Tractor Time with Tim, is doing a series on you tube on buying your first tractor:
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Tractor Mike, did a couple of videos recently on how big, and what options you want.
Good Works Tractors, who sells used tractors and implements, has a playlist on buying your first tractor:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyRjhkX_ZAmZGGN3Z-NmR51GmMxs98i4i
My advice is to figure out what implements you will need to have to do what you need done, and figure out what you need to operate them, and then go backwards to what the tractor needs, for hydraulics, PTO horsepower, how big of three point hitch, etc.. Before thinking about the tractor.
“Options”, on a new tractor which you will find impossible to add later are: A mid PTO, a front end loader, a backhoe, and a cab with heat and air conditioning.
The cab makes life much nicer, if you need to do a lot of work which stirs up dust.
A
used tractor with a loader is much easier to sell later, and thus holds its value better.
Depending on how much use you will have for the backhoe determines whether it is worth the investment and maintenance costs. My property is pretty much fully developed, so I don’t need to dig footings for walls, install new utility lines, or dig a hole for a septic tank, and build a drain field. So, for me it makes much more sense, to rent a mini excavator, when I need to trench, than to have a small backhoe.
If you get a front end loader, be sure it has a readily available quick attach system. Skid Steer Quick Attach, is most universal. But nearly all attachments can be found with the John Deer mounting system. And, get a forklift attachment as your first implement when you get the tractor.
The forks are probably the most used attachment out there. Nearly all the implements you buy will come on a pallet, being able to get them unloaded when you get home is really handy. And, fertilizer, fire retardent, lumber for the sheds, barn, chicken coop, etc. is lots easier to offload, and move around with a set of forks.
And, I’m serious about fire retardent. Your in California, and things are going to burn there. You’re moving rural, so the fire department will have a response time of an hour. Home desperate, and Lowes both sell the same fire retardant that CalFire, and the. Forest Service, use. A good weed sprayer to spread it with, and you. An make your place much more fire resistant. And, you might want to look at a good fire pump trailer.
A high school budddies parents retired to a rural location with a high fire potential. First thing they built was a large swimming pool on a hill above where the house was going to be. He installed a 4-inch drain line from the pool to near where the house was going to be built, and installled a fire hydrant with two two inch outlets on the end of his drain line.
The fact that he had a large water tank, and a fire hydrant was critical in his getting a construction loan to build the house, and insurance on it.