Buying 25 acres of woods....

[IslandTractor]

Here is the tractor what do you guys think? 2007 45hp Branson Tractor

Branson makes a very good basic tractor. That is a pretty good price for a 45hp nearly new tractor with a couple of thousand dollars of useful extras included. I presume it is not HST (don't think Branson makes HST in that size) but if that doesn't bother you then check it out. It hasn't even had its 50hr service yet so you don't need to worry about that sort of thing.

I don't recall who the actual manufacturer is but most likely from either Korea or India. In any case, the only thing I'd be concerned about is dealer support/parts. Branson is a couple of steps down from JD, Kubota, NH and a step down from Kioti, Mahindra in terms of dealer network and parts. Check out who the Branson dealers are in your territory to get a sense of dealer support.

 

[polo1665]

I own a 35 HP Branson. So far it has been a great machine (155 hrs). They are strong and heavy and seem to be built very well. They are manufactured by a company called Kukje in South Korea. The diesel engine they use is also manufactured by Kukje and these engines are also produced for sale to Cummins Diesel (atleast the three cylinder is).

IslandTractor is giving you some very good advice. It's all about the dealer. You could become very unhappy with any tractor if the dealer is not around to support you with parts and service. If you are interested in the Branson, I would urge you to find your local dealer and pay him a visit. If you still feel comfortable then I would go for it. It is a very good price.

By the way, I would go check out the dealer no matter what brand I was going to buy. It's a little more important with the lesser known brands, but mandatory no matter what brand you are contemplating.

Good luck with your land and you tractor purchase. I lived in Newport News and Gloucester about 15 years ago, its a nice area. Can't believe how much it's grown up in the past 15 years.

Mark

 

[candersen10]

I cannot speak directly about skidsteers as I haven't used one but while they certainly can do the type of work you are describing in land clearing, a properly set up skidsteer for land clearing is a very expensive tool. Hydraulic cutters are multi thousands for starters. I'd imagine something in the range of $40-50K for a properly set up skidsteer. You could get the same work done, perhaps slower, with no more than 15K in a sub30hp tractor with rotary cutter and bucket grapple. The other issue with skidsteers is that they use one implement at a time while a CUT can have a flail or rotary cutter on the back PTO and still have a grapple/grapple bucket etc on the FEL simultaneously which is very convenient.

Skid steers certainly can get expensive. However, you can find used Bobcat 763 and similar sized machines for under $18,000 with under 1000 hours. These machines hold their value well, are very durable, and will do a ton of work. Furthermore, you should never use a tractor without Falling Object Protection (FOPs) for forestry/clearing type work. Bobcats have FOPs built in. I have a John Deere CT332 bobcat type machine and every time I get in it to do forestry type work I have tree branches and other objects fall on my cab. You don't want to be an unprotected operator.

As for the hydraulic cutters on a skid-steer, these simply aren't necessary. A 900 dollar Stihl MS441 will fell almost any tree easily. All you need is a chain saw, and a bobcat with a hydraulic grapple (figure 2k for the grapple Extreme Grapple Bucket) and you have a package that will allow you to clear your land. As for stumps, I would recommend looking around for someone with an excavator. On my farm in Pennsylvania we managed to find a guy that would remove stumps with his excavator for about 300 dollars a day. Sounds expensive, but when you aren't paying for equipment failure and diesel or even expending any effort 300 dollars a day seems like a deal.

The only thing that makes me skeptical of using a bobcat on your property is of course soil disturbance. I would look into this before making the plunge.