Another new guy asking what to buy...

[mattg43]

Hello All. Wife and I are under contract to buy 25 acres in north Texas. Property is heavily treed, and over the next year or three I will hire out the clearing of ~1 acre for the house, and ~1/2 an acre for a shop building.

Intend to have the guy with the dozer also clear some basic trails around the place (outside along property lines, one to the pond/tank, etc), and other than that I will spend time doing some light clearing of the land. I will probably brush hog twice a year a gas pipeline access on the border of the property, and if needed along trails, but I will also be keeping a zero turn mower for around the house and shop.

Garden will be small, and more than likely be in a greenhouse.

No ag work, no farming, just maintenance around the property, the occasional fence post auger work, light maintenance of a driveway, and mostly moving brush around and cleaning up trees, moving trailers or other light work.

My father in law has less trees than I will, but basically does the same thing on 10 acres with an L3200, and I have about decided that the L or Grand L will be the right size for my needs for a long time. I dont want wide trails, so I like the idea of the narrowness of that size tractor. I will have a grapple, probably a 60" cutter, auger, and box blade.

Heavily leaning toward a used Kubota, due to local dealer, but also looking at Deere, and Kioti with local dealers too. Trying to stay under $15-17k on the tractor/loader. Want an HST, 4wd is mandatory. Used is A-OK with me, I will be looking it over with some experienced tractor users, and having it checked out as needed with dealer if something is wrong.

Around me that price range puts me in the 30-38 hp range, running from L and Grand L (30 and 40 series), CK and DK from Kioti, and 3 series Deeres.

With that said, what are the thoughts here? Am I shorting myself on things I have not yet imagined?

 

[jeff9366]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Hello All. Wife and I are under contract to buy 25 acres in north Texas. Property is heavily treed, and over the next year or three I will hire out the clearing of ~1 acre for the house, and ~1/2 an acre for a shop building.

Intend to have the guy with the dozer also clear some basic trails around the place (outside along property lines, one to the pond/tank, etc), and other than that I will spend time doing some light clearing of the land. I will probably brush hog twice a year a gas pipeline access on the border of the property, and if needed along trails, but I will also be keeping a zero turn mower for around the house and shop.

Heavily leaning toward a used Kubota, due to local dealer, but also looking at Deere, and Kioti with local dealers too. Trying to stay under $15-17k on the tractor/loader. Want an HST, 4wd is mandatory. Used is A-OK with me, I will be looking it over with some experienced tractor users, and having it checked out as needed with dealer if something is wrong.

Around me that price range puts me in the 30-38 hp range, running from L and Grand L (30 and 40 series), CK and DK from Kioti, and 3 series Deeres.

Is your land flat or do you have hills?

I think a Kubota Standard L is too light. Any of the heavier than Standard L 'Grand Ls' would be great.
I think your $15,000 to $17,000 budget is unrealistic, twice unrealistic for used inventory at a dealer, who needs margins on used tractors equaling margins on new tractors.
Kioti tractors are favorably reviewed here.

Do not make the mistake of buying a light Rotary Cutter. I recommend a Land Pride by Kubota RC2660. Any lighter model maintaining trails on twenty-five acres will be in the shop for repair often.

MORE: tractor twenty-five acres in Texas site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

 

[Diggin It]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Trying to stay under $15-17k on the tractor/loader. Want an HST, 4wd is mandatory. Used is A-OK with me, I will be looking it over with some experienced tractor users, and having it checked out as needed with dealer if something is wrong.

Around me that price range puts me in the 30-38 hp range, running from L and Grand L (30 and 40 series), CK and DK from Kioti, and 3 series Deeres.

Used maybe, not new.


Used machines can be good, or someone's offloaded nightmare

 

[mattg43]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Land has some slight hills, but not what I would consider hilly. I dont think there is more than a 15-20' elevation change across the area, and nothing remotely steep that I have come across.

Can you provide some details as to why one would be too light? I am concerned about the weight, which is why a Grand L is being considered - but I would love the "why" behind the answers so that I can understand what I should be looking for.



I am looking at used tractors. I will deal with potential "nightmares" as they come up, but have plenty of people around with the tools, knowledge, and experience to fix most anything I expect to encounter. And I do not plan on buying sight unseen/tested. These do include tractors like the 3130 and 3240, as well as others in the same power range from other makers.

EDIT: I am a cash buyer on this entire project, so my budget is determined by my desire to drain savings. While I can spend more, I also see how much work can be done with the exact same tasks I am wanting to do by others in my area, on property like mine, with identical conditions with their tractors - so barring something becoming mandatory, I dont see a need to spend extra. I do appreciate suggestions around what will work and why it will be better to spend a bit more if needed.

