5 acres of mixed ground - What "little Deere" do I need ( D155, S240, X330)

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Re: 5 acres of mixed ground - What "little Deere" do I need ( D155, S240, X330)

It's called a mini farm lol, it's not so hard to justify a large tractor for what seems like seemingly smaller tasks, I could justify a 48hp 4 family JD for 3 acres lol.

2 ways to look at a tractor investment, 1. tractors hold there value stupidly well so you have much less loss with a tractor than you will in a new truck, much much less.

2. The back factor, it only took me one time of unloading 3,800lbs of small square bales to know if I plan to do this another 20-30 years, my body won't like me, so I started shopping for a tractor with a loader strong enough to lift round bales.

When my tractor is paid off I don't have to buy another for prob as long as I need one for, I can either pass it on or sell it down the road.

I paid 24k for my tractor, 6 year loan at I believe 4%.

I was going to sign on a Mahindra 1533 for around 22-23k and found this JD used and bought it because it was a bigger cabbed tractor at the same price.

What do you mean by mini cows?

I'll give you the same lesson I was given talking about cattle and chickens and there proper terminology, a few guys jumped me on it.

Steer is a castrated male bovinae.

Bull is a intact bovinae.

Heifer is a young female bovinae that has never birthed a calf.

Cow is a mature adult female that has birthed many calves.

Calf is a young bovine, normally under a year old.

Beef cattle refers to the breed of the bovinae (angus, Hereford ext)

Dairy cattle refers to the cattle that produce much more milk after giving birth (Holstine, Jersey ext)

Lowline cattle are shorter in stance than the regular breed. (Lowline Angus, Lowline Hereford ext)

In the chicken world a chicken breed that's better for eating are called meat chickens, I mistakenly said meat cows (Beef Cattle), when I first got cattle and was jumped by quite a few guys.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Re: 5 acres of mixed ground - What "little Deere" do I need ( D155, S240, X330)

Also before you get horses I would suggest you kill the entire pasture, till it up and reseed it with a quality pasture grass like a timothy, orchard grass mixture with a higher alfalfa content, it will save you from buying so much hay if you have quality forage for your horses.

It's best to rotational graze also to give time for the pasture to recover, when horses eat grass they snip it down at ground level which stunts the grasses growth, you pastures will quickly fall behind the needs of the animals and you will be forced to haul more hay, if you would set up two pastures around the same size, that would be ideal. If the horses don't have anything to eat they get bored and start chewing on your fence, gates, anything they can nibble on.

I have 3 stalls in my barn, guy before me had horses, they almost chewed threw a few 4x4 supports for the stalls, pretty much everything in there that's wood was chewed on. They can get destructive.

 

[Treozen]

Re: 5 acres of mixed ground - What "little Deere" do I need ( D155, S240, X330)

What do you mean by mini cows?

Like mini ponies, only they are cows. Literally cows, multiple breeds and uses (milk, meat, etc) that are give or take, 1/3 the size of a "normal" cow. These mini cows are supposed to be more efficient in converting food to meat, so although smaller, you get more beef for your $$ and since they are smaller, they don't tend to be as hard on pasture land, etc. Obviously they take up less space, make less "mess" eat less food and drink less water per head. There are also easier to handle - something knee to hip-high versus a full grown "normal" cow. Mini cows can be as small as 40". There are multiple breeds, even mini long horns....that look exactly like the big ones, only tiny. 1 Miniature Cattle Breeds for Your Small Farm | Big Picture Agriculture