Shawn B
Member
I think I am losing my mind. Trying to figure out how much tractor do I require? :confused2:
I searched for and read every thread on TBN under the terms "size" and "power" (titles only) that were remotely similar to my situation. I've talked to all the good-ol-boys that live around me and get varying different advice on how much tractor is appropriate for my uses. Every thing from "30-35 hp is plenty" from a 60'ish year old country friend to "you gotta have at least 50 hp" from another serious country-boy buddy of mine.
I've been scouring the Craigslist in my area and looking at TractorHouse dot com. Been to the Kubota and Mahindra dealers.
Pertinent personal information:
* 49-years old. In good shape. Never ran into a machine I could not learn how to operate or drive. Standard, automatic, car, truck, ATV, motorcycle, zero-turn mower, no issues, quick learner. Not sure what kind of tranny I need on this tractor. A stick-shift with clutch does not intimidate me at all.
* Never driven a tractor. Ever. Put my hands on one and sat in the seat at the Mahindra dealer the other day. IIRC 4035.
* Moved from working nightclubs in Houston for three decades, to owning a 44-acre cattle ranch near Shreveport, LA. Major paradigm shift.
*The nearest tractor dealer (Kubota) is 29 miles away. The farthest is Kioti at 59 miles away.
* I want a major name-brand tractor. JD, Kubota, Mahindra, Case, New Holland, Kioti, Massey, etc...Not sold on a particular brand, but want a well established and reputable dealer, support and network. No off-brands.
* I'm very good (**** retentive) with routine maintenance, not a mechanic by any means. Beyond a grease-gun, filter and fluid changes, I will be lost.
* I keep vehicles for a very long time and maintain them impeccably. 1993 Nissan and 2004 Chevy Tahoe. Both could go cross-country and back right now with no issues whatsoever. I plan on buying a tractor and having it basically until I die.
Farm Details and Property.
* 44-acres. Mostly flat or long, slow, slight grades. No real hills of any sort.
* 18-acres of hay-pasture. I hire my hay-cutting and baling. Pretty happy with that arrangement, seems that mowing/baling equipment is crazy-expensive. $32 bucks a bale is the going rate in my neck of the woods. Just under 2K (60 X $32) worth of hay bales from one (1) cutting. Quite frankly I'd prefer to keep hiring this work out. There is only so much one (1) guy can do, and my chore/project list is literally never-ending as is.
* Two (2) 10-acre cow pastures. Bush-hogging or mowing necessary.
* A dozen heifers and calves. I'd like to eventually have 20'ish heifers spitting out calves.
* My round bales are 1,200-1,250 pounds. I need to move them across mostly flat and relatively smooth hay pasture to my cow pastures. Maybe 500-600 yards or so. Probably two (2) bales every week to ten days. I have hay rings to go around the bales. This is "mission critical" for my tractor.
* I'd also like to be able to load those 1250-pound hay bales onto a trailer if I decide to sell hay. I only did one (1) cutting on my hay-field this year. Netted sixty (60) of those bales. I need about thirty (30) bales or less to get my cows through the winter. I could have done two (2) more hay-cuttings but I have no use for additional hay and cannot sell any extra if I cannot load it for a potential buyer.
* I have a Kubota ZG227 (54-inch deck) commercial-grade zero turn mower to use around the houses/shed/barn/driveway (6 or so acres of "lawn"). I have also mowed my cow pastures with it, and could mow my hay field with it if I really wanted to. It is a beastly mower. However, both a heavy duty bush-hog and finishing mower (5-6 footers) are necessary for my tractor.
* My quarter mile long driveway could use a bit of attention. I'd like to smooth it out.
* I am still clearing some portions of my land. My big back pond is basically in the woods. It has not been cleared around since 1989. 20+ year old trees and scrub gotta go. A massive job that may require a bulldozer (?).
* My entire fence line around my hay-field needs to completely cleared (remove 80-year old fencing) and re-fenced with brand new 5-strand barb-wire fencing. Those existing fence lines are 40-60 feet wide (no kidding) with trees/scrub invading my land. I use 7" posts as the main posts and "H" things, I use t-posts every ten feet. We're talking several hundred yards by several hundred yards of fence lines.
