M-Series Snag!!!

[Glowplug]

Actually the M7040 is a rather lightweight, small profile tractor for its hp when comparing it to JD5345, NHTN75, and especially Mahindra, etc.

 

[Dargo]

Actually the M7040 is a rather lightweight, small profile tractor for its hp when comparing it to JD5345, NHTN75, and especially Mahindra, etc.

Well, that makes it sound about perfect for you then. You have the power now and you can always add weight later if you find you need more weight for heavy jobs. It's a lot cheaper to add weight than hp.

So, when do we see pics of you sitting on your new tractor with a big smile?

 

[tydp]

Anyway, if you look through all the threads here I'd bet that the ratio of people going to larger tractors vs. the people going to smaller tractors is relatively significant. As a matter of fact, I can't recall off hand any thread on here where someone has gone down in tractor size. I'm sure there are some, but not too many. Also, it could get somewhat expensive to move up in tractor size about a dozen times or so if you keep missing by going too small. Besides, if you buy an M series tractor, you'll have more interest in purchasing the additional land, right?

I agree. I bet everyone recommending a smaller tractor has a smaller tractor, not that there is anything wrong with CUTS (unless there may be round bales in your future.) While I think the 8540 would be a bit large (need a big flat bed trailer to haul it due to width) the 7540 would be fine. Kubotas generallly have a short wheel base and are very manuverable. Weight shouldn't be a concern unless you plan on mowing your yard with it (which I doubt). Cat I implements will work on the 7540 and it will fit a standard 16 foot trailer. A larger tractor can do most all jobs a smaller one will do, not vice versa. I have never seen anyone I know say, "Gee, this tractor is just too big. I think I'll sell it and get a compact." Get the 7540, you won't be sorry.

 

[riptides]

Gee, this tractor is just too big. I think I'll sell it and get a compact."

Yep.

I recently moved and need a much bigger tractor now. In fact I need two.
Had I not classed a size up to begin with, I'd really be in trouble.

Scary.
-Mike Z.

 

[MarkV]

I don’t know how much of your 16 acres you keep pretty but I think any of the tractors you have mentioned will be to big for those areas. Also don’t know what kind of clearing is required on the other acreage but Ag/Utility tractors just don’t remove stumps of any size well. Sounds like for hay work the tractors you’re looking at would be great. Now hay equipment for haying 25 acres is going to take many, many years to pay for it’s self. If you plan to hay others properties, then you are going to need a serious hauling rig to move that big stuff around. Hay work doesn’t pay that well unless you are doing hundreds of acres.

Personally, I would be looking more toward a backhoe for the clearing and a tractor with 30+ PTO hp to pull a 6’ mower. Then again, I have two backhoes and don’t use them commercially so who am I to talk.

Good luck on the purchase,

MarkV

 

[tydp]

I don’t know how much of your 16 acres you keep pretty but I think any of the tractors you have mentioned will be to big for those areas.]MarkV

I don't understand. Is 16 acres not enough space to turn a 7540 around in? Too small to mow with a 6 or 7 or 8 or 10 foot bush hog? I am not trying to be difficult but just how is it too big? I cut the 3 or so acres aroung my house with an M5400 or M9540 (which ever has a bush hog on it at the time.) They aren't too big.

 

[MarkV]

I don't understand. Is 16 acres not enough space to turn a 7540 around in? Too small to mow with a 6 or 7 or 8 or 10 foot bush hog? I am not trying to be difficult but just how is it too big? I cut the 3 or so acres aroung my house with an M5400 or M9540 (which ever has a bush hog on it at the time.) They aren't too big.

Well of course your right, my Grandfather mowed most everything with an ag tractor and a rotary mower. In my situation I finish mow about an acre and the size tractor we are discussing would do way to much damage with my turf and soil conditions. I should have been more specific, everyone’s situation differs.

MarkV

 

[Bob_Young]

tydp,
I can turn a NH8970 around in much less than an acre....if it's open field; so 16 acres ought to be plenty for turning a M7540....if it's kept open. But if there's trees, structures, gardens, swimming pools, fences, shrubbery, parked vehicles, and other stuff that people generally crowd onto their homestead; it can get challenging. Constantly watching what the bucket is swinging towards while trying to remember to check where the implement in back is going, gets tiresome. So does fixing what gets hit.

Plus, because of tight quarters, there are some jobs a small tractor can do easily that a big tractor can't do at all.

That's why it would be nice to know more about Chuck's property and plans. All we know at this point is that he plans to buy a big tractor and maybe do some haying.

