Buying Advice Is it possible to go too big?

[Shenandoah MF1760]

Hello folks. Moving to a 58 acre property soon from the 'burbs (also escaping CA, but that is a different discussion) and am looking into getting my first tractor. About 28 acres of the land is previously farmed acreage that I want to keep knocked down and tamed by semi regular mowing/bush hogging. I have a full time job that is not farming and have no intention of farming the land myself, at least in the near future. Leasing some of the land to someone else to farm is something I want to look more in to. The rest of the land is very thick vegetation and trees. Solid wall of green type situation.

Besides the previously mentioned 28 acres of maintenance taming, over the next few years I want to potentially relocate, and certainly maintain, the gravel driveway into the property which is about 1500', create a gravel "road" to the more separated farm area for lessees to access that 15ish acres which will be at least another 1500', fell some timber and clear brush to make trails to the more wooded areas, potentially light grading for a future storage structure and swing set, and support of some heavier/specialized rented machinery for constructing a private shooting range with berm backstops in the back woods. Near the house I'd like to set up a sizable garden plot for the wife and kids to tool around in and some tree planting around the new driveway for future privacy.

My question is this: Should I start with a "learner size"? I've never owned or driven a tractor but from research I've seen that a fairly sizable machine would be ideal for my needs/wants. I've also gotten my heart set on a buddy seat so in a few years when I've learned to drive the thing and my very young children are a tiny bit older they can ride with dad. I think those moments will be priceless. I have no brand loyalty and I've yet to see how dealers around me treat their customers, which I've heard is a huge consideration. I've also got my heart set on a cab because frankly I think it will make chores like the mowing enjoyable instead of potential misery.

The machines I've been interested in thus far are the kubota m4d-071 and the tym 1104 and I'm mostly considering new instead of used. I'm slowly working my way though the other colors looking for other models of weight, power, and size to fit my needs but I've gotten a bit nervous about my lack of experience and piloting something this large and expensive without ever even sitting in a drivers seat. Any thoughts? Am I getting in over my head with machines this big? The terrain around my house is about as flat as a pancake which is at least in my favor and because I have a full time gig elsewhere, my off time, which I'm hoping a machine this size will save some of, is very valuable and more time I can spend with my young kids. Thanks for your help and looking forward to getting to know you all.

As mentioned previously there are a lot of variables.

These were factors I faced.

Can you manage something with a shuttle-shift? I went with a hydrostat because I knew my wife would eventually be using it, my SCUT is near the top of the hydrostat group @ 59HP.

Where are you storing it? Because my property is undeveloped I keep mine in a shipping container. My container is a hicap (9'6" tall) and my cab tractor just fits.

Other things to consider is how close is the nearest reputable dealer, if you don't have a trailer will they pick-up and drop off? This is part of why I bought a Massey.

Most brands other than Deere use skidsteer attachements, Deere has their own idea which can limit your choices of what to buy and from whom.

 

[kellerw]

There are already some super points of advice listed in this thread, but I'll add in my own experience with a 54 Acre (not flat) farm that we purchased, also never having owned a serious tractor before. We purchased a TLB (tractor/loader/backhoe) compact 27 hp Kubota in the "B" series. I have often thought I should have gotten an "L" for weight, but these smaller (about 4500 pounds) machines can do some serious work. There is, as a downside, not enough room for any kids, and from a safety standpoint, I would strictly NOT do any work with a kid aboard. As for when to purchase it, we immediately bought the tractor, needing to feel the land and do some work on it from a personal satisfaction perspective. You'll know what I mean the first time you start and complete something. As someone has already written, if you purchase a new L right now (Kubota) you will have zero issues reselling it or trading it later on a larger tractor. However, you may do as we've done, and simply bought a larger machine for the hay cutting/baling/hauling. Good luck, and thank you for all you've done over the past 20 months!

 

[RookieWelder]

Thank you for your reply. I think if I put on one more youtube video from Messicks or Good Works Tractor my wife is going to suffer a neck injury from rolling her eyes so hard and then proceed to wring mine.

I know EXACTLY what you mean. Add in some videos from Tractor Mike - he is very informative, especially for a new tractor owner. I just bought my first tractor this year, and having watched lots of videos from Tractor Mike helped me feel much more comfortable about what I was getting into.

Good luck!

 

[IndyJay]

My wife and I bought our horse farm 38 years ago when we were in our mid-twenties, both city kids. About 24 acres of it is rolling pasture, the rest is wooded with some pretty steep hills. Initially we paid to have our field mowed until we could afford to buy a tractor, a 34HP MF1250 with loader and 60" Bush Hog. It pretty much did what we needed to do but was often too small (too light) to do some tasks.

We started creating some trails for horseback riding, mostly using a chains saw and hand pruners, eventually getting it so we could mow the trails with the bush hog. It was slow going and very hard work but we made a couple of pretty nice trails. Years later we hired a dozer to come in to make more tails. It was amazing to see how quickly he could clear a nice wide trail. He did more in a few hours than we could do in a few months. The trails were wide enough to drive our pickup truck around to check and repair fencing. You could ride horses side by side without ducking branches.

