]

Jim; the Tim the tool man taylor comment was a joke!!! Sorry if I offended you.

I know what a diesel will do and not do I live in NH (the granite state, lots of huge hunks of it EVERYWHERE) so maybe I do overkill when I buy equiptment. But I own a 580 case on 1/2 acre and NEVER run out of work to do with it including work for frends and neighbors with small tractors.

I will also reiterate my point, go to any local dealer any brand of compact look at what they have for used equiptment and nine times out of ten, customer upgraded to a LARGER tractor/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I dont feel it is a disservice to get the best bang for your buck. If you have a lawn like Ward Cleaver by all means buy a BX, but if you ever plan to do serious work with it any Kubota owner or dealer will tell you it is too small.

Again I had no intention of pushing anyone in the wrong direction just an opinion/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[W5FL]

Cathy,

I grew up on 2 1/2 acres and we had a decent size Farmall tractor to use on the property. It was used to plow, disc, and harrow which is the same thing that a tiller does in one pass. The B2710 and B2910 are really nice tractors and when teamed with a tiller make it possible to plant a nice garden easily. My garden is also 1/4 acre, but that is enough to be a real chore without the correct tools. I can till the garden with a tiller on the tractor and never get off until the job is complete. The ground is so soft, that I planted 16 100 ft rows in about an hour with an inexpensive manual planter with no assistance from anyone else. Had to plant other crops by hand. When you add a loader later, you will really appreciate the size of these tractors as the loader is capable of lifting and/or spreading everything that you will need to do and it makes it possible to do so many things that you only wish you could handle without a tractor.

The other issue that keeps getting brought up is soil compaction. It really is NOT very dependent on the size of the tractor or the weight. It is dependent on the weight of the tractor divided by the footprint of the tractor. Larger tractors have larger tires and the corresponding compaction does not vary nearly as much as you would think.

These are also good mowing tractors too. They are compact in size, but quite powerful to get the jobs done.

Since someone suggested that a smaller tractor might work, Bird provided some good insight since he had one and traded up to the B2710, which he is very satisfied with now. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Alan L.]

Whenever you need to pick up that big rock or move a lot dirt your tractor won't know how many acres you have. More tractor = more work in less time.

Three-point finish mower is less expensive and easier to mow UNDER the trees because you can back it in.

 

[Bird]

David, there have been a lot of concoctions mentioned in the local newspaper for controlling grasshoppers (as is the case with fire ants), but the bottom line seems to be that none of them work very well unless everyone in the area uses them (and that won't happen). I broadcast Logic on the yard a couple of times a year for the fire ants, and I spray Diazinon in and around the shop and around the house to control fire ants, mud daubers, wasps, and spiders, but I've never used any kind of chemicals on the vegetable garden. I'm certainly not opposed to the use of chemicals; I just wanted to try it without and see what would happen and as long as it produces more than we can use, I've continued that way. The grasshoppers destroyed my green beans early this year, so I only had about half as many to give away as normal, but we still had all we could use and gave away some, too. And I'm only getting about a fifth as much black-eyed peas as expected, but again that's all my wife wants to have to can (just another 6 pints yesterday). The last time I sprayed Diazinon around the house, I killed grasshoppers by the hundreds, but the very next day, we had them all around the house again./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif It does seem that since the big rain last Sunday (3"), we have fewer grasshoppers, and we got another .65" yesterday and it's raining again this morning./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[JimBinMI]

Cathy,

I think you're right about the 22 hp BX, it is an overgrown lawnmower but it seems to fit many people's needs. Did you look at the B7500 (if you must buy Orange), it is 21 hp, larger in size than the BX's, has power steering, I believe more capacity at the 3 pt. than the BX, but I think that I've read here that it lacks position control, maybe someone that knows can comment. Steve Carver advertises the B7500 for $10,000 it appears to be a "best buy" amoung the Kubota's if you look at all the prices.

As far as resale, I believe that the smaller diesels have just as much resale as the larger, just go shop for a 16-21 hp and first see if you can find one, then look at the prices!

If you do a search under B1700 or look for PaulB's posts, he has a B1700, 17 hp not made anymore that he gets a lot of work out of, more than you're posting that you need. I know a lot of these guys post "go bigger" but if that was the case, there would be no market for sub-compact or compact tractors!

Good Luck, I mean it, if you have a New Holland dealer near you be careful...if you go look you might just buy one!

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Cathy]

Bird,
I don't like to use poisons but if I don't I don't think I would have any green beans.Every year the bean beetles munch them down to the stem if I don't dust or spray. I am very interested in your wide row idea & using the tractor instead of the walk behind tiller to cultivate. How much does a cultivator plow cost? This probably sounds really stupid but this is my first tractor so I have alot to learn. I haven't quite understood how you decide how far apart to make the rows & how you get the tractor thru w/o driving over your vegetables. I will read your post again to try to understand it. I have always planted my garden with the rows wide enough to get my tiller between them so I don't have to use that awful hoe anymore than absolutely necessary. I hoe alot less than I should, I usually use my tilller to knock down the majority of weeds. I am almost sure I want the B2710-even though it is orange! I wish it were blue! Now I am mainly trying to decide between 60" & 72 " belly mower. I think I really need a bush hog for the field but can't have everything I want & I am definitely buying a belly mower, just hope the grass in the field doesnt hurt the mower.It isnt rocky & is mostly level.The only time it is real bumpy is when it has been plowed. I wonder if I should mow the field first or disk it since it is full of grass & weeds right now. Also I am going to check the difference between the B2710 & the B2910, if it is VERY close in price I might consider it too. Maybe Rick Jay could tell me how much more he paid for the 30HP than the 27HP My neighbor told me she has some disks she will give me.She says they are rusty, she only used them for one project/ bought them used. Can I get something to remove the rust? I dont know if she has them in her barn or out in the open field getting rust on them. I know the tiller will do a better job but it will give me a way to plow until I am ready to buy the tiller. Then I have to decide what width tiller. I really need to make alot of decisions before I buy everything. I might buy a tractor next week.The implements will have to come later to keep my payment down. I appreciate all the suggestions everyone has offered me. I really have ALOT to learn.