Please help -how to maintain 20 -30 acres?

[jinman]

I think I understand that you are trying to balance the amount of property you would like to have against what it will cost and the time involved. It's a typical, "Which came first; chicken or egg?" question. As you look at property, you will have to consider the property in light of high maintenance, low maintenance, and occasional or as-needed maintenance. With those three classes, you can decide the equipment that is mandatory and what is optional. Balance all that with your budget and you'll be set. It all sounds easy to do, but most of us struggle with "must haves" and "nice to haves." Look at it like a puzzle and have some fun with it. One thing for sure is that nobody can tell you detailed equipment specs without knowing the requirements of the land. The property you settle on will determine your needs. I'd sure start with that side of the equation.

 

[chh]

In a perfect scenario I could buy a tractor and attachment to cut 10 acres in 2 hours or so for around 30k. I am thinking I could cut a third of the land every week. I could also look into a 72" ZTR but I am thinking I will be better of pulling a 10 ft mower behind a tractor ( I will get a bigger tractor anyway with more land).
Thanks

Mowing it like that is the last thing I would try to do. 30 acres is a lot to try and keep mowed like a yard. You'll end up spending a lot of $$$ and not really accomplish anything but driving around in circles mowing.

 

[forgeblast]

We live on 20 ac, and its a mix of woods and fields. some of the fields are most and a pain to mow. I have a little jd, lt 160 that i use to cut it and our yard. When the price of gas was up high, i made the decision to reforest it so i would not have to cut it. I enrolled in the CRP program and will be planting in the spring. Basically i have 1.33 acr enrolled and will be planting around 100 trees and 40 shrubs. I am really excited that I wont have to mow it and that eventually we will be able to harvest some of the trees. I have black walnut, butternut, hickory nut, sugar maple, pin and swamp white oak being planted along with 6 apples. The shrubs will be hazlenuts, blueberries and cranberry. Its all being cost shared with the fed goverment.
Its a way to go if you hate cutting that much grass, plus they give you money every year for the next 15 years.

 

[jbos333]

Hi, just my 2 cents here.

I have 80 acres vacant (for now) land that I only have a utility bldg./ electric on so far. My long term plan is to live there, just trying to put the pieces/ plan together now.

It is about 2/3 timber, 1/3 semi-open with approx. 5 acres of water area between 3 ponds.

FWIW, I mow a "lawn" area of about 2 acres or so around the drive/building and pond areas. The rest of the 1/3 semi-open I have a network of walking/golf cart trails about 8 ft wide that are grass/clover that I mow along with the "lawn" area near the building. I do this with a JD riding mower....318 I think. I do have a CUT but that stays at home unless I let something get too far out of hand and need the brush hog or have some loader work to do.

When I do build and become full-time there, I anticipate a 45+ HP TLB will be what I need. Possibly a Farmi winch to skid treetops/ deadfall out with. I will probably keep my smaller CUT to mow with and for smaller stuff.

So I guess my point is like others on here, it depends what you want to do. I only even walk my 2/3 timber a few times a year. So you can "maintain" only what YOU want to.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

my 35 acres has about 10.5 ac of brome hayfield and the rest is rough pasture, homestead, etc...
I lease out the hay field for about $50 an acre, which buys me diesel for the year, seed & fertilizer for the rough pasture, etc... the guy leasing the hay ground is responsible for fertilizing it. This year he got 29 1200 lb bales off it. When I was doing shares for small bales i had to pay for all the fertilizer and only got half the bales - which I then had to store until I could sell them. While that paid me a higher gross, I had a lower net profit. (7-800 sm sq per year total)

For the rough pasture, I mow trails/fire breaks in it with my 6' brush hog, clear around the pond & lagoon -- takes an hour or 2 every couple of weeks., etc...

For that and the other projects I do around the property, my 35 HP (28PTO HP) works fine. A bigger machine would let me do some jobs faster, but it would have cost more, take up more storage, and use fuel faster - so I'm pretty happy with my tractor.

 

[MossRoad]

I mow my trials with my Power Trac PT425. It is an articulated tractor with all implements out front. Here is a link to a video of me cutting a trail through 5'+ high weeds. Nice to have the mower out front where it belongs. The brush cutter is 48" wide, so I make two passes with overlap to get a nice 7' wide trail. Video is a bit grainy, but heck, it's seat time so enjoy!

http://www.mossroad.com/PT425Videos/PT425DeepWeeds1.WMV

 

[BRMyers]

I know it is an old thread, but was just wondering what the original OP decided on and if it worked well for him?

 

[MossRoad]

OP hasn't posted since October. Maybe he'll poke back in?

 

[dieselkelly]

We purchased 50+ acres while we were still working 40 hrs a week, two hours away.. We found ourselves a farmer to bale hay from our fields, give us what we needed for our two horses(25 bales a season) and he kept the rest (300) for his cows as payment. We also get to take advantage of his farm tax number and pay ag municipal tax rates. Win-win. We do all the rest of the maintenance, woodlot and barn chores.