I'm still lost on what size tractor I need.

[K5lwq]

I had a Uncle that retired farming and downsized to 100 acres. He was quite an innovator and really enjoyed doing things others thought impossible. He sold all of his tractors and bought several lawn mowers. He converted them to little tractors and built implements for them.

He planted that 100 acres in soybeans every year for years using those lawn mowers. They were powered by 8 hp Briggs & Stratton engines. He used to brag if one goes down, 4 bolts and he was back in business. He kept 10 or so engines rebuild and ready to go.

You can do a lot with small equipment if you have the work ethic and time! I sure miss that man!

 

[Tennsawdust]

In the past many farms of 640 acres were farmed by tractors of less than fifty horsepower. So consider the equipment you will need and match a tractor to it.

Some of those under fifty horsepower tractors weighed in at around 7000 lb痴

My grandfather farmed his whole life and never owned a tractor bigger than 45 horsepower. He managed to put up enough hay for his dairy farm and raise 200 or so acres of corn and several acres of tobacco every year with them. From his perspective even his old Ferguson 30 was a big step up from the team of mules he started out with back in the 1930's.

 

[prof fate]

compact UTILITY tractors are what the b/l/m even, are. UTILITY - for the odd jobs around the farm or on 30 acres or less.

You want to plow 10 acres? Start looking at 'real' tractors - 75-100 hp, 8k lb or more, with ag tires. And the implements won't be cheap.

Sure, a 25h tractor can plow/till...but you'll be there ALL DAY to do 10 acres. A 75hp tractor with a 4 bottom can do it in 2 hours.

Haying - if you can get someone to do it for you, awesome. I'll be haying this fall for the first time. I have a 35hp kioti - enough, but barely.

I'm mowing (for now) with a flail (tested it, open the rear hatch and it will mow but not chop the hay).
I have an old (1950s) ferguson hay rake. EVERYONE says I'll need a tedder as well (for first cutting..wet here) so we'll see. $550 in that (needed 1/2 it's tines and 2 tires, still working on a drive shaft).
got a 70s vintage new holland square baler (276). IDEALLY you run that AND pull a trailer behind it...a 35hp tractor won't do it, so it's two trips (double the time and fuel) to pick up the bales. Hence a bigger tractor is VERY useful. $600 one owner garage kept for most of it's life...most. It's not pretty. the rake IS pretty, previos owner restored it.

The math on my hay (fields already there..mowing to keep weeds down, what the horses don't eat) is 10-12 acres will take 35ish hours to hay once and can do it 3 times if all goes well. 150 bales an acre / year from what the locals tell me is reasonable around here, but it can vary. Last 2 years have been VERY wet (2 record years...went 19 months without 5 dry days in a row!). So normal isn't what we've had of late. We're still getting hay at $3.50/3.75 a bale, but many are paying $6, 7 a bale. We prefer first cutting which is cheaper. Good 2nd/3rd with alfalfa can get $9/bale here. So 100-120 hours will give me 1200-1500 bales - $5-6,000 in hay for 120 hours - $40-50/hour less fuel, twine and maintenance, and some paid help to stack.

Gonna do round bales? Mine will move them..on flat ground. It won't stack them though (safely anyway).

Gonna buy new equipment? You'll spend 15k or more on hay equipment PLUS the tractor PLUS you need a place to store it. And most that do hay for a living here also fertilize...so add someething for that.

I have 25 acre horse farm and am working on a market garden. A friend has a NH 40hp with ag tires and can do a 2 bottom plow but it can be hard at times. Depends on teh soil.

Consider a used 'big' tractor for the heavy plowing and such tasks. If haying goes well I may opt for that - something like Used Tractors 1-174 HP for Sale | Machinery Pete

Locally

Hey, I have just recently taken up farming and am currently growing some hemp on about a 1/4 acre. Everything was planted by hand, but I am fortunate enough to have some land in my family that no one in the family uses. They lease it out to a guy for pennies on the dollar and he is getting a little too old to lease it anymore so I have an opportunity to take over and basically care for 130 acres of mostly flat land. Probably 100 acres are tillable and good. Next year I would like to care for the land and I am undecided if I should find someone to mow the native grass hay for us or if I should do it myself, but I do want to plow and disc about 8-10 acres of land and use a water wheel transplanter and possibly a plastic mulch laying machine. At first, I was looking at the L2501 and figured it would be enough but after some reading, I am getting the impression that 25hp will not be enough at all. So, I come here looking for some advice on what kind of tractor I need and also maybe some necessary implements I will need to manage and till some of this land. I live near a popular metropolitan so I am assuming most brands are within 100 miles with Kubota and John Deere being the two most common dealers I have been able to google. I honestly don't care if I get new or used as long as I can find something that is reliable and trustworthy and that I can get a loan from my bank and I was hoping to spend no more than 20k, but I might be able to push to 30k, but most of that depends on what the bank will loan me. All of this farming stuff is new to me so any useful information or trips is always going to be appreciated


Thanks for reading and have a good day!

 

[prof fate]

My grandfather farmed his whole life and never owned a tractor bigger than 45 horsepower. He managed to put up enough hay for his dairy farm and raise 200 or so acres of corn and several acres of tobacco every year with them. From his perspective even his old Ferguson 30 was a big step up from the team of mules he started out with back in the 1930's.

you can farm with 2 horses too.

or dig a foundation with a teaspoon.

Or walk across the country.

Or move 40,000 lb of dirt with a shovel and wheel barrow. I did this one...gimma tractor and loader ANY DAY!! What was 3 weeks of every night and some days would be a weekend. If that.

But TIME IS MONEY!

There is a reason landscapers don't mow yard wtih $300 19" push mowers but use $10,000 zero turns 60" wide.

If you run a farm, have a job off the farm TIME IS PRECIOUS and THEN SOME. Converting equipment, fixing old **** and nursing it along, making do with smaller equipment has some financial advantages but also financial issues - if you gotta get the hay in TODAY and your 40 year old baler goes out of time and it takes you 4 hours to fix it...and it rains...those 4 hours just cost you your hay.

I know people that do it - ****, i'm gonna be one of them, but it's a VERY DIFFERENT way of doing things...

I have 2 acres at the house I mow. When I moved here 20 years ago from teh city I had a 19" push mower...I never did get the whole yard mowed before I bought a lawn tractor. I think I was 4 or 5 hours into the mowing when I said the **** with it.
I now have a zero turn and do the whole thing in an hour.

there is what you CAN do and what makes sense.

100 acre farm needs 2 tractors probably, a big old farm tractor and a 40-50 hp utility tractor.

 

[Tennsawdust]

I said you could do it. I didn't say I would want to. However, you start wherever you can. The OP could farm what he has the equipment to farm and lease the rest out or run cattle on it, or.... He will have to figure out his best path and I wish him luck with it.

"100 acre farm needs 2 tractors probably, a big old farm tractor and a 40-50 hp utility tractor. " Spot on there. He is going to want a big bull of a tractor and something smaller. Both of those can be had used at reasonable prices, especially if his land is compatible with a 2WD.