HELP Need LOTS of ADVICE

[GaryE]

I have been in hiding from ya'll. My husband doesn't think we need a tractor. I am trying to be patient and nice. This is not in my character. He thinks a ztr mower is fine. It's half the price of a tractor. It's not enough. Now I am trying to make him come around. I am going to leave information on tractors laying around the house. I may quit speaking to him, once I find what I want. This usually works. Why I don't know cause when I talk he doesn't like it. Poor man.

I think your husband needs to speak to my wife. When I bought my recent tractor she said "why do you need that big of a tractor" ... After just one year she understood how we were now able to do things that before were not possible. I cannot imagine having horses and maintaining fields without some sort of tractor. Even a BX Kubota series or the like .


Just go out and get a name brand tractor. And tell your husband if within one year he thinks it was not worth the investment you will sell it and let him find some other way to do all the work the tractor was letting you get done. Trust me, he will only agree the tractor was worth every penny but opt to upgrade the tractor!!!!!

 

[cluelessinalabama]

Dear CluelessinAlabama, gee whiz, looks to me like it's time to change your log in ID to SOLinAlabama.

Some of the advice you are receiving doesn't sound like it's coming from horse people. Staking out a horse and letting it eat a circle isn't really a sound practice. Horses are amazingly complex and fragile creatures. If you stake out a horse day after day, sooner or later something is going to spook it and you'll end up with vet bills that will make a tractor purchase look like a bargain.

IMHO, the best way to convince your husband that a ztr is not up to the job is to take him to wherever you are boarding your horse and let him experience first hand what it takes to care of a horse (horses really as you should never have one horse all alone. They need company. If a second horse is not an option, then you'll need a companion animal like a donkey or a goat).

You will need to feed round bales because the acreage you have available as pasture isn't enough to support two horses on grass alone. You'll need at least 1.5 acres per horse. Less than that and they'll eat it to dirt in less than a month -- even in So. Ala.

This is the BEST advice I received. I am SOL!! I almost fell out of my chair! LOVE IT! I don't board my horses they are here. I have a wheel barrow with 2 wheels, a shovel and I roll my square bales 2ce a day out to my horses in a rolling trash can. I spread my manure the way the vet told me to. I drive through the pasture in my Honda pilot suv with the hatch open and my 15 year old daughter holding an old piece of chain link fencing. My 2 mares are houdinis and I wouldn't trust them to stake them anywhere. See you truely do know that I am SOL and that I have been improvising since Novmember. Thankfully I live behind the folks that sell the hay around here. They bring it to me and off load it. THey think I am nuts. They raise cows. They laugh at my wheel barrow and trash can. They brought me my round pen. I am not above begging.............................

 

[cluelessinalabama]

I think your husband needs to speak to my wife. When I bought my recent tractor she said "why do you need that big of a tractor" ... After just one year she understood how we were now able to do things that before were not possible. I cannot imagine having horses and maintaining fields without some sort of tractor. Even a BX Kubota series or the like .


Just go out and get a name brand tractor. And tell your husband if within one year he thinks it was not worth the investment you will sell it and let him find some other way to do all the work the tractor was letting you get done. Trust me, he will only agree the tractor was worth every penny but opt to upgrade the tractor!!!!!

I love your avatar. We have 3 boxers, fawn, white and brindle. All black masks. My fawn is turning white in the face from age. Still working on the husband............................

 

[VAChesterfield]

Manure Happens ... so get a tractor. (there ought to be an attachment here somewhere if I did this right)

Not much help, but maybe it'll get a smile.

If you want to "roll your own" posters like this, please go to Despair, Inc.. Look for the DIY tab. And you should probably browse their "for sale" posters, shirts, and drinkware too. Lots of fun.

 

[Soundguy]

I know I know! We didn't even know how to turn it on. A friend tried and couldn't. What we didn't know was he left it in the "start" position and burned out the points. We were like "What are points." The man who sold us the house and tractor came and replaced them. He saw how truely sad and inexperience we were and suggested we go with a newer model. WHY we got rid of the implements I will never know.

good luck on whatever you find.

soundguy

 

[cluelessinalabama]

I fear that my tractor dreams are ending. Hubby is going for Hustler Fastrak ztr. But he can't take my dreams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[VAChesterfield]

Hubby is going for Hustler Fastrak ztr.

A big disappointment to be sure.

 

[crashz]

Driving through the filed with your Honda with your daughter holding a chainlink fence to spread manure??? Sounds like a good way to hurt your car and your daughter in one shot. Its a safety issue as well as financial (a Honda Pilot is more expensive than a premium compact tractor) so now your choices are purely brand and model.

So if the saftey and risk of car damage does not convince your husband of a tractor purchase, another method could be attacking his manhood. A comment such as "All the guys on Tractorbynet have at least one, and some are really big!" Or "Are you afraid you can't handle it?" Or my favorite for the past 30 years: "All the cool kids have one!"

Last resort go buy the tractor or put a deposit on one and tell him not to bother with the ZTR. Thats my plan anyway. A bit brave and maybe slightly foolish, but effective nonetheless.

Good luck!

 

[crabjoe]

I fear that my tractor dreams are ending. Hubby is going for Hustler Fastrak ztr. But he can't take my dreams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what type of conversations you have with your hubby, but your original post was about cutting grass on a level field. If that is your ultimate goal, a ZTR will do it. So don't knock your hubby got going for the ZTR.

Now if you told your hubby you need a tractor to cut grass, but you had different ideas, other then cutting grass, you need to have a serious sit down with your husband. So, go sit with him and tell him exactly why you need a tractor and not just a mower.

From what you've been posting, I'd say you need a tractor, but have you had this same conversation with your husband as you've had with us TBNers?

Talk to him because I don't think a tractor will be a hard sell. You've got horses for God sakes. Shoot, I only have an acre and a dog and I just bought a tractor, a Kioti CK20s HST. And I'll tell you this, this tractor sure make life easier.

BTW, when it comes to cutting grass, I don't think any tractor will cut grass as quickly as a ZTR. A friend of mine has 3 acres and originally purchased a tractor for it's all around capabilities. After a year of cutting grass with it, he bought a ZTR. It cut his cutting time in half and he tells me, he'll never go back to using the tractor for grass cutting.

 

[ChuckinNH]

Hmmm, I think there is some chance that hubby is trying to discourage having horses..... too bad.