Hey from Appalachia

[old bubblehead]

Morning all,
I posted a question in a different forum before seeing that there's a "Introduce yourself" section, so Hi <Hears Hi Old Bubblehead> I don't have a rig yet, that's why I joined... To get advice before sinking lots of money into something and finding out I was silly.
We have a small farm up in North East TN, just outside Rogersville. It's actually two farms, one owned by my wife and I, the other owned by our best friends, who split 58 acres with us. About 15 or 20 of that is arable, the rest is in trees, and hilly A/F. This is career # 4 for me, retirement just doesn't stick.

 

[Hay Dude]

Check out the “hay farming” forums. Lots of us over there sharing knowledge.

 

[MotorSeven]

Welcome. We are North of you over the Clinch Mtn in Hancock County. So what is your current game plan?

My mistake when we arrived here back in '01 was to buy too small of a tractor(30hp) in'05. Ended up trading it back in on a 40horse in '07.....big difference between the 2.

 

[old bubblehead]

Welcome. We are North of you over the Clinch Mtn in Hancock County. So what is your current game plan?

My mistake when we arrived here back in '01 was to buy too small of a tractor(30hp) in'05. Ended up trading it back in on a 40horse in '07.....big difference between the 2.

looking in the 50-75 HP range. We're going to be raising some hogs, a cow, get her covered every other year, and butcher the offspring at market weight. Going to crop mainly root crops, probably some cabbage, broccoli, and Colliflower, most for home use and pig food, some for a farm stand. The main "cash crop" will be home made bacon, hams, Sausage, and charcutier. I don't need to "make money" if I can just a little over break even, I'm good, the wife and I are both retired, and we're doing OK.

 

[Thomas]

Welcome to TBN...enjoy.

 

[WM75Guy]

Welcome, sounds like a plan.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day Mate and welcome to TBN from Downunder.

Enjoy the site.

 

[old bubblehead]

How Ya doin' Wagtail, I have a good friend out your way, author named Dave Freer, lives on Flinders Island.

 

[Hay Dude]

looking in the 50-75 HP range. We're going to be raising some hogs, a cow, get her covered every other year, and butcher the offspring at market weight. Going to crop mainly root crops, probably some cabbage, broccoli, and Colliflower, most for home use and pig food, some for a farm stand. The main "cash crop" will be home made bacon, hams, Sausage, and charcutier. I don't need to "make money" if I can just a little over break even, I'm good, the wife and I are both retired, and we're doing OK.

I read Deere too spendy for ya….yeah….I can’t argue with that. From a farming prospective, I find that Massey Ferguson makes a VERY good and heavy-built tractor in that range.
This I like about Massey over the Asian brands, is that although the Massey is also Asian built, it is designed by American Ag people. They know a heavier platform means more power to the ground and better stability.
Take special notice of the weight of a tractor which means with even less HP, more gets to the ground in the form of superior traction. Generally, their rear axles will be thicker, and they generally use cast iron pumps & PTO housings rather than aluminum.
The asian designed & built tractors are well powered, but generally lighter built.

When comparing tractors, as long as both models you compare are close in HP, look at weight, axles and castings, pumps and housings.

 

[Wagtail]

How Ya doin' Wagtail, I have a good friend out your way, author named Dave Freer, lives on Flinders Island.

Doing well, Cobber, doing well.

Another 'tool' to comparing tractors is the website TractorData.com - information on all makes and models of tractors

 

[old bubblehead]

yup leaning on them a lot, because when someone lists a NFD5678 for 59,000 I have NO idea what the hell that is, or if it's a good deal without resorting to Tractordata.