I'll offer my $0.02, admittedly, without reading all of the other reply's.
Whatever you end up with, get it neutered. Having tomcats run around marking yours (and neighbors) porch, cars, tractors, etc is not desirable. A neutered male won't wander as much which is a key to its survival. The more exploring they do, the greater the chance they won't come home.
We've had much better luck with female cats. They don't prowl quite as much and have better sense and end up living much longer. We've got the two same barn cats that we got five years ago. We've had four males in that time also and none of them has made it six months.
And yup, we got the females neutered, but one was too late and had kittens. Guess maybe one of my neighbors had a Tom running around (you live nearby? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif).