Buying Advice Considering a new tractor for chicken house work, brush hogging, and brush removal.

[Chickengrower]

I think instead of febreeze I might do better to just get a haz-mat suit with respirator, lol! You stir up an enormous amount of dust when working the litter. You can run the fans to pull it off of you but that only works half the time. The other half you are driving towards the fans. I feel like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown sometimes. The smell doesnt bother me that bad though (smells like money!)

 

[Chickengrower]

And one question, will a cab tractor. fit in your chicken houses? Say 10ft high doorways, and plus a 53,000 used tractor can be very nice still.

A cab tractor will not fit inside the houses. The main door is 10' high but the sidewalls are only 7.5'. The equipment, when raised, is approx. only 7' off the litter and, depending on litter depth, can be even less and my houses are some of the taller ones for dropped ceiling buildings. I need a tractor that at its highest point is 78-80" or lower, counting my noggin. uch: :bandaid: So, the lower the better for me.

Deere makes (or made?) an F series line that is compact, powerful and has a cab but i've never seen them with loaders and they say there is no room whatsoever in the cab. Plus, I might have a hard time trading or selling it if i get something that is too industry specific or too far to the left on the demand scale. Not even sure if they still make th

I saw a video where someone makes an aftermarket cab for the NH T4000 line. It looked pretty sweet but was probably mega :moneybag:

 

[jenkinsph]

Or like one of those febreeze things that sprays every 10-30 minutes and have it set on 10 minutes. :laughing: Or have two going off at 5 minute intervals.

And one question, will a cab tractor. fit in your chicken houses? Say 10ft high doorways, and plus a 53,000 used tractor can be very nice still.

I wouldn't think there is much difference in height between a rops tractor and a cab tractor, maybe an inch or two. Seriously think the cab tractor would be better for your respiratory system long term. The cost of a cab is chump change compared to medical cost and loss of quality of life.

 

[Edward. S]

I wouldn't think there is much difference in height between a rops tractor and a cab tractor, maybe an inch or two. Seriously think the cab tractor would be better for your respiratory system long term. The cost of a cab is chump change compared to medical cost and loss of quality of life.

I agree, have you thought about like a 5EN? I wonder if those would fit. And yes you CAN put a loader on the 5EN Series. It can have a 553 Loader on it.

Edit ; It says they are 90.2inches high with a cab. So a little bit taller than 7.5ft. :thumbsup:

Edit again ; ah sh**.... I just read that you can only fit something 75-80 inches... but the 5EN is just a suggestion.. But you can probably fit really small tires on these tractors....

 

[2458n]

I have a friend who worked on Case equipment. The company he works for does alot of sales to egg producing chicken houses. Long story short he has lost vision from working on these chicken litter covered machines. Man , I would get a cab. Or a large Bob cat with the clean air cab. It is to late for my friend Remy.

 

[jenkinsph]

I would look into the height restrictions closely to see what can be done to help resolve this. Understanding the side walls are lower but is there a way to have enough clearance by pulling the litter to the middle more? A landscape rake or rearblade sticks out behind the tractor a good distance, that might provide you with enough clearance if you can back into the side wall areas.

If nothing else can you use a smaller lower tractor to pull the debris to the center?

 

[Chickengrower]

Sorry to leave this thread hanging by a thread, and sorry to hear about your friend, 2458n. Just wanted to say that I signed the purchase order on a 5093e open station with 19.5l-24 rear tires today. Paired it with a 553 loader with global carrier. Also got 3rd function hydraulics and a multicoupler with side exhaust.
The 553 looks a little small for the tractor and the h260 looks too big. Specifically, I'm concerned that the 553 bucket won't have enough curl to it which is problematic when hauling off dead birds. Any thoughts on the differences between the two loaders as they would apply to my tractor? I'm still pondering on the two.

 

[farmer2009]

I know this thread is old but how do you like the tractor. I am looking for one for by houses in the next year or so. Our barns are under 6 feet so we get stuck with the 4x20 series or low pro kubota.

 

[Chickengrower]

I know this thread is old but how do you like the tractor. I am looking for one for by houses in the next year or so. Our barns are under 6 feet so we get stuck with the 4x20 series or low pro kubota.

I really like it so far. Ive ran the cake out machine about 3 times now. Radiator is real easy to blow out. Glad i got the 553 loader, it goes on and off real quick as long you are on level ground. I do wish the bucket had a little more curl at ground level tho. And I really love the global carrier. It makes swapping attachments as easy or easier than my bobcat. To me, the multicoupler is a must have. The only bad thing is its a little on the tall side even with the lo profile tires. I have to duck the outside waterlines and even feeders sometimes. (i could take some slack out of the drops with the adjusters) Also the seat area doesn't have much ventilation because of fuel tank location. My old 2240 is much better in that regard.

 

[farmer2009]

Thanks for the quick response. Glad to see you are still on tbn.

Do you know how tall it is with the ROPS folded? Is there room to lower the fold point or do lights and fenders prevent that? How tall is the tractor to the bottom of seat? My houses are shorter that yours and a real PITA to find a tractor big enough to windrow (just starting this) and decake without being to tall.

On another note. What do you think of windrowing? How hot does your litter get? Does it help the Beatle population?

 

[Chickengrower]

Thanks for the quick response. Glad to see you are still on tbn.

Do you know how tall it is with the ROPS folded? Is there room to lower the fold point or do lights and fenders prevent that? How tall is the tractor to the bottom of seat? My houses are shorter that yours and a real PITA to find a tractor big enough to windrow (just starting this) and decake without being to tall.

On another note. What do you think of windrowing? How hot does your litter get? Does it help the Beatle population?

Didn't get a chance to measure today. Will try to do so in the next day or two. The salesman mentioned to me about lowering the ROPS down. Said he'd seen some growers do it before. It's not too high for me tho, its just my noggin that is too high.
I looked at the 50x3 JD, the M9660 Kubota and the 40x0 NH. The Kubota had a telescoping ROPS that was pretty neat. I think it was 67" all the way down. The 4030 NH sit the lowest of them all tho but the seating area seemed a little cramped to me.
I like windowing pretty well. I like to make 2 windrows and then clean the rest out down to the pad. I have a Priefert blade for my bobcat that I use. It's a little too big for my loader but does the Job if u make several passes. I may look at a tractor mounted unit next yr. I think it would do a quicker job chopping the cake and hard pan up and incoroprating it into the pile. The temp gets into the 140-150 range the first time if there's enough moisture and then each time you turn it, it is a little less hot each time. I guess because it's drying out. I think it helps with the beetles but still doesn't eliminate them. I haven't been windowing lately as our out time is only about 7 days. I've found it takes about 10 days minimum to windrow and do it anywhere close to right.

 

[farmer2009]

Thanks for the information. Not in a big hurry. The one we are going to start using is a 3pt hitch model takes 40hp for 6' model and 60hp for 8'. I think that is correct. It is suppose to pulverize and windrow in one pass. They are telling us not to decake unless we are very wet, but I have also been told our integrator runs dryer than normal houses. If that is correct then it will be almost as fast as decaking.

Wow. Seven day layouts. Must be nice we run about 21-23 days.

I will look at a 40x0 NH. Had looked at the Boomers online. Used a buddies m9000 Kubota low pro once nice tractor but tight turning around because of length. And would hate to windrow with a computer tractor. Decaking I can stay out of 90% of the dust.

 

[Chickengrower]

Thanks for the information. Not in a big hurry. The one we are going to start using is a 3pt hitch model takes 40hp for 6' model and 60hp for 8'. I think that is correct. It is suppose to pulverize and windrow in one pass. They are telling us not to decake unless we are very wet, but I have also been told our integrator runs dryer than normal houses. If that is correct then it will be almost as fast as decaking.

Wow. Seven day layouts. Must be nice we run about 21-23 days.

I will look at a 40x0 NH. Had looked at the Boomers online. Used a buddies m9000 Kubota low pro once nice tractor but tight turning around because of length. And would hate to windrow with a computer tractor. Decaking I can stay out of 90% of the dust.

I remembered to get some #'s today. Top of seat from ground measured 52.5". With the rollbar folded down it was 76" at highest point. If you remove the top half of the rollbar it would be 72". Looks like the fenders are drilled out so that they can be lowered another 2". If you lowered the fenders down, there would be about 3" between the top of fenders and signal/hazard lights. So you could lower the height of the rollbar about 2.5-3" with modifications. Would get you right around 70" with top half of rollbar removed and 74" with it folded. I guess a person could just remove the signal lights if you weren't ever going to be on the road then you could get lower yet.

I dont really like the 7 day out time. I prefer 12-14 days to give me a little break and to give any disease/bacteria time to die out before the next batch arrives. Of course it's better than 32-34 days which is where we were in 2011.

They told us not to cake either. Was skeptical at first but that's the right way as you need the moisture to help get the piles hot. They told us not to try it for the first time during cold weather as the ammonia would be real bad for the next batch. I think I might've seen the windower machine you are talking about in The Poultry Times magazine. I think it would do alot better job creating the windrows than my blade. The things I like about the blade are 1.) that you don't get as dirty as I have a bobcat with a cab 2.) there are no moving parts to break. 3.) it does do a good job spreading the piles back out when it's time to start setting up.