* I have had, and will have, immense burn piles to deal with. I'm talking burn piles that are 2,000 square feet and 20 feet high. Some logs in there that are 36" in diameter. The FEL and tractor will be helping me to tend those burn piles.
* I need a corral. (60-80) 7-inch treated posts going in the ground to a depth of 36-inches. A 9-inch augur for the tractor is a must. Approximately one foot of good topsoil over red clay. You hit the red clay with a manual post-hole digger and the going gets very, very tough, very quickly.
* I need at least a couple dozen or more 14-yard dump trucks worth of various dirt-types dropped on my land. Got some low spots that need filling and smoothing. Need to do some filling on a levee by my middle pond where beavers caused some damage. I'll be using the FEL to move quite a bit of dirt around, I won't have to move the dirt very far, I can have it dumped very close to the work-sites.
* I am hoping to be able to move the tractor with an 18-foot dual axle trailer (7000 pound capable) and my Tahoe. Not sure if that is realistic. I could borrow an F250 to get the tractor home if necessary.
* I'd like to look at a pre-owned, well maintained, low hour tractor. 12-15K. Plenty of 30-40 hp clean, low hour, private owner tractors in this range. I'd borrow the money from my bank at 6% over a 48 month note, looking at 375'ish ballpark on the 15K monthly note.
* On the other hand, Mahindra (for one) will put me in a brand new 4035 w/loader, 5-year warranty, for 23K'ish. Low monthly note of 325'ish for 60/72 months. Very do-able in my budget. I imagine other dealers might offer similar long-term, low interest, financing.
* The amount of the monthly note cannot exceed 400/mo. I am very comfortable at that level with my finances.
* I'm in northern LA and will need to start feeding hay to my cows in the next 30-45 days.
That is every thing I can think of.
Obviously horsepower costs money. I do not want to overkill nor underestimate how much tractor I require. I want to buy one (1) time and use it forever.
What say you TBN experts? What general vicinity would you be looking at for tractor horsepower and weight? Can a 30-35 horse do my necessary work? Do I require 40-50 horsepower?
Any help, expertise, or insight is very much appreciated.
I searched for and read every thread on TBN under the terms "size" and "power" (titles only) that were remotely similar to my situation. I've talked to all the good-ol-boys that live around me and get varying different advice on how much tractor is appropriate for my uses. Every thing from "30-35 hp is plenty" from a 60'ish year old country friend to "you gotta have at least 50 hp" from another serious country-boy buddy of mine.
I've been scouring the Craigslist in my area and looking at TractorHouse dot com. Been to the Kubota and Mahindra dealers.
Pertinent personal information:
* 49-years old. In good shape. Never ran into a machine I could not learn how to operate or drive. Standard, automatic, car, truck, ATV, motorcycle, zero-turn mower, no issues, quick learner. Not sure what kind of tranny I need on this tractor. A stick-shift with clutch does not intimidate me at all.
* Never driven a tractor. Ever. Put my hands on one and sat in the seat at the Mahindra dealer the other day. IIRC 4035.
* Moved from working nightclubs in Houston for three decades, to owning a 44-acre cattle ranch near Shreveport, LA. Major paradigm shift.
*The nearest tractor dealer (Kubota) is 29 miles away. The farthest is Kioti at 59 miles away.
* I want a major name-brand tractor. JD, Kubota, Mahindra, Case, New Holland, Kioti, Massey, etc...Not sold on a particular brand, but want a well established and reputable dealer, support and network. No off-brands.
* I'm very good (**** retentive) with routine maintenance, not a mechanic by any means. Beyond a grease-gun, filter and fluid changes, I will be lost.
* I keep vehicles for a very long time and maintain them impeccably. 1993 Nissan and 2004 Chevy Tahoe. Both could go cross-country and back right now with no issues whatsoever. I plan on buying a tractor and having it basically until I die.
Farm Details and Property.
* 44-acres. Mostly flat or long, slow, slight grades. No real hills of any sort.
