Buying Advice An older farm utility tractor or ...??

campbellrw · May 13, 2014

Hi all. Currently I live on a rural property, only about 1 acre in size. In the next 2 or 3 years, I plan on starting a hobby farm and getting more land. I also help my brother, father in law etc cut and block firewood and stuff like that. I'm currently looking at older 70's farm utility tractors from about 45-65 engine hp. I already have a lawnmower to cut my grass, but I would like a tractor suitable for hobby farm use in the next couple years and immediately good for blowing snow, digging post holes maybe running the saw gear from time to time and/or a PTO chipper. Would also like to get a PTO generator to power my whole house. I've been looking at things like MF 255, 135, 165, and Ford 5000 etc etc. Am I looking at a suitable class of tractors, or should I be looking at something else? PS. My brother is a certified New Holland mechanic, so any "fix-ups" would be pretty easy to do

RKJeepXJ · May 13, 2014

I was in a similar situation. I had access to a Massey 135 and 165 but I'm looking at building a house, mowing, brush hogging, etc. To me, those older utility tractors were designed for row crop farming. They are more top heavy and lack some of the nice time saving and safety features of a modern "utility" or compact tractor with equal horse power. I ended up buying a new 4wd compact tractor with a loader. The stability, efficiency, and capability of this new machine, to me, was worth the extra cost.

deerseeker001 · May 13, 2014

I think your thinking is right on.just look for a tractor that was well maintained.

Marveltone · May 13, 2014

I started out with the John Deere riding lawnmower with a tiny trailer to pull behind, then got the '85 Ford 1510 (is that considered older or new?) with the loader and rear blade as a package deal to help with grounds maintenance. Most of my grounds-keeping attachments are sized for the 1510. The older, bigger tractors came later as my needs warranted bigger equipment for haying and fieldwork. The '57 Fordson Major was acquired for all the heavy plowing, harrowing, and baling. We just got a '46 McCormick W4 that I intend to fix up and use for raking, planting, and possibly light cultivating. Each of these machines have certain tasks where they seem to excel over the others due partly to their size, and no one can cover everything. That being said, the little 1510 gets the most use, due to it's maneuverability and versatility. I call it my Swiss Army Knife.

I can't pretend to tell you which way to go, but at least you can see how I got started and am progressing.

Joe