cardiologist
New member
I need your help. I am not sure if I need a tractor, but would like one. Here is my situation...
I just bought a house on 5.8 acres. About 2.5 acres needs to be mowed, and we have a very cheap lawn service that mows it for about $65 every other week. They also snow plow our long driveway for about $45 each time. It's about 300 feet long. We do not have any farm animals. We have a fruit tree orchard and have about 10 apple trees.
My thoughts are that if we get a sub-compact utility tractor, we'd get the mid mower option, but I'd still rather have the company come do our lawn. They bring about 3 zero-turn mowers and finish in less than an hour. I can't beat that. But the tractor can be used to spray the lawn, spread fertilizer, aerate the lawn, and maybe even do our own snowplowing. The lawn service only cuts, they don't do fertilizers or aeration or crabgrass prevention. No one will care for your lawn better than you will, and I plan on making the lawn look a lot better. They don't care about weeds and crabgrass. I think it'd look a lot better if I did that other stuff.
Can a tractor with just a front loader do a good job at snowplowing? Or would a dedicated blade be necessary? Also, we do have to do some limbing and cutting down of limbs on our forest, could a tractor help in that? I do have a Cushman Haulster that I have been using to haul limbs, fallen branches, and all kinds of other stuff back and forth. Any thoughts on this?
We do have a pine tree forest, and the trees are infected with fungus and will eventually either fall down, or need to be chopped down. There are about 300 of these. I do not need to do this soon, but eventually it needs to happen.
Also, I want to plant more pine trees and other trees to replace the trees that have decayed. Will a front end loader suffice, or is a back hoe necessary? The prices I've seen to add a backhoe seem a bit crazy, should I worry about the backhoe later on? I don't want to rent a mini excavator every time I pick up a tree to plant.
How good are the wood chippers that you can get for SCUTs? I'm thinking John Deere 1 series or Kubota BX series. What size wood will they chip and is it worth even doing that? Or just pile up the wood and rent a serious wood chipper?
Can the front end loader actually dig, grade land, or be used to remove the top 4-6 inches of sod? Do these tractors 17-26 horsepower have enough oomph to dig up dirt and sod and remove it?
What else can tractors do around the property? What all uses have you found for them on non-farm type properties. Just a house, some land, and some woods. I don't want to be one of those guys that buys everything just to have it and let it sit in my garage. But for about $250 a month, I don't see it as a huge expense. I'm just wondering if it will add enough value and earn it's keep.
I'm thinking of a tractor in the range of 12-16k or so. Any thoughts? Do I really "need" one, or is it more of a luxury item that will just sit in my garage and do nothing? I'm sure if I had it, I could find random stuff to do.
You all are more experienced than me, so please chime in and let me know. I am a new homeowner and need some advice.
I just bought a house on 5.8 acres. About 2.5 acres needs to be mowed, and we have a very cheap lawn service that mows it for about $65 every other week. They also snow plow our long driveway for about $45 each time. It's about 300 feet long. We do not have any farm animals. We have a fruit tree orchard and have about 10 apple trees.
My thoughts are that if we get a sub-compact utility tractor, we'd get the mid mower option, but I'd still rather have the company come do our lawn. They bring about 3 zero-turn mowers and finish in less than an hour. I can't beat that. But the tractor can be used to spray the lawn, spread fertilizer, aerate the lawn, and maybe even do our own snowplowing. The lawn service only cuts, they don't do fertilizers or aeration or crabgrass prevention. No one will care for your lawn better than you will, and I plan on making the lawn look a lot better. They don't care about weeds and crabgrass. I think it'd look a lot better if I did that other stuff.
Can a tractor with just a front loader do a good job at snowplowing? Or would a dedicated blade be necessary? Also, we do have to do some limbing and cutting down of limbs on our forest, could a tractor help in that? I do have a Cushman Haulster that I have been using to haul limbs, fallen branches, and all kinds of other stuff back and forth. Any thoughts on this?
We do have a pine tree forest, and the trees are infected with fungus and will eventually either fall down, or need to be chopped down. There are about 300 of these. I do not need to do this soon, but eventually it needs to happen.
Also, I want to plant more pine trees and other trees to replace the trees that have decayed. Will a front end loader suffice, or is a back hoe necessary? The prices I've seen to add a backhoe seem a bit crazy, should I worry about the backhoe later on? I don't want to rent a mini excavator every time I pick up a tree to plant.
How good are the wood chippers that you can get for SCUTs? I'm thinking John Deere 1 series or Kubota BX series. What size wood will they chip and is it worth even doing that? Or just pile up the wood and rent a serious wood chipper?
Can the front end loader actually dig, grade land, or be used to remove the top 4-6 inches of sod? Do these tractors 17-26 horsepower have enough oomph to dig up dirt and sod and remove it?
What else can tractors do around the property? What all uses have you found for them on non-farm type properties. Just a house, some land, and some woods. I don't want to be one of those guys that buys everything just to have it and let it sit in my garage. But for about $250 a month, I don't see it as a huge expense. I'm just wondering if it will add enough value and earn it's keep.
I'm thinking of a tractor in the range of 12-16k or so. Any thoughts? Do I really "need" one, or is it more of a luxury item that will just sit in my garage and do nothing? I'm sure if I had it, I could find random stuff to do.
You all are more experienced than me, so please chime in and let me know. I am a new homeowner and need some advice.
