Do I really need a tractor on 1.5 acres?

[MossRoad]

Hi everyone, forum newbie here. Recently I moved to a new property, much bigger than my last. However after seeing our neighbors down the street playing with their bx, I'm questioning if we need one (a subcompact)


We're only on 1.5 acres, it's mostly flat. There are some big dips and ruts down the rear end of the property, but nothing extrodinary. We do have a large garden just above that, and a rocky driveway that I'm considering levelling.

We do use a cub cadet xt2 46in, and this is more than adequate for mowing. However I've found it hard to turn with (seriously who in their right mind decided permanent difflock is good for a lawn mower???) And during the rainy season often times the mower will get stuck,or slide around tearing up the grass. Or most likely just bog down due to the water. Meaning mowing is a chore that will take 2+ hours


I'm planning to start a 120M x 20M garden, however this all clay soil so it's necessary to use a large tiller, of which is extremely expensive.


Preferably something to mow with during the wet, so 4wd is very much preffered.

And planning to modify the garden bed/generally move dirt ect.

I'm thinking of a sub compact but would this be the best choice? I have a Massey furgeson gc1705 with a midmount in mind, that's at a very nice price,and a loader is the cost of a new mower. Therefore I'll end up buying the loader for certain with the machine, and thankfully they are cross compatible.or should I just save my money and rent one when necessary? Hopefully with the tractor I'll sell the lawn mower, but I'm not certain yet

Welcome to TBN.

 

[MossRoad]

Do you 'NEED' a tractor? No.




We live on 1+ acre, but we have 20 acres several miles away.

I wanted a machine to do these tasks in order of most to least...

- Mow the lawn
- Clear our snow (not nearly as much as we had 20 years ago).
- Brush cut trails on our remote property several times a year.
- Move loose materials for landscaping.
- Dig holes.
- Lift things.

Our garden and flower beds are small, and I already had a decent walk-behind tiller. If I didn't, I'd get one for the machine.

Once I found out how useful it was, I started rehabbing, maintaining and mowing my wife's church ball diamond, and then our kids' Little League park. I also do occasional work for friends and family for root beer.

I chose a PowerTrac PT425, like this, to replace my small riding mower, snow blowers, shovels, rakes, and wheelbarrows. It has worked well for our needs.

T8 Class

Compact Tractors, Slope Mowers, Articulated Tractors, Tractor Attachments, Trailer Packages

www.power-trac.com

Good luck in your search.

 

[fatjay]

I have about 2 acres. I have 8 tractors. I hoe and plow and dig and mow and till and trench and hoe again and a bit more digging.

I like to buy older machines because they're cheap and simpler to work on, and if they break I'm not using them to make my living, so I can gradually learn to fix them and make repairs. I like tinkering on the weekends.

 

[PJRAM]

I have 2-1/2 acres, mostly wooded, with a 400 foot long gravel driveway. The little grass I have I mow with a Cub Cadet XT1 with a 46" deck. I bought a Massey GC1723TLB with the backhoe and loader and use it almost every day, to grade areas of my property, dress up the gravel driveway, remove tree stumps, move brush, help my neighbors with projects, to move topsoil and mulch into my garden, spread gravel on the driveway, etc., etc., etc. It's the best investment I have made for maintaining my property. I stay off my grass with the tractor when it's wet. Otherwise I leave tire tracks all over the place. I've had the tractor for 1 year now and in addition to the backhoe and loader I have added a box scraper, pallet forks, a landscape rake, a post hole digger with three augers, a third function kit, a grapple and a quick hitch. My wife said, That's enough already"!!! lol

 

[repete]

I thoroughly believe everyone should own a tractor just to know what it is like for someone to ask to borrow their tractor.

 

[MossRoad]

I thoroughly believe everyone should own a tractor just to know what it is like for someone to ask to borrow their tractor.

The standard answer:

"Liability prevents me from doing work on other people's property."

That usually gets you out of that with understanding and head nod.

 

[MossRoad]

Although I do mow my neighbor's lawn and leaves if it needs it and neighbor does the same for me if he's out first. We get along pretty well.

 

[rScotty]

We use our tractor for heavy jobs that we used to do with muscle power. Lifting, carrying, digging holes, moving snow - chores like that.
For an acre or so of mowing grass a tractor is debateable. I find it easier to simply use a self-propelled lawnmower. Some people prefer a mower on the tractor.
rScotty

 

[MossRoad]

A football field less endzones is pretty close to an acre. I don't want to mow a football field size yard with a self propelled lawnmower ever again. Been there. Done that.

We live on a little more than 1 acre. However, after I factor in the footprints of the house, shed, large garage, driveway, parking spaces, swimming pool, deck, garden, flower beds, etc., I am left with about 3/5 of an acre to mow. I have a 60" deck for the PT425. Many times I've left work at lunch, driven home, mowed the yard quickly (no trimming), ate a sandwich, and got back to work in less than an hour.

If I go fast, it takes about 20 minutes to mow. If I take my time, about 30. It's more than twice as fast as our old Simplicity riding lawnmower with the 32" deck. And that was way more than twice as fast as the walk behind mower that we had before that.

So, what used to take a couple hours with a walk behind mower now takes 20-30 minutes.

 

[hornett22]

Only thing I would recommend is you not get a sub compact. To me, they don't really do anything well. For the price of a [AFFILIATE=1, nofollow=true, newwindow=true, title="Kubota"]Kubota[/AFFILIATE] or JD sub compact, you could get a nice compact from another brand like Kioti or Mahindra for the same or probably even less $ and have A LOT more bang for your buck. You might even save enough to get a backhoe or other attachments like a third function and grapple.