As to the cutter - implements will be sized appropriately for the tractor and work being done, to include heavy duty for the cutter. I have no intention or expectations of a $600 Tractor Supply 5' cutter lasting me 20 years! One of the many reasons that most of the package deals are useless to me.


Also, please clarify for me - why does the number of acres change the recommendation - say 10 acres vs 25? It is still the same work being done, same size trees, brush being cut, trail width, etc. Is it simply a matter how fast I can drag a rotary cutter to get more cut? The local Deere dealer told me all the stuff I asked about could be done with a 3 series until I told him 25 acres, and then he wanted to push me to a 5 series - much bigger than I want to have.


Thank you!

 

[Diggin It]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Also, please clarify for me - why does the number of acres change the recommendation - say 10 acres vs 25? It is still the same work being done, same size trees, brush being cut, trail width, etc.

Not so much the size of the overall property, but the size of the area to be worked. You can have 500 acres, but if you only plan on working 5 acres, you only need a machine capable of that smaller area. Thing is, plans change and you may want to work more of your land in a few years.

 

[mattg43]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Makes sense, thank you!

I have grown up with family farming, raising livestock, owning 5-20 acre homesteads, and prior to our current house my wife had 40 acres, 20 of which were hay'd. Neither of us anticipate more than 1-2 acres of cleared land that will be mowed regularly, but I certainly understand how doubling or changing the working being done could make a difference.

 

[jeff9366]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Can you provide details as to why one would be too light? I am concerned about the weight, which is why a Grand L is being considered - but I would love the "why" behind the answers so that I can understand what I should be looking for.

Heavier tractors are constructed on larger frames and longer wheelbases making them heavier which helps maintain heavier tractors upright when applying loads, especially FEL loads.
Heavier tractors have wider wheel stance, increasing stability.

Heavier tractors have FEL lift and Three Point Hitch lift in proportion to weight. Greater FEL lift is the #1 reason compact tractor owners trade up to heavier models.

Heavier tractors are built with thicker steel and thicker axles to withstand greater stress. As a newbie operator you are more likely to bend a light tractor than a heavy tractor.

Heavier tractors have larger diameter wheels/tires, increasing ground clearance. Larger rear wheels are an additional form of gearing. Therefore, heavier tractors with large diameter wheels/tires have more tractive power pulling ground contact implements, pushing a loader bucket into dirt and pushing snow. Larger wheels and tires and longer wheelbase permit heavier tractors to bridge holes, ruts and tree debris with less operator perturbation.

Tractor weight provides most tractor "grunt" defining tractor capability. Horsepower is needed too but horsepower is less important. Horsepower gains more consideration when powering PTO-powered implements like Bush Hogs but is still secondary to sufficient tractor weight.

When considering a tractor purchase, bare tractor weight first, tractor horsepower second and (narrowly) rear wheel ballast third.

 

[mattg43]

Thanks Jeff, those were the reasons I suspected. Glad to hear I am grasping some reasoning behind things..

 

[jeff9366]

Re: Another new guy asking what ton buy...

Also, please clarify for me - why does the number of acres change the recommendation - say 10 acres vs 25?

Inevitably more acreage requires more tractor seat time. Perhaps 25 acres will only require twice the seat time of 10 acres, but seat time is almost always proportional to acreage.

Four hours of seat time, no big deal. After eight hours of seat time, you will be tired and more prone to bad tractor operating decisions. Heavy tractors are more forgiving of operator error than light tractors.
Larger wheels and tires and longer wheelbase permit heavier tractors to bridge holes, ruts and tree debris with less operator perturbation, therefore heavy compact tractors are less tiring to operate than light compact tractors.

As a tractor novice, driving a tractor around your property may lead to a tractor purchase, but not an optimum tractor purchase.

New tractor operators are often intimidated by how unstable tractors with small front wheels and large rear wheels feel therefore tend to buy too light, too small as a result. ((Tractors seem to shrink after about twenty hours of operating experience.))

 

[buck12]

In my opinion, acreage is only one consideration when picking a tractor. If you have 25 acres but only plan to clip a few acres a few times a year a smaller tractor will be fine just make sure you have enough HP to spin a 5 foot RC in the heaviest grass on your land.

I have 72 acres on our remote property and have managed this land with a 26 HP tractor for 11 years. I was clipping about 15-20 acres once a year and this tractor worked great. I clipped part in the fall and in the spring to manage wildlife. I recently purchased a 54 HP tractor because we are building a weekend cabin and I need to keep a few acres of the property clipped more often.

If you buy a good used tractor you can find out exactly how you will use the tractor and if you decide to go bigger in a few years you can likely get close to your money back and upgrade. I can break even today if I decide to sell my 26 HP Mahindra I bought used in 2008.