Buying Advice Always two there must be?!

   / Always two there must be?! #12  
That's what my father in law does. MF165 runs the disk mower, mf150 has a tedder on it, Ford 3000 has the rotovator rake. That gives him a day or two to get the disk mower off and hook up to the round bailer with the mf165. And there's a skid steer to load the bails on trailers, and a mf135 with a loader back at the barn to unload and stacked with... yup, ol man is tractor poor...
 
   / Always two there must be?! #13  
Not a bad theory. If you're in the farming business, you get to depreciate your equipment so it's not the same as those of us who just own property that needs work. But heck, some of us own more than one tractor too! Funny how that works.

More to the point, if you use your equipment enough that you wear it out, if you have more it wears out more slowly and doesn't cost you any more. Let's say you can wear out a piece of equipment in four years. If you have two of them each will last eight years with the same use. Either way you're buying a new one every four years on average.
 
   / Always two there must be?! #14  
Lol... I think my father in law is on the 50 year trade in schedule. Every tractor he has is 40+ years old!
 
   / Always two there must be?! #15  
Lol... I think my father in law is on the 50 year trade in schedule. Every tractor he has is 40+ years old!


These tractors you mention are easy to work on and fix as needed. Bet he has all of them paid for and knows what the capabilities of each are. Plenty of back up in case one goes down during hay season. Sounds reasonable to me.
 
   / Always two there must be?! #16  
If you have the budget, the two-tractor approach does have its benefits. Ever been stuck on the woods and unable to extract yourself with bucket / backhoe? And somewhere that the pickup could never go? That second tractor has saved me about once per year at my place. Also handy with breakdowns, etc. Spend reasonable money on a good older 2nd machine and don't look back. Not like it will be worth less if you need to sell it.

I like the one tractor per implement idea. That would be very handy sometimes. Storage space might be an issue, though.
 
   / Always two there must be?! #17  
If you are going to be loading a two wheeled trailer with the tongue supported by the jack I would definitely want a second tractor to keep the trailer hitched up. My faith in jacks supporting loads is minimal at best. tractors are much easier and less painful to repair than smashed legs and feet from a jack collapsing.
 
   / Always two there must be?!
  • Thread Starter
#18  
If you are going to be loading a two wheeled trailer with the tongue supported by the jack I would definitely want a second tractor to keep the trailer hitched up. My faith in jacks supporting loads is minimal at best. tractors are much easier and less painful to repair than smashed legs and feet from a jack collapsing.

My cart is a two wheeler. Maybe that's why he suggested it.
 
   / Always two there must be?! #19  
Two tractors are preferable to one in most cases. You need one 60+ HP and one 30- HP so you can get to all places and lift large loads when needed. I prefer to have FEL on both. I use my LS to move large loads, push over trees, pull up stumps, bushhog pasture, till up the garden with 72" tiller and disk up pasture for reseeding. I use my Kubota TLB for digging, all kinds of digging like stumps, dead standing trees, rocks, burial plots for animals and moving small amounts of dirt when I need to fill in some small holes in the yard. It is light enough so it doesn't damage the grass.

AND lets not forget to have the second tractor to pull out the one that is stuck, BTDT.
 
   / Always two there must be?! #20  
Also while spending other folks money like I did mine, you need a UTV like my Kubota RTV to save your legs from lots of steps, haul small stuff like small rocks, dirt, trimmed limbs etc. I cant really believe that we got by on the farm as a kid without a utility vehicle BUT we did. Probably the reason my hips are worn out now from all that walking. We didn't have a backhoe either and that is another thing I cant do without now.
 

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