Hello Horse Owners! What Are Your Tractor Regrets and Wishes?

[newbury]

<snip>
What do you regret about your current tractor? I.e. what you should have bought instead, what you should have added on at time of purchase instead of down the road, what you thought a tractor would be used for, but ended up not being the best tool for the job, etc.

What I regret about my current tractorS - Not enough seat time
Not a horse owner but:
What I should have gotten also - boom pole

I think of a tractor as basically a large wheeled powerplant -
I need to move dirt - use a bucket on the tractor or backhoe on the back.
Move logs - drag them
Plow ground - pull a plow
Use a wood chipper, soil auger, rotary cutter - move and power the implement

Tractor is not much good for pushing heavy stuff, like dirt or gravel, with the FEL (it's a loader, not a dozer)

 

[tallyho8]

For years I had a tractor with no FEL. At that time I had a boom pole that I used often. After I got a FEL I sold my boom pole and never again wished I had one. What does a boom pole do that a FEL can't do?

 

[EddieWalker]

When we got our horses, I thought I had plenty of pasture for them to eat all the grass that they could ever want. They where rescues and half starved. For a full week, they never stopped eating!!!! My pasture was quickly eaten down to a manicured lawn and I had to start buying hay. We started with square bales and soon learned how expensive that way, and time consuming.

My small 35hp tractor doesn't have a loader, so it's worthless for feeding horses. It's also too small to lift round bales. My 80 hp backhoe has plenty of power, so that worked out well for getting round bales out to them. When it isn't running, I've used my 35 hp tractor with a 3 pt hay spear, which works if I have some bales sitting around, but it's borderline on having enough power, and I can't put the bale on the rack where I like it to be. Usually when the backhoe isn't working, I just roll the bale out of the bed of my truck and leave it there. The horse end up walking over most of it and there is a lot of waste doing it that way.

I need another tractor with a loader just for backup feeding. 50 hp is borderline big enough, so I'll buy something in the 60 hp range or bigger. Ideally, I want to pull a 15 foot batwing, so that means I need to be in the 80 hp range or bigger, but that's a big jump in money, so I'm probably leaning towards a very used 60 hp tractor with a loader and then later down the line, buy my dream tractor with a cab that can pull a batwing mower.

the backhoe also has a 1 yard bucket that i use for cleaning up the mess around the hay cradle. I do this a couple times a year. I also move the hay cradle to a couple different spots because the horses turn the area around it into a muddy mess that needs time to dry out. 1 yard at a time takes a lot of time. The slowest part of this is opening and closing the gate. I've thought about one of those Mule type gate openers just to deal with the 20 plus loads that it takes to clean up their feeding areas, and not having to get off the tractor to open the gate, then back off of it to close the gate every time I leave with a load, and every time I come back for another load.

 

[drssg]

With 40 acres you will want 40 HP or more. You will soon find out that a smaller tractor just doesn't cut it for that much acreage.

That's what I was thinking. One of the biggest questions is "What size tractor do I need?" I went with a 50+ hp tractor and was glad I did. That took me out of the Compact category and into Utility/Ag. The activity that uses the most power for me is bush hogging well overgrown areas. It would be possible with a smaller tractor, but much slower.

My only regret was occasionally buying a cheap implement. I bought a CountyLine rotary tiller at TSC, because I only planned to use it occasionally. I HAVE only used it occasionally, but it has a lot of problems.

 

[drssg]

Isn't the better question ...

Hello Tractor Owners! What Are Your Horse Regrets And Wishes?

That's a hopeless expectation. Horse ownership is an irrational and hopeless disease.

 

[airbiscuit]

That's a hopeless expectation. Horse ownership is an irrational and hopeless disease.

It's okay if you don't really need all your money

 

[hosspuller]

When I bought my first tractor the SSQA (Skid steer quick attach) wasn't available on tractor FEL. Today, starting out I would insist on it.

Along with the FEL, I would also insists in a third remote hydraulic (addition to the FEL's)

While a cab is nice in the open fields, anyone working in the woods will regret it or be supremely cautious. I was about to purchase a cab but at the last minute got another open station. After a few months working the new tractor, glad I got an OS. Don't do any snow plowing, don't have much work that can't wait, if raining. Getting on & off the tractor for gates, attachments, adjustments, conversation, is a pain with a door.

Be aware the FEL is a loader. It doesn't dig into packed earth well.

 

[WM75Guy]

We started with the TC40DA 40hp 12 years ago for our 14 acres and 3 horses. It did everything we needed at the time. It was used to mow, drag the arena, and move round bales. It didn't have SSQA but I swapped it over pretty easily. I got tired of changing implements often as we were dragging the arena several times a week. I bought a Boomer 8N 50hp without an FEL to run the cutter. It was great around trees, but even with a canopy was hot in the Texas sun so I mowed a lot at night. With the arena drag on the TC40DA all the time the wife could drag the arena any time she needed.

As we got older and had more health issues with backs and knees the TC40DA wasn't up to lifting what I needed, and the heat and dust began to take its toll. I traded the Boomer 8N in on the Workmaster 75. I added the third function and got 2 W.R. Long grapples, a brush grapple and a hay grapple that lifts 10 square bales. Sure is nice mowing in a cab tractor with AC and a radio today, although the temp is only up to 91 F. The Sahara dust is still around. The brush grapple stays on so I can pick up limbs before mowing. With the added HP I will be moving up to a 12' cutter to reduce mowing time.

 

[riptides]

I regret getting rid of my 30hp Kubota b7800. It was perfect for in and around the barn, riding ring and sacrifice pastures.

I should have kept it and still did the upsize for the pasture work.

I think with acreage and horses your looking at two classes of machines.

 

[newbury]

I regret getting rid of my 30hp Kubota b7800. It was perfect for in and around the barn, riding ring and sacrifice pastures.

I should have kept it and still did the upsize for the pasture work.

I think with acreage and horses your looking at two classes of machines.

Yup, just like chainsaws you need two or three.

For years I had a tractor with no FEL. At that time I had a boom pole that I used often. After I got a FEL I sold my boom pole and never again wished I had one. What does a boom pole do that a FEL can't do?

Carry things behind me when the FEL is in use.