On 52 acres and doing some haying (square bales), I got by with 35HP & 2WD and felt I was in 'high cotton' with 52HP. Maybe Chuck would find square bales easier to handle at first. If he does get into serious haying (it's always serious when the hay is down and thunderheads start forming), it won't be long before he'll want more than one tractor. If the first tractor was a bit small, it can be relegated to raking, moving wagons and backup duty if the big one fails.
FWIW
Bob

 

[Glowplug]

Here are my planned tasks since everybody's so curious and doubtful:

1. "Mow" 16 acres with 10' bush hog every 2 weeks. My pasture grows extremely fast and I have no horses, yet.
2. Pull out 1.5 miles of 50 year old 3-plank fencing, fill in holes, and replace about 3/4 mile with 4-plank fencing.
3. Remove hundreds of 3 - 4 inch saplings along fence lines.
4. Plow, subsoil 2 acre garden
5. Move dirt and general landscaping with 84" hydraulic scarifier box blade.
6. Excavate (eliminate) 2 acre outdoor riding arena by removing 6" x 1 acre of sandy soil.
7. Use removed "soil" for landscaping, backfilling, fillin in fence post holes.
8. Occassionally snowplow 300' ashphalt driveway and 3/4 mile asphalt private road.
9. Renovate, level 16-28 acres of pasture with 9' lift disc and cultipacker, planting seed with Herd spreader, and spraying fertilizer and weed killer with boom sprayer.
10. Double the amount of fence and sapling removal if I aquire the extra 12 acres
11. Hopefully round bailing hay on approximately 2 acres with Vermeer Rebel bailer. This is mainly for hobby, and for the neighbors horses, not for profit.

That's a few of the tasks I have planned. I have little time to spare to spend 40 hours per week on a tractor, mowing 16 acres every two weeks by pulling a 6' mower.

I have driven the M7040, M8540, and L-series. I don't know of many dealers that would be willing to bring a tractor to my property to try some heavy loader work or ground-engaging activities. I do not like the transmission on the L-series. That's just me.

I have a spreadsheet of the dozen or so implements I want to eventually get and don't yet have with exact prices that I have obtained from dealer quotes.

Eventually, once cleared of fences and saplings, my property will be essentially wide open rolling pasture. Now I do have some decent size trees between 6 and 18". I plan to have these removed with an excavator. Total number is approx 50 on the 16 acres. Double that for the extra 12 acres.

I don't plan on getting any other tractor, probably in the next two decades, so I had better be satisfied with the size.

I plan to, at some point, go ahead and obtain approx 200 acres of land in the country. I would plan to keep this mowed and eventually retire and build a small home on it.

Also, I will take it to my inlaws home probably a half dozen times a year for land clearing and brush hogging. They have about 50 acres, partially wooded, somewhat rolling mountainous.

As far as a big tractor on small property goes, why don't you ask Soundguy's opinion. He has a tractor for almost every acre he owns. Has about 12 acres, 9 tractors, largest tractor is 95hp. Just a comparison observation.

Like I said, I have been planning to buy a tractor for about 3 years now. During the first 2 years I had occassionally sat on some tractors and looked at spec sheets. But for the past year I have researched and studied this on a nearly daily basis.

I thought maybe some of this information may help some of you guys that want to know so much about my land and plans and are saying I don't know what I'm doing getting such a "big" tractor.

 

[IslandTractor]

I don't understand. Is 16 acres not enough space to turn a 7540 around in? Too small to mow with a 6 or 7 or 8 or 10 foot bush hog? I am not trying to be difficult but just how is it too big? I cut the 3 or so acres aroung my house with an M5400 or M9540 (which ever has a bush hog on it at the time.) They aren't too big.

I think the argument is more in line with the following analogy: if you are using a road vehicle primarily to commute and go to the grocery store, then do you really need an F350 or Hummer? Of course those vehicles can do the job but they are not the most economical or best matched to the primary tasks. If you are also hauling a horse trailer on weekends that is different.

With the tractor, I don't doubt commercial farmers would all have big Ag machines and would use them to care for a 16 acre plot. Glowplug, like most of us on TBN, is not a farmer but a professional and is buying a tractor to maintain his 16 acres of pasture and will also potentially clear an additional 12 acres in the future. He has not really documented any task that is the equivalent of "towing a horse trailer" in the analogy above to suggest that he really needs the bigger machine. No hay work for example. Clearly the M is a great tractor but the question is whether that is the equivalent of buying an F350 just to commute. Dargo pointed out some of the downsides to the bigger tractors, the primary one being weight. Size can be a disadvantage in some situations so that should be in the equation too. I presume the M7040 costs a bit more than an L too.

The "get a smaller machine" crowd (I'm one) is simply arguing that there is nothing he is proposing to do that cannot be handled easily with a 40-50hp CUT such as an L4640 or L5030 etc. Spending the extra $$ on a backhoe for example might actually be more useful for his tasks, current and future, than just adding tractor size/hp.

My final point is that Glowplug mentioned that his dealer just doesn't stock the L's and therefore he was essentially educated primarily about the Ms from the start. As his dealer doesn't even stock or advocate the bigger CUTs, there was an initial bias in his decision making (I recognize this is a bit presumptuous on my part) towards the M. If I recall correctly, Glowplug never owned a tractor before, and would therefore be relying on his dealer (and all the various yahoos here on TBN ) for his advice. It is hard to reverse oneself after you've set your sights on bigger and better and spent so much time mulling over details (as Glowplug surely has) but it is sometimes the right thing to do. I'm really just arguing that he should take a clean sheet of paper and reconsider the size issue completely rather than just retreating one step back from the M8540 of his dreams.

It will be interesting to see what Chuck decides. In the mean time I am going to hop into either my F350 or Hummer and run down to the corner store to buy some eggs and milk.