Equipment Needed for 80 Acres

[OrangeGuy]

I'm in the process of purchasing an 80 acre farm. The place looks like a picture right out of the 1930's except the farm has had little invested in it since then. The house is OK and will be occupied by the former owner under a life time estate agreement. The barn is still standing, but may require more investment than it is worth. However. I will try and save it. The rest of the out buildings will need to be bulldozed down. The land is 45 tillable acres and 35 acres of pasture with a beautiful creek running through the east end of the farm. I will not live on the farm but it is within 25 miles of home.

My question is...What equipment should I invest in to cleanup the place? If you look at my profile, you will see I already have some useful equipment, but I believe I will need some "heavier duty stuff". I'm thinking a couple of different options; 1) Bobcat with several attachments, dozer (used Cat D3 size) and a used 40 HP excavator, or 2) Kubota 5740 with FEL and backhoe (or similiar) and dozer, or 3) used TLB and Bobcat, or 4) ???

Uses will be knocking down buildings, landscaping around the remaining buildings prior to building a new machine shed, cleaning up alot of dead trees in the pasture, removing old fence lines and putting in new, some tiling in the pasture, thinning out overgrown windbreak, planting new trees, rebuilding field roads with culvert installation, creek repair, snow removal, and more.

Any thoughts will be appreciated. Oh by the way, how big is my budget? I am confident I can add substantial value to the property to help "justify" equipment purchases. Also, by purchasing products with high resale and used equipment, I'm not too worried about long term costs. I'm pretty good mechanically, so used does not concern me, especially if it is name brand equipment like Bobcat, Cat, Kubota, JD, Case, etc.

OrangeGuy

 

[BillyP]

Hire the grunt stuff done. You'll be money a head. After that see what you want to do and go from there.

 

[Kendall69]

Tractor with quick attach, grappler, bucket, backhoe, grader box, rake.

Grappler to grab lumber, brush general clean up. Grader box to finish things off an keep everything neat. Rake to gather all the brush etc so you can grab it with the grappler. Backhoe for removing trees, stumps, adding water lines, breaking uo and removing old concreat drive and walks - crushing buildings, sheds etc.

 

[MossRoad]

I'd rent(or hire someone with) a large excavator with a thumb to do the demolition of the buildings. If it is O.K. with codes, use the same excavator to bury the debris in a hole. Us the dirt from the hole to fill in where the buildings were.

The exavator will also do a fine job of quickly pulling trees and fence lines.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Unless renovating this property is your only job, I would agree on hiring out the demolition and other heavy work. But I think a backhoe or skid loader may still come in handy if you can afford it. You sound a bit overconfident on resale value; if you are using the equipment you are putting hours on it and losing value. Sure, a JD or CAT with 1000 hours will retain more of its new value than a Jinma would, but it's not free.

Need more info on your planned tasks after demolition. How big are the trees to remove? How fast do you want to get it done? How many acres of pasture are you planning to till (or did you really mean installing tile?)? Are you planning to farm with annual rowcrops, or do something else with the tillable land? I could see anything from a 30hp TLB to a 90hp rowcrop tractor depending on your exact plans.

 

[deereguy]

Consider making your 'bota into a multi-use machine (BH, rake, etc) and then consider a larger skid-steer loader that you rent attachments for other projects. As others have mentioned- hire the big stuff out, what an experienced operator can do with a larger piece of equipment will outway what you can purchase and do the demolition, etc yourself.

Would you consider using some of the "Chalmers" for other field work?

 

[patrick_g]

Don't overlook the opportunity to contribute the out buildings to: 1. the local fire dept to burn down as training, or 2. sell for the "antique" lumber. Lots of object d'art (objects of junk?) slob art or quaint flea market stuff is made out of old weathered lumber. (signs picture frames and such) visit the venues frequented by purveyors of this fine stuff and see if you can develop leads to the artistes creating it and offer them free artist supplies for the taking. (and then let the FD practice on the rest.)

I would prefer the FD. What doesn't burn is going to be cheaper to bury. I concur with BillyP and the others regarding economics. Buying new or used to DIY is not going to save money or time. If you have nothing to do with your time and like lots of hard work for no pay then volunteer at Habitat for Humanity

Pat

 

[OrangeGuy]

Thanks for the replies. I do not plan on farming the tillable acres unless the farm renter lets me drive one of his tractors once in a while. Also I want the farm income to allow for some depreciation of assets. Placing tile in the pasture would be to help dry it out, not create more tillable acres. The Fire Dept idea and salvaging "antique" lumber are good ones. I will consider. My time horizen for completing the transformation of this farm from rough to magnificent is probably years. My thoughts regarding the purchase of "heavier duty equipment" were to make my time at the farm efficent and productive thus allowing me more time for other activities such as charitable work. Trees for removal range from sapplings to overgrown cedar and spruce in the windbreak to hugh dead elms in the pasture.

Regarding resale value of the equipment, I recognize there will be depreciation. However, if I can add $50 to $100K or more value to the property, this should capture most/all of the depreciation.

Regarding "hiring" the work done, I would rather put the money into equipment purchases. The buildings to raze are a small granary, a chicken coop, a couple of old hog sheds and a single car garage. If the barn would need to be razed, that might be a different story. However, the barn might be a good Fire Dept project (after the "antique" lumber is salvaged). I don't know about local codes for burying debris, but my inclination would be to not bury anything.

Again, thanks for the comments.

OrangeGuy

 

[Z-Michigan]

A couple comments. Not sure what your level of soil or farming knowledge is, but before I spent huge $$ on installing tile I would check for subsoil compaction. This can create wetspots and can be removed without tile - either mechanically (subsoiler or a ripper on a dozer) or with certain plants (annual ryegrass is supposed to send deep enough roots to break it up; strong alfalfa should also).

The demolition sounds a lot smaller than I was thinking, so DIY makes more sense to me now.

We have called local fire departments in various townships about buildings that were no longer needed. Only once, many years ago, were they interested. I think they get too many calls now. I have also heard a horror story about a guy who, after not getting their interest, did get a burn permit which he thought allowed him to burn down his old barn, had obtained a huge pump and hose to use on the fire if it got out of hand, and ended up being prosecuted and having a huge hassle over "arson" and environmental issues (he hadn't known there was an old car buried in the barn, but somehow the EPA did know). The guy may not have been the brightest, but with the burn permit in hand he thought he was legal. So I would never burn down an intact structure unless the fire department is doing it for you.

The valuable lumber from old barns is mostly the big beams. The barns are of post and beam construction. Meaning, the barn will collapse without those beams, and you won't get them out without dismantling everything else. However, the beams can be valuable enough to be worth doing this. We are going to be taking apart a barn on our property in the next few years, with multiple beams of 18" square and 20-40' long, all one piece solid oak.

 

[KaiB]

Also I want the farm income to allow for some depreciation of assets.

Have you given serious thought to the source of income for the farm? You'll have to show profit, as well as satisfy the "Hobby Farm" questions to keep the IRS off of your back.