need advice on tractor needs

[rstipp]

My wife and I have just purchased an 18 acre place with rolling hills in the Ozarks, with 3 inches of soil then rocks and clay. We have a very nice barn and the setting of the home is back from the road several hundred feet on a blacktop lane. The farm is in grass and the former owner had hay taken off it except the yard with a rail fence around the house. We would like to keep the fields bush-hogged, put in a vegetable garden, and deal with several trees with limb damage from previous ice storms. Also, we have snow and so that means being able to clear the lane to the road in front of the place. We both work and have limited time to deal with the maintenance. We can spend up to $20k to $25k. Thinking about pulling a 6 ft. bush hog, having a front end loader, box blade, and a tiller for the garden. I am asking for advice on what to buy. I am not inclined to do any mechanical work on equipment. Any suggestions?

 

[Egon]

You have made it quite easy. Just start going around to the different dealers looking and sitting!

 

[newbury]

I am not inclined to do any mechanical work on equipment. Any suggestions?

Find the closest dealers of Deere, Bobcat, Kioti, Kubota, MF.
Visit them AND their service depts. Ask the local tractors owners and buy whatever your money can from the best dealer. Despite our "color wars" they are all pretty much the same.

 

[bp fick]

What Egon and Newbury said.

 

[rstipp]

what do you think of Mahindra? What about gas versus diesel?

 

[bp fick]

Mahindra is not in the "top 3", but most posters here, who have them, swear by them, frankly.

Oh, a final piece of advice, and it is only as good as free advice always is, but .....

Buy the Dealer!!! The top 6 "brands" or "colors" of tractors are all excellent products. Really. We all have our personal choices, just look at our avatars or lists of equipment owned. But... again.. Buy the dealer. Find a good, solid, reputable, well endorsed by local guys and gals, and then study the product. You will be just fine. And... it's a blast!

 

[bp fick]

Oh, btw, you won't be buying any gas tractor. You just won't be.

 

[Steve C]

My wife and I have just purchased an 18 acre place with rolling hills in the Ozarks, with 3 inches of soil then rocks and clay. We have a very nice barn and the setting of the home is back from the road several hundred feet on a blacktop lane. The farm is in grass and the former owner had hay taken off it except the yard with a rail fence around the house. We would like to keep the fields bush-hogged, put in a vegetable garden, and deal with several trees with limb damage from previous ice storms. Also, we have snow and so that means being able to clear the lane to the road in front of the place. We both work and have limited time to deal with the maintenance. We can spend up to $20k to $25k. Thinking about pulling a 6 ft. bush hog, having a front end loader, box blade, and a tiller for the garden. I am asking for advice on what to buy. I am not inclined to do any mechanical work on equipment. Any suggestions?

Invest the 25k wisely and manage a 10% R.O.I. take the $2500 and pay your neighbors who already own the proper equipment and have years of experience using it to do the tasks you would use the tractor for. It is a win/win situation. The fact that you are not inclined to do any mechanical work on equipment means that any little thing that goes wrong you will have to truck it back to have it fixed. That and the general maintenance, greasing oil changes and such will also add a yearly cost to own the equipment along with the time and trouble of getting it back and forth to the service department. The brush hog and tiller will require at least minimal maintenance and the box blade will need painting every once in a while. You will also need something to push snow with, the FEL is not the greatest thing for that task. That will add to the overall cost. Get yourself a nice rear tine walk behind tiller for the garden maintenance and a chain saw and ladder for the trees. Continue to have the hay cut off on shares instead of just mowing it down and letting it go to waste and use the money from the hay to pay for the tiller and chain saw. But if you still think you want/need a tractor I would suggest that you buy it from the closest dealer with a great service department and expect to go there every once in a while.

Your tractor will lose value over time and will have an anual cost of maintenance. If you take the depreciation and anual maintenance cost and add it to the lost ROI from actually buying the thing you might be suprised at how much it actually cost to own one.

But it still might be worth it for the entertainment value of just being able to push dirt around. Mine is but because I got it and all my implements used I have only around 5K in mine and I plan on doing all the repairs myself keeping the repair cost to a minimum. Most guys who own tractors and implements own welders and enjoy or at least know how to use them. Things will break and need to be put back together every once in a while. If you have to pay to have this done it can get expensive.

You should also consider the hazards of doing the work yourself. In Hillsdale Michigan the owner of our local grocery store chain "The Market House" was killed when his brush hog fell on him. This man owned a multi million dollar Estate and stable property near Jonesville Michigan. His horse barn alone was worth more than every house I ever owned combined. It is a shame that he is not around to enjoy it. He obviously was a very smart man and was rewarded for his hard work with great success. If he had been more mechanically inclined perhaps he would have recognized the hazard that he exposed himself to by trusting the 3 point lift to hold up the brush hog while he went under it to fix a problem. A $10 jack stand could have saved his life if he had been carrying one in his tool box.

I love my little tractor even though I don't have everything for it yet, but I worked on a farm while growing up and have learned the dangers of playing with powerful heavy equipment. If I didn't want to do any mechanical work I wouldn't own it. The danger and the cost would outweigh the benefit. It is just something to consider. Tractors can be a lot of fun and give you a great feeling of accomplishment but they can also put you in a world of hurt in an instant.

O.K. I know this isn't the response you would expect from a tractor forum member but you have to look at the big picture and all the reasons to own one. Since I only have 11 acres split into 2 parcels I have come to realize that I don't really "need" a tractor so I own mine for entertainment and have alloted a reasonable value for that purpose. Just something to think about.

 

[flusher]

My wife and I have just purchased an 18 acre place with rolling hills in the Ozarks, with 3 inches of soil then rocks and clay. We have a very nice barn and the setting of the home is back from the road several hundred feet on a blacktop lane. The farm is in grass and the former owner had hay taken off it except the yard with a rail fence around the house. We would like to keep the fields bush-hogged, put in a vegetable garden, and deal with several trees with limb damage from previous ice storms. Also, we have snow and so that means being able to clear the lane to the road in front of the place. We both work and have limited time to deal with the maintenance. We can spend up to $20k to $25k. Thinking about pulling a 6 ft. bush hog, having a front end loader, box blade, and a tiller for the garden. I am asking for advice on what to buy. I am not inclined to do any mechanical work on equipment. Any suggestions?

Tractor: diesel, 30-40 hp (pto), 4WD, hydrostatic transmission, power steering, category 1 3pt hitch, 2 or 3 pairs of remote hydraulic fittings on rear

FEL: 5-ft wide bucket, skid steer quick attach option, dealer welds grab hooks and D-ring chain hook on bucket

Any of the major tractor dealers will have models with this configuration.

 

[bp fick]

I am not inclined to do any mechanical work on equipment.

Perhaps the OP could help define what was meant by that statement.

I heard that as "I don't want to wish to fix old stuff"

Steve C, you seem to have heard that as "I am not inclined to do mechanical things"

Perhaps the original poster will clarify.