After 27 years with the Massey, we finally this year bought a Kioti DK4510 tractor with a grapple and an 84" brush hog. I wish we had done this years ago but the Massey was still running well so it was hard to justify, but the difference is huge. It takes me less than half the time to mow my field than with the Massey.

Both of my tractors have been open station. I did test drive a couple of cabbed models, but as others have mentioned it does it did seem to limit my "situational awareness" both visually and audibly. Since I don't do snow blowing and the mid-west clime is not too horrendous, I prefer the open station. Especially when mowing the trails with low branches and such. The DK4510 is a good size for the trails, any bigger would be challenging in some places with a loader and mower attached.

It sounds like you made a good choice for your family moving to the country, I know that we could never move back to the suburbs. It is hard work, but very enjoyable. You sound like you've got enough "smarts" to figure things out, you also have an advantage that I didn't have so long ago... a great forum with very helpful people here on TBN.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[sorleski]

Hello folks. Moving to a 58 acre property soon from the 'burbs (also escaping CA, but that is a different discussion) and am looking into getting my first tractor. About 28 acres of the land is previously farmed acreage that I want to keep knocked down and tamed by semi regular mowing/bush hogging. I have a full time job that is not farming and have no intention of farming the land myself, at least in the near future. Leasing some of the land to someone else to farm is something I want to look more in to. The rest of the land is very thick vegetation and trees. Solid wall of green type situation.

Besides the previously mentioned 28 acres of maintenance taming, over the next few years I want to potentially relocate, and certainly maintain, the gravel driveway into the property which is about 1500', create a gravel "road" to the more separated farm area for lessees to access that 15ish acres which will be at least another 1500', fell some timber and clear brush to make trails to the more wooded areas, potentially light grading for a future storage structure and swing set, and support of some heavier/specialized rented machinery for constructing a private shooting range with berm backstops in the back woods. Near the house I'd like to set up a sizable garden plot for the wife and kids to tool around in and some tree planting around the new driveway for future privacy.

My question is this: Should I start with a "learner size"? I've never owned or driven a tractor but from research I've seen that a fairly sizable machine would be ideal for my needs/wants. I've also gotten my heart set on a buddy seat so in a few years when I've learned to drive the thing and my very young children are a tiny bit older they can ride with dad. I think those moments will be priceless. I have no brand loyalty and I've yet to see how dealers around me treat their customers, which I've heard is a huge consideration. I've also got my heart set on a cab because frankly I think it will make chores like the mowing enjoyable instead of potential misery.

The machines I've been interested in thus far are the kubota m4d-071 and the tym 1104 and I'm mostly considering new instead of used. I'm slowly working my way though the other colors looking for other models of weight, power, and size to fit my needs but I've gotten a bit nervous about my lack of experience and piloting something this large and expensive without ever even sitting in a drivers seat. Any thoughts? Am I getting in over my head with machines this big? The terrain around my house is about as flat as a pancake which is at least in my favor and because I have a full time gig elsewhere, my off time, which I'm hoping a machine this size will save some of, is very valuable and more time I can spend with my young kids. Thanks for your help and looking forward to getting to know you all.

You need a mid sized tractor at min. When you go too small, with that much acreage, it will take a lot of your time to get things done. Small tractors can only pull certain sized implements. if you are not doing farming and you want to do that road, I would go for a kubota SVL-75 or so. It's a track steer. I recently rented one to move a large diesel generator, I then used it to dig out my tank, which I put in 2 years ago, it took me about 40-50 hrs to dig with my tractor, when I started using the track steer to enlarge it, i was able to dig and move dirt in about 1/3 of the time. I am not farming myself, more like ranching, got animals, I need to move hay, but mostly, i need to maintain areas that wash out with the heavy rain we get here in TX. If I were to do it again, I would look for a good track steer, get a mower for it and some forks, and eventually a tiller so i can plant a good garden.

 

[Fxfymn413]

If I were in your situation I would first get to know the neighbors and find out what they use. I assume you are in eastern NC based on the land description, so there should be several folks who farm in the area. Talk to the local extension agent and ask for advice. Visit the local feed/farm supply store and ask around about who uses what and why. I have always found that most folks are very helpful if you just ask for it.

Personally I would buy used to try it out and see what fits. You will probably not put more than a couple hundred hours per year on the unit, so a tractor with less than a couple of thousand hours on it will last a good long time for you and probably be worth what you paid when you sell it. But that's just my $.02.

Visit the local tractor dealers to see what they have to say. Yeah, some dealers are out to sell no matter what, but there are plenty of dealers who are willing to do the right thing for their customers as well.

Lastly do not forget to value your time. Almost any tractor can do what you want if you have enough time to get through it. You are working 40 + hours a week, have a young family, and will never have enough hours in the day. Get something that can what you need done in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[mudking]

I will admit to not having read the whole thread, but my answer is "no".

