My family and I are about to move on 11 acres. Most of the land is slightly rolling pasture.
My probable tractor uses:
1. Making grass shorter: Rotary cutter 6'+ would be preferable, and eventually a 7' finish mower.
2. Garden: I enjoy growing a garden and would like to maintain 1/4 to 1/2 acre-ish.
3. Random chores and possibly eventually moving the occasional round bail of hay.
4. House building general site chores.
MX line of Kubota or the M5660SUHD. But I'm afraid of them being too large in the garden.
A Kubota MX or a Kubota 'Grand L' is perfect for you.
The M5660 is too physically large and heavy.
With eleven acres available do not worry about the rows being too wide in a large kitchen garden. A 1/4 acre kitchen garden will demand every weekend during the growing season. A 1/2 acre kitchen garden requires 24 man-hours of labor each week during the growing season.
Many here cultivate kitchen gardens to 1/2 acre with a two-wheeled tractor, such as commercial brands Grillo and BCS. Small, proprietary versions of four wheel tractor implements fit the Grillo and BCS.
If you buy a Rotary Cutter too light it will visit the dealer yearly for $600 repair.
NEW Rotary Cutters cut everything at first. As the light blades dull a light cutter undergoes increasing stress.
60" - 72" Rotary Cutters
400 pounds = light duty = grass only.
700 pounds = medium duty = grass and ocasional light brush, perhaps to 1"
1,000 pounds = heavy duty = mostly brush, even dense brush and saplings to 2".
Heavy brush inevitably dulls the heavy blades so does not cut grass as nice as a Rotary Cutter used only for grass but will continue to chop brush. Splayed brush cut by rounded blades dies more surely than evenly cut brush cut by sharp blades. Most who cut considerable brush sharpen heavy blades at two to three year intervals.
I cut 3" hardwood saplings like Hickory with a chain saw. I knock down softwood 3" saplings with a Ratchet Rake on the bucket, before mulching them on the ground with a 1,000 pound Land Pride RCR2660 Rotary Cutter.
25 horsepower will amply power a Light Duty 5' Rotary Mower - grass only
35 horsepower will amply power a Heavy Duty 5' Rotary Mower
35 horsepower will amply power a Light Duty 6' Rotary Mower - grass only
45 horsepower will amply power a Heavy Duty 6' Rotary Mower
An open station tractor with a bare weight of 3,700 to 4,000 pounds can lift and move 1,200 pound round bales using a bale spear on the Front End Loader and stack them at least two bales high. However, the tractor will feel very tippy to a new operator lifting bales to stack.
An open station tractor weighing 3,700 to 4,000 pounds can transport 1,200+ pound round bales safely with a Three Point Hitch mounted (rear) bale spear but can only lift bales a few inches. Transport but no stacking. The tractor is stable because the bale weight is low and bale weight is carried on the large, rear tractor tires, which do not pivot/steer.
A tractor with a bare weight of 3,700 to 4,000 pounds is suitable for actually working 10 to 25 acres of farm acreage. Working acres, not total acres.
Brand? Models to look at or avoid? Buy new or used?
The design of the Three Point Hitch tractor has been marketed in the USA since 1939 -- 82 years in 2021.
The basic design is generic.
Kubota and Deere have most of the market through 6,000 pound bare weight tractors. But this Kubota/Deere predominance is regional.
The up and coming compact tractor brands are Korean: Kioti, LS and Branson. There are other Korean brands.
You have to critically assess dealer stability while shopping minor brands.
Korean manufacturing labor is paid 50% of what Deere pays its union work force. Japanese manufacturing labor is paid 70% of what Deere pays its union work force. Labor costs strongly influence tractor prices.
with draft control, This man should never be forgotten for what he did for the tractor world when You mention the 3 point system& Massey -Ferguson still uses that symbol on there tractors.
