Buying Advice Looking for advice for first tractor purchase.

[3gunr]

I regularly haul one of my tractors back and forth to my farm,140 miles each way with my half ton chevy with no trouble at all.

 

[searcyfarms]

I would get a skid steer with metal over the tire tracks for what you are thinking - it will do all of those things in short order and a much better job than a tractor - especially on steeper terrain and deep snow - I have had one for years there is no comparison I can go up/down things I would NEVER even think about attempting with my tractor.

 

[majorwager]

The bobcat 770 AWS is even better, kind to improved turf, likely would not need tracks w/ this machine, 92 hp beast.
Volvo skidsteers now have the JCB side door entry,

 

[searcyfarms]

yes those AWS are nice only problem with the side entry door they do not accommodate over the tire tracks - not sure what dufus designed that - I own a first gen Volvo which is basically a scat with yellow paint - I don't like it in my yard tho even with AWS you are going to sink/leave ruts in our country unless you are in the drought of summer or frozen winter if it freezes that hard

my 86hp Volvo will sink in soft ground hence the reason for tracks - prefer haying with it in the barn lot over my tractor/loader its a beast but will flat tear up ground in a hurry with the tracks

 

[jeff9366]

Twenty tractors for sale on eBay near Montpellier, Vermont:

Tractor in Business and Industrial Supplies | eBay

 

[majorwager]

Any person with a search engine could access the information above, it is insulting to presume someone seeking a tractor is computer illiterate.

Is the list screened for the type of tractor sought or the size, price range, or any of the desired criteria? Which are even still for sale? So what is the value of this list? Not much.

The insinuating intellectual superiotity is simply rather irritating.

 

[ericm979]

What size wood would you be chipping? I have a Branson 3725 with 32hp at the PTO and an 8" Woodmaxx 8H hydraulic feed chipper. I chip brush, small trees and parts of large trees. We have a lot of trees and don't burn much. When chipping 5" or larger material I need to throttle down the feed rate on the 8H to near minimum. I didn't know I'd be doing much of that but we have so much wood and it's difficult to give it all away as firewood. I could use more HP for chipping larger material. The 3725's power is enough for loader and grapple work, box blading and brush cutting with a rotary cutter (though I got a 5' for manuverability.... I'll get a wider flail one of these days).

I like the Branson but it turns out that I use the tractor so much that I could have justified the extra $10k (est.) for a Kubota L4760.

If you're going to be chipping a lot get a hydraulic feed chipper. So much easier to use and safer than a chunk 'n duck self feeding chipper.

You're not going to get anywhere close to $20k tractor + implements buying new. Some areas of the country like here it's hard to find decent used tractors and implements. I looked for a while and there was nothing that wasn't totally beat up and way too expensive.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

You might at least consider hiring out the initial clearing of your paths. Then you can buy a tractor sized to groom it and maintain it. I have heavily wooded, steep land also. Cost me less than $2k to have a crew cut, not just a path, but an actual a road through it, including all the trees pushed over (so no stumps) and hauled away--all done in one day. Then I refined the grading and keep it maintained myself with my 26HP SCUT. I have no problem cutting smaller trails with my SCUT, or even by hand; I always try to leave the bigger trees and route the paths around them. I tend to leave brush except where I need a path or a view, as it is good for attracting wildlife.

Clearing wooded land is a lot of work for sure. I hate stumps but hate digging them out more. I don't like burning but chipping is a tedious and dangerous job. In fact, tree-work is dangerous on all fronts, especially if you're not experienced. Just maintaining wooded land--removal of dead wood--is a lot of work and is an ongoing job, and very hard on the back. I handle these jobs different ways. The biggest job I hired out completely. Sometimes I hire someone to drop and buck a larger tree then take care of it myself. When I needed a couple dozen "flagpole poplars" gone, I hired them to be hauled away. One time I hired an enormous chipper that could chip an entire tree in less than a minute + a crew to run it, and got rid of dozens of trees and gave me a nice pile of chips to compost. Cleaning up deadwood "pick-up sticks" I love to hire a couple guys to do that, when I can find them. Dead wood, I collect in a big pile over time, then sometimes burn it, but other times will simply collect the wood in an out-of-the-way location and leave it to decompose, plus that makes good habitat for wildlife. Large dead trees that are not a hazard I try to leave as they attract owls, woodpeckers, and other wildlife.

I have consigned large sections of my woods to nature. I only groom the edges where the woods meets cleared areas, which makes it look nice. Certain other areas where I walk or needed a view, are more intensively maintained.

If you're determined to tame large swathes of your woods and do it all yourself in small bites, everyone here is correct, bigger is better and probably safer.

Just a few thoughts from my experiences with a similar property.

 

[Milo]

That's sound advice Girl, basically it's what I do and might work for the OP as well. Had an excavator put in my drive and do some contouring. Logger is here now clearing and thinning around 150-175 larger, mostly pines. I don't burn stuff we've piled up some of the limbs but most are simply run back and forth over by the logging machines and mashed into the ground because I'm letting deciduous trees grow back over most of it.
For cutting trails I did like you cutting them around any larger trees mostly using my UTV, saw, and hand held brush cutter, really only my tractor occasionally but when I did I wouldn't have wanted one much larger. B2650 does everything I need for maintaining the property; FEL for moving material, snow, and grapple, and pulling a 6' rear blade or 60" rotary cutter for the fields.

 

[GSVette]

I picked up (and will move when necessary) my LS XR4155HC on a 20’ 10k tilt bed using my Ram 1500. With the HD towing package and a load distribution hitch my max towing weight was 8800# iirc. I had no issues ( other than not passing many gas stations) moving my LS (w/FEL and loaded tires btw) at a towing weight of around 6k pounds.