(1) The price you're paying for what you're getting drops disproportionately as you move above the size that many "new to tractors" folks think is "too big". If you don't have to trailer it (for a landscaping side-hustle or something), or if you aren't having to deal with very limited space to store it, bigger is better.

(2) More weight and power does more work, and it is safer too. Small loaders tip over easier, small tractors roll over easier when mowing slopes, invariably using too small of a tool tempts people to attempt things they shouldn't.

(3) If you can shop for used. As a very general rule, I advise new enough to have a rops, old enough to still have analog guages as a way to identify the "sweet spot" for years of manufacture.

My first tractor when I moved out to 33 acres (now 110) of wonderfulness 25 years ago was a used Ford 1720 with a FEL, (shoulda kept it) but I traded it for a used Ford 3930 with a FEL (shoulda kept it). You can see in my profile what I have now. More property, more and bigger tractors = good. Don't self-limit with some notion that a noob needs a "beginner tractor". ...Especially with a good size piece of land like you've got.

Have Fun, Be Safe.

 

[TexasDigger]

JMO. With that many acres. I wouldn't buy less than a 60-70 hp tractor.
I have no idea of your age, but you just may decide to do other things on your land (later) that would be difficult with a smaller tractor.
I have 50 acres and have two tractors. One a Kubota MX5100 and a larger CX 105 tractor.
I don't use the larger tractor all that often, but when I need a larger tractor it comes in very handy.

It has been said, ''There's no replacement for displacement''

I agree with this post! Feel free to PM me if you want more details as to why.. Here's the thread with links to my similar dilemma except I made the mistake of buying too small (Kioti CK3510HST and having to upgrade & trading for a Kioti RX7320 Power Shuttle). The 35hp just wasn't enough for what I need to do on our 30 acres and even though my loader capacity and it's capacity for mowing, box-blading, etc were great, the 35hp/30pto was just short on PTO power to run balers + the ability to run any of the larger implements (most balers require 40+ pto hp - preferably 50+ PTO hp fyi - look into this if you ever plan to bale your own hay or also to run larger mowers etc!) See link for my original post regarding my experience from making the mistake of buying too small.. I am now VERY happy with the new tractor but we won't talk about how much money I threw away learning the hard way!

NEED URGENT HELP! (KIOTI RX6620 OR NH Workmaster 75 (same as Case IH Farmall 75A)

Technically I'm not brand new but have an urgent issue. See links below for the longer threads but in short: I made the mistake of not buying enough tractor & am about to trade up! I already have #s ready to close deal on either the Kiot RX6620 ROPS/PS or the NH WM 75 ROPS (same as Case IH...

www.tractorbynet.com

I really don't think you need to go as big as that 110hp TYM - that is a LOT of tractor! Almost anything in the 60-75hp range should do virtually anything you would ever want to do... IMO I would not go with anything much under 60HP (55HP absolute rock bottom!) In my case (comparing Kioti to Kioti): If I had originally bought a DK5510 (shuttle trans - 55hp w 49.6 PTO hp) or the NX5510 (shuttle trans - 55hp w 46 PTO hp + a few more bells/whistles) I probably would not have needed to upgrade to the larger RX7320... (note that I emphasize SHUTTLE because the HST setups may be easier to drive for beginners, but they rob PTO hp). If you can drive a car/truck with manual transmission, you can pretty easily figure out a synchro shuttle - even easier to figure out if you get a power shuttle. The only reason I ponied up a little extra $ for the power shuttle was for the sake of making it easier if my wife or anyone else drives the tractor (wife shows ZERO interest in wanting to drive the larger tractor fyi!) Even though I have the power shuttle, I still use my foot-clutch almost 100% of the time.

On the kids thing - just my opinion, but I would never put kids on my tractor - the unpredictability of kids is just too dangerous to be complacent around heavy equipment.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Taking a child for a ride on a tractor is one thing; trying to do any work on the tractor with a child onboard is another. My grand-girl in the photo was a passenger only for pleasure, never working. Buy a side by side for the fun times.
To summarize and expand a bit what many have said:
Renting up front to get things started might be a good idea--and you can get things you many never need again and give them back when you're done.
Buy big enough to do the work, don't buy small for the economy--it's poor economy. Buying too big presents its own set of problems.
Dealer service and knowledge for doing your own maintnance is necessary...get to know the dealers' service guys. That will help inform your decision.
Look and see what toys the other kids are playing with. Talk to them and learn from their mistakes.

 

[ericm979]

Buy a side by side for the fun times.

You're probably going to a side by side for chores anyhow. If your land is really open and flat you might be able to get by with a beater 4x4 truck or one of those Japanese Kei trucks but for a lot of people a SXS is the most useful. I resisted for years and once I got one I regretted not getting it sooner.

I hope you're not moving to the country to save money!