FIRST POST ON TBN!!
Looking at a BX2660 (first tractor, minus the 1970s 18hp V-Twin Sears/Craftsman mower etc)...
Here is my thought for my use (and any economical suggestions are welcome!)... I have just over 5 acres, lots of rolling hills, all will be either mowed (probably ~3 acres) or brush hogged (back ~2 acres). This was old farm land (from years and years back). We just built a house and finished it in October, this winter nothing was done (minus 4' snowblower on the Sears tractor worked like a champ!) to the yard or ~400' curved/hilled gravel driveway...
Spring is here and what I have noticed is that the land is filled with large mounds of ant hills (haha) in the back few acres, the entire land has many small (6' tall, 2" around) saplings and similar sized thorn bushes that have grown over years and years. The front hill (that the house sits up on) is the home to our septic system, which is a step tile format down the front of the hill, as they ran the tiles and buried them, there was little/no thought into how much it would settle. Therefore, there are ruts for these tiles guessing about 6-8 of them, probably 150' each around the front of the hill. Also the ground around the house has settled, and has a bit of negative grade to the house (luckily up on the hill most of it still runs far away from the house). I do not know if we will EVER spend the money on grass seed, but I would like to be able to mow at least a smooth yard, clean up the front (old fence posts, small trees, ditch to lay tile & fill in), so we can mow to the road side w/o an exposed ditch.. I am unsure so far on snow removal, of using the FEL, or a blade (I do enjoy my snowblower now).. or getting a rear PTO driven snowblower for the BX.
Aside from that, here is my thoughts on what we will do, and please question/scrutinize as you see fit! BX2660 with FEL and (probably) 60" MMM... And to keep starting impliment costs in line, I'm thinking of a box scraper with scarifiers (to losen the decent top soil, some clay underneath), also use to do some basic smoothing, and then a landscape rake to remove the MULTITUDE of rocks throughout the yard. The driveway was very well done, with canvas underneath (to keep mud/dirt from seeping through the rocks) great base of 1s & 2s done 2x while the huge trucks were dropping off equipment and material, and 2 coatings of 304 w/ a good amount of limestone dust. The driveway has been great so far, no vegetation, most of it staying put, I could see a gentle 'leveling' now and then, or wait to do an actual top coat of smaller rock.
Can anyone share some thoughts on that? I do not want to end up with a ton of impliements (I guess I already neglected to mention a 42-48" used brush hog for the back few acres). I am trying to keep costs in line, as we are all aware of the economic issues (especially for myself in the middle of the finance world, and wife working for a real estate company) and a bleak outlook in the short term (~year or so).
Thanks for any comments/thoughts
Looking at a BX2660 (first tractor, minus the 1970s 18hp V-Twin Sears/Craftsman mower etc)...
Here is my thought for my use (and any economical suggestions are welcome!)... I have just over 5 acres, lots of rolling hills, all will be either mowed (probably ~3 acres) or brush hogged (back ~2 acres). This was old farm land (from years and years back). We just built a house and finished it in October, this winter nothing was done (minus 4' snowblower on the Sears tractor worked like a champ!) to the yard or ~400' curved/hilled gravel driveway...
Spring is here and what I have noticed is that the land is filled with large mounds of ant hills (haha) in the back few acres, the entire land has many small (6' tall, 2" around) saplings and similar sized thorn bushes that have grown over years and years. The front hill (that the house sits up on) is the home to our septic system, which is a step tile format down the front of the hill, as they ran the tiles and buried them, there was little/no thought into how much it would settle. Therefore, there are ruts for these tiles guessing about 6-8 of them, probably 150' each around the front of the hill. Also the ground around the house has settled, and has a bit of negative grade to the house (luckily up on the hill most of it still runs far away from the house). I do not know if we will EVER spend the money on grass seed, but I would like to be able to mow at least a smooth yard, clean up the front (old fence posts, small trees, ditch to lay tile & fill in), so we can mow to the road side w/o an exposed ditch.. I am unsure so far on snow removal, of using the FEL, or a blade (I do enjoy my snowblower now).. or getting a rear PTO driven snowblower for the BX.
Aside from that, here is my thoughts on what we will do, and please question/scrutinize as you see fit! BX2660 with FEL and (probably) 60" MMM... And to keep starting impliment costs in line, I'm thinking of a box scraper with scarifiers (to losen the decent top soil, some clay underneath), also use to do some basic smoothing, and then a landscape rake to remove the MULTITUDE of rocks throughout the yard. The driveway was very well done, with canvas underneath (to keep mud/dirt from seeping through the rocks) great base of 1s & 2s done 2x while the huge trucks were dropping off equipment and material, and 2 coatings of 304 w/ a good amount of limestone dust. The driveway has been great so far, no vegetation, most of it staying put, I could see a gentle 'leveling' now and then, or wait to do an actual top coat of smaller rock.
Can anyone share some thoughts on that? I do not want to end up with a ton of impliements (I guess I already neglected to mention a 42-48" used brush hog for the back few acres). I am trying to keep costs in line, as we are all aware of the economic issues (especially for myself in the middle of the finance world, and wife working for a real estate company) and a bleak outlook in the short term (~year or so).
Thanks for any comments/thoughts
Last edited: