Just bought three acres, now what

[EdinLa]

A word of advice! --- You can ALWAYS live with a tractor a little too big, but one that winds up just a bit too small will always cause a few regrets.

I'm looking for a second tractor and my criteria are:

a) over 70 PTO hp
b) good heavy 4wd tractor with cab and air
c) simple, well proven mechanicals with NO computers

... I keep finding the FOTON 82 hp(76 PTO) tractor to be my best option, and certainly reasonably priced. (I've also looked at Massey, New Holland, Deere, Kubota, TYM, McCormick, etc., etc..)

,,,, I say this to comment that FOTON also makes a sturdy 40 hp model that appears to get very good reviews and is reasonably priced. ..You might want to check them out.

~

 

[donais]

i only have @2 acres and have a Massey ferguson 47 hp and would never buy smaller. i have horses and use it to run the arena groomer move crap and firewood. i feel wieght is an advantage. unless your mowing a lawn(i dont have a lawn horses and goats ate it). i need the higher lift cap. the most important thing to do is test drive alot, find what is most comfy and runs to your liking. i was gonna get the bota but just didnt feel right it came down to jd and massey jd was to compact for me mf felt twice as big bought and never looked back.. next one might be a shuttle shift though... jon

 

[bp fick]

People tend to post what they like, or they own, or what they bought.

Hmmmmm... Reading again the poster's original to do list, he put mowing at #1. States the lot is flat. Nothing on his list suggests the need or the practicality of a 40-50 hp tractor.

Again, a sub-cut or cut would be plenty of tractor for the tasks you yourself outlined. I have a similar sized property, which is also flat. Personally, I frankly could not imagine a need for a tractor of that size. I cannot imagine using it in mowing a lawn.

Again, go to a good dealer near you and actually sit on a few tractors in the price range you think best fits your budget. The tractors offered in suggestion here range from $12K for the sub-cut to $22K-$28K for a 50 hp.

Think about where you are going to house your tractor. Some of the machines you see in the GIANT size won't go handily in any garage. Just something else to consider. Until you actually go sit on them and price them, all this is just so much talk.

 

[LAWALLSTRACTOR]

A sub-cut would work, but I think, being you do have 1.5 acres of woods, you would be better off with a small compact tractor. The small compact will have more ground clearance for use in the woods, but still small enough to do your mowing. Also a small compact fits standard cat I 3 PH implements better. Of course, I know my products better and I also know you won't find a better machine than a Mitsubishi manufactured Mahindra 2015 or 2216. A couple of other machines closely matched to the 2216 are the TYM T233 and Kioti CK 20. I know that Deere, Kubota, New Holland, Massey Fergusen all have comparable machines and would also be good choices. Check out the specs on these models and I think you will find that this size tractor would fit your needs well.

 

[IslandTractor]

I gotta say that EdinLA and Donais have given you some very lousy advice. 40plus HP tractors on 3 acres, half of which is woods....nuts! No mention from the OP about lifting round bales, caring for livestock or clear cutting the woods. Let's read what the OP says before we start confusing a newbie with rediculous horsepower/size recommendations.

I have owned a 20hp and currently own a 40hp tractor. I cannot even mow around my house with the 40hp because it is too big and unweildy. 40+hp tractors cost about twice as much and use large expensive implements that are more difficult to store too. There is simply no way that you are ever going to outgrow a 20-25 hp tractor on a 3 acre plot of land unless you turn it into a feedlot operation.

I would personally not get a subcut but only because of the woods portion of your land. Ground clearance in SCUTs is not great but otherwise they would be fine. If you are not planning on working in the woods then a SCUT would be perfect.

Kubota B series, JD 2000 series, Mahindra 2015, Kioti CK20, some of the NH boomer line would all be more than adequate CUTs and it is very unlikely you would ever outgrow such 20-25 hp tractors on a 3 acre plot.

 

[FxdGrMind]

Some things for you to consider:

What Kind of soil do you have?
Is it Soggy at times durring the year, might a tractor need good ground clearance or get stuck?
How big are the trees? Do you plan on felling them for timber/fire wood... using yoru tractor to haul them out?
How much land are you going to put into Garden? How large of a Tiller/plow might you want to use?
Do you have a streem, or are you planning on puting a seasonal streem in? Or a Pond?
What kind of road maint, might you be doing? How long and wide is it?

In essence I'm trying to get you to think of the kind of things you will need the tractor for. Then you will be thinking about the implements you need to run with the tractor. From there you can estimate the power required, ground clearance required, Weight required.

Too big... or too small... makes for an unhappy customer. You need to find what you need before you buy. I'd suggest renting one if you realy want to find out how capable a 30 hp Kubota or like realy is!

I have 5 acres 1/2 and 1/2 (woods/field) large pond, seasonal streem, 1/2 mile road for maint, etc etc etc. I needed something that had as much power as I could afford yet still get through the woods, trails, but not sink into the mud in the 4 months of spring rains. My B7800 is just right for me. Anything smaller bigger and I'd have been stuck in mud beyond hope or unable to perform as needed for logging, road maint, streem bed install, gardening and field maint.

A w/e rental will help you tremendously.

Cheers

 

[JayC]

BTW, a "B" Kubota is a compact. I wouldn't really classify it as "medium chassis", but that's just me.

I realize that. The B3200 and B3030 are in between the small-chassis and medium-chassis. I was just surprised to see machines like the JD 3000 Twenty series and Kioti CK25 recommended (and now machines even larger). Given the OP's listed needs, I still contend that a machine bigger than a small-chassis is not needed.

Since mowing is a requirement the Kubota B2320, B2620, B2920 and John Deere 2000 Twenty series have drive over mid-mount decks. I haven't attached/detached one but the concept looks pretty slick. If the OP decides he wants a backhoe, the Deere 2000 Twenty series cannot support the MMM and backhoe at the same time due to the subframe. The Kubota B series uses a backhoe with a 4-point system like that of the BX series.

 

[BigD23]

Personally I own/use a Kubota BX23...I have 2 1/2 acres...Better than half is open field and the remaining is mowable and has fruit trees...Size wise the tractor is exactly what I wanted...It's also nice on this one the fact that you can lower the ROPs if needed to get under some of the trees...Again, for me it's just right...Good luck.

Don

 

[greggh]

They say big tractor...little tractor...you could go with no tractor and use a mower. Or you could just get a few goats. But then you would miss all of the fun with seat time. Ask around and find others that have similar acreages and see what they do. No matter it shoould be fun...

 

[bp fick]

I have lurked on this forum for over 3 years, and became a member 3 months ago, and the untold number of times that a guy comes on, for the first time, and asks the very, very beginning questions about the possibilities of getting a tractor, have been too many to count. It almost a daily occurrence.

The scenario is always somewhat similar. A guy get a few acres, thinks he'd like to have a tractor, confessed to know very little, hasn't determined much of anything. The posts start flying. Typically, the posts are merely the projection or rationalization of the poster and have little application to the OP.

Armed with so little information the best advice we could give such an inquirer would be "Go sit on some tractors!!" or, "At this juncture, you need to go see what this stuff costs." or, "Go ask your neighbors, with similar lots what they might be doing and why." After the OP has done that, then maybe, maybe some of this free wheeling "advice" would make some modicum of sense. There has to be a better way.

Forgive my melancholy.