Buying Advice Help deciding on tractor

Classic HD · May 3, 2012

I have been reading pages after pages on here for weeks and thought I would finally post my question. My Father passed away over the winter so we are selling all of the farm equipment and renting out the 80 acres of land. I am used to a 150hp tractor and loader. I am looking for something to take care of my parents property of a about 7 acres mainly doing yard and driveway maintenance and snow removal and some odd jobs. There is some grading that needs to be fixed in front of shed where water does not drain properly. The only pto work will be a snowblower and post hole digger for now. No mower deck or bush hogging. I am having trouble deciding on size of tractor. I have mahindra, bobcat, John Deere, Kubota, Massey ferguson all within 45 minutes. I started looking at bobcat ct35 and kubota l3200 or the l3240 but Now am wondering if I can save some money with the mahindra max 28 or kubota b3030 or similar. I am just worried that the smaller tractors will be to small for loader work and racing with a box blade. Its just a big change from what we are use to using. I am thinking that the money saved on a smaller tractor could be used towards a cab or front mount snowblower. Any info and recommendations would be great

art · May 3, 2012

We have people taking care of more then seven acres with Kubota BX's! What it allowed them to do was buy more attachments to do the work easier they wanted to get done.

When using a smaller tractor it might take more time to get a job done. So it is important to look at the time you have to do the work that will be needed.

Classic HD · May 4, 2012

I am always amazed at how a new guy comes to a forum and asks a question and gets over a hundred views and only 1 response. I already know anything can do the work. I just am trying to find out how well it can do it. Im sure a rake and shovel could do it also but thats not the point. thanks for everyones time in reading my question anyways.

bcp · May 4, 2012

This one forum has 7547 threads and 114453 posts as I type this. That is about 15 replies per thread average. There are 133,755 users who could reply. All but about 5 would say "I don't know." Those 5 will often make several replies on a thread.

Ignore the "views" number.

Bruce

Not Retired Yet · May 5, 2012

Well, without knowing how your property is laid out all I can do is give a summary of mine. I've got about 13 acres but only 1/2 or so of it is workable on a tractor as the other 1/2 is too steep a hill to try. I've got a Kioti CK27hst (a twin to the Bobcat CT235 I think). I use it for loader work, boxblade, disk, PTO chipper, and a grapple. So far it's done everything I've needed - except when I pick on a tree too large to push. I could have gone for more HP but decided to use the additional money for implements. A larger tractor could have done the work faster but I've got years before I can retire anyway so I just take my time on stuff. I've been very happy with it. I decided against the CK20 (Bobcat CT122?) because the frame itself was smaller and I was more comfortable in the larger frame. The next larger frame size for the tractor was a larger payment than i really wanted to make. I'd be really surprised if you don't get a lot more responses if you can outline the lay of the land and stuff.

Gary Fowler · May 5, 2012

If you look at all the stuff I have, you might think I had a couple hundred acres when I really have only 11.29 but I do help my brother in law on the remainder of 42 acres which we graze cattle on and mow lawns. I started out with a used grey market tractor which did the work I needed at the time clearing all the trees and underbrush that had grown up on the neglected property when we bought it. Later we both decided we needed a little comfort so bought cab tractors with a $36K budget, I ended up with 70 HP LS which I really didnt need that much HP but I was comfortable to operate and I did lots of digging with it in a short time that would have taken me a LOOOONG time with a smaller tractor. Now it is mostly used when we need to move some big honking rock that appeared over the winter. We grow lots of rocks from small to larger than the one in my Avatar. After this background, I am going to suggest that you get a 30 HP tractor to do anything that you have named. Brand is up to you with the Mahindra and Kioti being the heavy framed ones and Kubota being on the light end for same HP and frame size. You can always load up with weight if you need for traction but cant take it off of a heavy frame tractor if you want to go light for mowing or whatever. I loved the size of my son in law's B 3020 Kubota. Large enough to move dirt and handle a large tiller or snow blower in your case but agile enough to drive in close quarters and my daughter loves to drive it. As matter of fact, she drives it more than her husband.
I just added to my stable with a Kubota B26 TLB for some of that rock digging I was talking about, so the LS is likely going to stay in the shed most of the time unless I need to haul one of those big ones off after I dig it out.