* 18-acres of hay-pasture. I hire my hay-cutting and baling. Pretty happy with that arrangement, seems that mowing/baling equipment is crazy-expensive. $32 bucks a bale is the going rate in my neck of the woods. Just under 2K (60 X $32) worth of hay bales from one (1) cutting. Quite frankly I'd prefer to keep hiring this work out. There is only so much one (1) guy can do, and my chore/project list is literally never-ending as is.
* Two (2) 10-acre cow pastures. Bush-hogging or mowing necessary.
* A dozen heifers and calves. I'd like to eventually have 20'ish heifers spitting out calves.
* My round bales are 1,200-1,250 pounds. I need to move them across mostly flat and relatively smooth hay pasture to my cow pastures. Maybe 500-600 yards or so. Probably two (2) bales every week to ten days. I have hay rings to go around the bales. This is "mission critical" for my tractor.
* I'd also like to be able to load those 1250-pound hay bales onto a trailer if I decide to sell hay. I only did one (1) cutting on my hay-field this year. Netted sixty (60) of those bales. I need about thirty (30) bales or less to get my cows through the winter. I could have done two (2) more hay-cuttings but I have no use for additional hay and cannot sell any extra if I cannot load it for a potential buyer.
* I have a Kubota ZG227 (54-inch deck) commercial-grade zero turn mower to use around the houses/shed/barn/driveway (6 or so acres of "lawn"). I have also mowed my cow pastures with it, and could mow my hay field with it if I really wanted to. It is a beastly mower. However, both a heavy duty bush-hog and finishing mower (5-6 footers) are necessary for my tractor.
* My quarter mile long driveway could use a bit of attention. I'd like to smooth it out.
* I am still clearing some portions of my land. My big back pond is basically in the woods. It has not been cleared around since 1989. 20+ year old trees and scrub gotta go. A massive job that may require a bulldozer (?).
* My entire fence line around my hay-field needs to completely cleared (remove 80-year old fencing) and re-fenced with brand new 5-strand barb-wire fencing. Those existing fence lines are 40-60 feet wide (no kidding) with trees/scrub invading my land. I use 7" posts as the main posts and "H" things, I use t-posts every ten feet. We're talking several hundred yards by several hundred yards of fence lines.
* I have had, and will have, immense burn piles to deal with. I'm talking burn piles that are 2,000 square feet and 20 feet high. Some logs in there that are 36" in diameter. The FEL and tractor will be helping me to tend those burn piles.
* I need a corral. (60-80) 7-inch treated posts going in the ground to a depth of 36-inches. A 9-inch augur for the tractor is a must. Approximately one foot of good topsoil over red clay. You hit the red clay with a manual post-hole digger and the going gets very, very tough, very quickly.
* I need at least a couple dozen or more 14-yard dump trucks worth of various dirt-types dropped on my land. Got some low spots that need filling and smoothing. Need to do some filling on a levee by my middle pond where beavers caused some damage. I'll be using the FEL to move quite a bit of dirt around, I won't have to move the dirt very far, I can have it dumped very close to the work-sites.
* I am hoping to be able to move the tractor with an 18-foot dual axle trailer (7000 pound capable) and my Tahoe. Not sure if that is realistic. I could borrow an F250 to get the tractor home if necessary.
* I'd like to look at a pre-owned, well maintained, low hour tractor. 12-15K. Plenty of 30-40 hp clean, low hour, private owner tractors in this range. I'd borrow the money from my bank at 6% over a 48 month note, looking at 375'ish ballpark on the 15K monthly note.
* On the other hand, Mahindra (for one) will put me in a brand new 4035 w/loader, 5-year warranty, for 23K'ish. Low monthly note of 325'ish for 60/72 months. Very do-able in my budget. I imagine other dealers might offer similar long-term, low interest, financing.
* The amount of the monthly note cannot exceed 400/mo. I am very comfortable at that level with my finances.
* I'm in northern LA and will need to start feeding hay to my cows in the next 30-45 days.
That is every thing I can think of.
Obviously horsepower costs money. I do not want to overkill nor underestimate how much tractor I require. I want to buy one (1) time and use it forever.
What say you TBN experts? What general vicinity would you be looking at for tractor horsepower and weight? Can a 30-35 horse do my necessary work? Do I require 40-50 horsepower?
Any help, expertise, or insight is very much appreciated.
