New to tractors, did a lot of reading, still need advice :)

[Captain Dirty]

Welcome to TBN. I won’t tell you how to spend your MONEY but how to spend your LIFE. Congratulations on planning a family, however, old wisdom is “You can’t have kids and cash at the same time.” Therefore I recommend you go deep and buy large(ish) now as you will likely be making do with whatever you buy and not upgrading for a couple of decades. Most of the decisions I regret were buying cheap to save money.
You stated you had a 750 [foot/meter?] driveway and 5 acres of lawn and that time was the [governing] commodity. Think some more about how you will accomplish their maintenance. Finish mowing 5 acres will require more time than field mowing all but a small (if any) manicured lawn near the house, and field mowing can be done less frequently. A narrow snowblower or blade will require more passes and the odd pass will leave you at the wrong end of the drive.
FWIW I snowblow with an open station as most of the tractor’s work is in the woods; as oosik noted, appropriate clothing works.
Captain Dirty

 

[varmint]

After years of using a rear blade and a loader bucket to clear over 750' of sloping, closed in gravel lane, I tried a larger Kubota L3130 with a 78" front angled HBL snow blade. (Made in the Toronto area...) and I would not want to go back. When the snow piles up, having a blade on the loader arms means you can push it up and over, unlike a truck's plow. I now use it with a lighter L3400, and with chains and rear weight box, it does whatever I need it to do, including clearing 30" snowfalls. Now that our lane is paved, snow work is pretty easy. I wish I had a cab, but A) barn door won't allow it and B) post holes and summer work really don't want one. Plus, I use it to harvest some firewood, and a cab might get trashed in the woods. I don't mow, so summer AC isn't an issue. I have had very good service from Kubotas, so I like them.

Without a cab, a blower is nasty most of the time, and slower. I would suggest getting something like a Kubota L3901, with SSQA, because it would be large and heavy enough to clear snow, but not so big you wouldn't want to use it around the property for fencing and loader projects. With 5 acres, a dedicated zero turn makes a lot of sense. Big enough for snow means too large for good finish mowing, I think. Be sure to spend some time considering the Grand L series, since they have some mighty nice features. Remember, you may be using this tractor a long time. Take care of it, and 25 or more years is certainly a useful life. Of course, who knows what new stuff will be like in 25 years?

 

[2ndhalf]

After years of using a rear blade and a loader bucket to clear over 750' of sloping, closed in gravel lane, I tried a larger Kubota L3130 with a 78" front angled HBL snow blade. (Made in the Toronto area...) and I would not want to go back. When the snow piles up, having a blade on the loader arms means you can push it up and over, unlike a truck's plow. I now use it with a lighter L3400, and with chains and rear weight box, it does whatever I need it to do, including clearing 30" snowfalls. Now that our lane is paved, snow work is pretty easy. I wish I had a cab, but A) barn door won't allow it and B) post holes and summer work really don't want one. Plus, I use it to harvest some firewood, and a cab might get trashed in the woods. I don't mow, so summer AC isn't an issue. I have had very good service from Kubotas, so I like them.

Without a cab, a blower is nasty most of the time, and slower. I would suggest getting something like a Kubota L3901, with SSQA, because it would be large and heavy enough to clear snow, but not so big you wouldn't want to use it around the property for fencing and loader projects. With 5 acres, a dedicated zero turn makes a lot of sense. Big enough for snow means too large for good finish mowing, I think. Be sure to spend some time considering the Grand L series, since they have some mighty nice features. Remember, you may be using this tractor a long time. Take care of it, and 25 or more years is certainly a useful life. Of course, who knows what new stuff will be like in 25 years?

I agree with varmit on the front blade setup for that much drive. I also agree on the blade over blower; a blower would be too slow. You want that snow out of the drive in a hurry so you can start your commute on snowy days. Blade is faster as long as you can handle it with a blade. I think the B you mentioned would be a good size for that size property. I wouldn't go larger than a B for that much Mowing. A BX can handle what you are wanting to do but it may a little longer. 5 - 6 acres is a lot to mow on a tractor but you could, as was suggested, mow some parts every two or three weeks. Make sure your getting a hydrostat if your mowing with it.

 

[DieselBound]

As suggested by others, look for used. You can get a more suitable tractor and still have money for attachments. Keep in mind that the attachments are a BIG part of making your/a tractor useful. Attachments ring up some $$.

 

[2ndhalf]

Buy a Massey.. I love mine and they appear to have their roots starting in Canada.

Massey-Ferguson Limited - The Canadian Encyclopedia

 

[gladehound]

do you have a budget and is that budget different for used vs new?

 

[s219]

If you're concerned the BX is too small, the 2320 isn't much of a size increase. Jump to a B2620/2920/2601 to really get into a bigger machine.

 

[mike69440]

If you're concerned the BX is too small, the 2320 isn't much of a size increase. Jump to a B2620/2920/2601 to really get into a bigger machine.

Still way way too small. Tractor needs to weigh 3500-4000 lbs or bare.

Need at least 40 HP, and weight with chains for moving snow. A snowblower works if you have space to blow the snow, so does a plow.

You want a CAB. I really freeze my butt plowing snow for 5-6 hours during a major storm. New to tractors, probably best to stay with HST, but a used shuttle shift with cab beats a shiny new HST.

 

[gladehound]

Still way way too small. Tractor needs to weigh 3500-4000 lbs or bare.

Need at least 40 HP, and weight with chains for moving snow. A snowblower works if you have space to blow the snow, so does a plow.

You want a CAB. New to tractors, probably best to stay with HST.

I tend to agree. However, the OP stated that a new Kubota "B" with a cab is out of his price range. So a 40hp cabbed HST is probably out of the question.

To get into an affordable larger tractor, I'd ditch the cab and the HST and look into value marketed gear tractors used.

I used a ~20hp tractor with 6ft front plow for years (nearly 5,000 pounds the way I had it set up so heavier than anything the OP is looking at). Great in a foot of snow. Not so great in 18" of heavy wet. Had to go to the bucket and that took a long, long time with the little buckets that little loaders can handle.

Went to a 45 hp gear tractor 2 years ago with a 1+ yard snow bucket. Love it! Have always been able to drive straight through any storm and push until the snow came over the bucket (would push 100 ft at a time in the 30+ inch storm we had last year). Always can move any piles I want to move. For a long gravel drive I would get the biggest gear tractor that the OP can afford and run the biggest bucket it can push with Edge Tamers on it. blades are great but hard to not pick up gravel with one.

 

[holeycow]

Yup, as usual thinking too small for snow removal.

You are in the snowbelt. You want to get to work if possible.

You need a cab.

Spend more money or buy used.

You'll need a pickup truck too.

Buy once buy right. You said it yourself.

Block heater. Loaded rears. Tire chains. Some kind of a quick attach blade. Trailing mower. And maybe some kind of a riding lawnmower. Cheap.

If you've never had a tractor you'll think they all look big. You will think 45hp or so is huge! It is not. It is small. Especially for plowing the kind of snow you could see ( large dumps of sometimes wet snow).

Anyway, good luck! Sounds exciting.