yankee7 said:
I have about 5 acres in western Colorado, of which about an acre and a half is producing grass/alfalfa using open ditch irrigation. I have another 2 acres that have an open ditch but in need of major renovation (both the ditches and the ground) -- removing rocks, weeds, old buried twine and trash. I'm planning on putting in gated pipe in the next couple of years, but want to make the irrigation useful in the meantime. I want to move as much of the rocks and trash myself but will probably have to get a guy in with a dozer to move some of it. I also want to be able to harvest the hay if possible so I don't have to buy so much for my three horses. So, I'm looking for a compact tractor with a FEL and backhoe, as well as one that can run haying equipment if I decide to go in that direction. I prefer to stick with major brands (Kubota, JD, MF, NH, etc.). I want to stay under $25000 for a tractor, FEL & BH; I'll consider used with low hours, in good condition. Have any of you used these tractors for haying> Can you get the smaller equipment needed? What brand/models would you recommend?
Thanks for any advice!
Dave
With a $25K budget, you're looking at a new TLB in the 30-35hp (pto) range. This size tractor is probably the minimum you'd want to run haying equipment such as a small square baler. If you plan to do any heavy tillage to get your hayfield in good shape, a tractor that size could handle a 2-14 plow on the 3pt hitch. It's probably capable of handling one of those balers that produce small round bales (300 lb or so).
Unfortunately, new TLBs in that hp range are considerably out of your price range. For example, Kubota's
L48 TLB at 37.5hp (pto) runs about $40K new.
Kubota's TLB offering at $25K would be a small tractor like the
BX24 at 17.7 hp pto, way too small for haying.
Kubota's are very nice machines. I owned a 2005 Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD) with the LA302 FEL (4-ft wide bucket) and have nothing but good things to say about it.
I haven't checked prices on JD, NH, or MF TLBs, but I think you'll find the same story as with the Kubota TLBs, very pricy in the 35 hp (pto) range.
Like you, I'm going haying on my 10 acres of flat pasture land (7 acres available for hay). I traded in that 7510 last March for a new Mahindra 5525 (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD). Paid $19.1K. My baler is an MF-124 small square baler that the 5525 will handle with ease. Mahindra's are very heavy tractors (my 5525 weighs 5370 lb without filled tires) which is a big help for plowing and for running a baler which has a heavy flywheel that will jerk the tractor around somewhat. Kubota tractors are lightweight machines.
Unfortunately, Mahindra doesn't offer a backhoe for their 5525. The Mahindra 4530 (42 hp engine, 34 hp pto, 4WD) is the smallest model that I would consider for haying and it runs about $20K with a loader (new). Adding the model 8600 backhoe ups the price to $28,600.
