Thanks for the encouragement. No 8540's available at my dealer, but I looked over the 8560 this afternoon. Spent almost 2 hours at the Kubota dealer looking over the
M7040 and talking prices/options. And THEN, I went back to Deere and spent another hour this afternoon looking over the 5083E again and talking about prices/options. I kind of got the feeling from both dealers that the prices they were giving me were their "bottom dollars", but I didn't actually ask because I want to keep thinking things over. The Kubota dealer seems to be hovering around 87.5% of MSRP and Deere is at 89%. The more times I go, the more I like the Deere dealer, plus he is 40 minutes closer to my house than Kubota. Furthermore, my initial impression of the Deere this morning followed by the Kubota was that I preferred the 7040 cab. But after driving the Deere a third time, the controls feel more ergonomic and "robust". Plus there's always the buddy seat which I can't get on the Kubota, nor do I think I could do a very good DIY.
I don't think I can go wrong on either. My concern with the Deere is that it's slightly too big for my needs. I can't find any literature comparing fuel consumption on either of these tractors online. I noticed in the Reviews section of this site that there a 5083 owners with less acreage than I plan to maintain, so that makes me feel better. I think to lessen the shock of the monthly payment on the Deere, I will go with a used cutter for now off of Tractorhouse. There seems to be a decent selection. Deleting the cutter from the Deere actually puts the two within a couple of thousand of one another when a used 8ft cutter is included in the 7040 price.