Buying Advice Rookie here...am I crazy? Help needed...quick!

[vtsnowedin]

Don't worry, I'll not take out all the trees, only those that have been compromised by lightening, wind damage or other trees. I too see the value in keeping trees for shade and erosion control. Most of the land will end up with fruit trees, grapes and some veggies...grass is low on the list.

Now that you mention fruit trees and grapes I understand your need for a sprayer. Perhaps a tractor with at least a soft cab so you don't get rained on by pesticide turned by a gust of wind?

 

[jimpen]

Another one to just mess up the mix -- I consider the FEL as an essential option. The backhoe should probably be in the mix from the list you are giving.

The finish mower whether it is a mid-mount or rear mount is not really a question. But many other attachments like a bush hog, box blade, or the rest can usually be rented from a dealer on an as-needed basis. So if your 1/2 acre garden needs to be tilled every spring, and takes half a day, but you won't use it the rest of the year is it worth buying one at $1400, when you can rent it for $100 for two days?

Just throwing it on the table to maybe look at the rental options compared to buying when talking to dealers.

 

[CurlyDave]

Great stuff so far. Please keep it coming.

As for the garden, vegetables mostly plus some potatoes and some tomatoes. But, the main thing is the orchard. Peaches, lemons, grapes.

Think about the orchard ahead of time. DW and I lived on a property that was just over an acre, but had mature apple, plum, peach, apricot and persimmon trees. We were just on the outskirts of town, and had a lot of friends. When even one of those trees produces fruit, it produces, and the fruit all comes ripe over about the span of a month or less. It wasn't worth the effort of picking it to sell it, not enough to make the money to pay for our time. But each tree was 500 lbs. of apples, or peaches, or apricots, or whatever. We couldn't give that much away, couldn't eat more than a small percentage, and it made a big mess when it hit the ground and eventually rotted.

Just our experience, but we won't ever have fruit trees again.

* * * * * * *

As far as the regular trees go, trying to pull a stump with a tractor and a chain is not the right thing for a newbie to do. Not with a 30-40 hp tractor. You need a real factory drawbar, the item that attaches to the bottom of the transmission, not the thing sometimes called a "drawbar" which attaches to the arms of a 3 pt. hitch. Medium stump, small-medium tractor, attach chain to 3 pt. hitch "drawbar" -- flip tractor over on its back.

As has been said, this requires a backhoe attachment. When you cut the trees leave a 4'-5' stump. This provides leverage for the backhoe to break the roots and get the stump free. If you are going to do this with a backhoe attachment you need the one that has a subframe on the tractor.

Or, you could cut the trees down, deal with the wood, and then rent a mini-excavator for a day to get the stumps. Of course you need to fill in the stump holes with something or you are going to have pits large enough to burry a pony... That 4'-5' of trunk you left for a lever arm can easily become firewood at this time.

* * * * * *

There is something I have found to be absolutely invaluable in a property this size and up. That is a dump trailer and enough truck to pull it. Depending on your age, you might get away with just a truck, or a truck and a landscape trailer, but there is nothing quite like pushing a button and watching that trailer unload itself.

* * * * * * *

Another thing to think through is what you are going to do with the trees you cut down. If you have a fireplace, you will get years worth of wood for your area of the country, but it has to be split.

 

[def]

Think about the orchard ahead of time. DW and I lived on a property that was just over an acre, but had mature apple, plum, peach, apricot and persimmon trees. We were just on the outskirts of town, and had a lot of friends. When even one of those trees produces fruit, it produces, and the fruit all comes ripe over about the span of a month or less. It wasn't worth the effort of picking it to sell it, not enough to make the money to pay for our time. But each tree was 500 lbs. of apples, or peaches, or apricots, or whatever. We couldn't give that much away, couldn't eat more than a small percentage, and it made a big mess when it hit the ground and eventually rotted.

Just our experience, but we won't ever have fruit trees again.

* * * * * * *

As far as the regular trees go, trying to pull a stump with a tractor and a chain is not the right thing for a newbie to do. Not with a 30-40 hp tractor. You need a real factory drawbar, the item that attaches to the bottom of the transmission, not the thing sometimes called a "drawbar" which attaches to the arms of a 3 pt. hitch. Medium stump, small-medium tractor, attach chain to 3 pt. hitch "drawbar" -- flip tractor over on its back.

As has been said, this requires a backhoe attachment. When you cut the trees leave a 4'-5' stump. This provides leverage for the backhoe to break the roots and get the stump free. If you are going to do this with a backhoe attachment you need the one that has a subframe on the tractor.

Or, you could cut the trees down, deal with the wood, and then rent a mini-excavator for a day to get the stumps. Of course you need to fill in the stump holes with something or you are going to have pits large enough to burry a pony... That 4'-5' of trunk you left for a lever arm can easily become firewood at this time.

* * * * * *

There is something I have found to be absolutely invaluable in a property this size and up. That is a dump trailer and enough truck to pull it. Depending on your age, you might get away with just a truck, or a truck and a landscape trailer, but there is nothing quite like pushing a button and watching that trailer unload itself.

* * * * * * *

Another thing to think through is what you are going to do with the trees you cut down. If you have a fireplace, you will get years worth of wood for your area of the country, but it has to be split.

Great stuff Dave...added to the collection of info. I'm really thinking through your comments about the fruit harvest...some around here charge for the public to come and pick...also, stumps...leave 'em shoulder height. Thanks. I have some very nice friends in the Portland area...love your state.

 

[def]

Another one to just mess up the mix -- I consider the FEL as an essential option. The backhoe should probably be in the mix from the list you are giving.

The finish mower whether it is a mid-mount or rear mount is not really a question. But many other attachments like a bush hog, box blade, or the rest can usually be rented from a dealer on an as-needed basis. So if your 1/2 acre garden needs to be tilled every spring, and takes half a day, but you won't use it the rest of the year is it worth buying one at $1400, when you can rent it for $100 for two days?

Just throwing it on the table to maybe look at the rental options compared to buying when talking to dealers.

Jim, good, valid points. I have even considered a 2-wheeled tractor with implements (tiller) for the garden...depends on how big. But, the exercise behind a 2 wheeler would be either priceless or it would kill me.

 

[jimpen]

Jim, good, valid points. I have even considered a 2-wheeled tractor with implements (tiller) for the garden...depends on how big. But, the exercise behind a 2 wheeler would be either priceless or it would kill me.

I was talking about it as an attachment off the rear PTO, not the 2 wheel type with it's own motor. I bought my tractor just before Memorial Day last year and had 3-4 foot tall weeds and grass on 4 acres. The dealer loaned me a 60" bushhog for the Memorial Day weekend to knock it down. I should never need it again. So buying one would have been a waste of money. But as a rental/loaner it let me get the job done.

The same idea if I ever decide to put in a garden. It would be a 1/4 - 1/2 acre. I would need a disc or a tiller for the grass removal and initial prep. That would probably take less than half a day. Buying a disc or a tiller would be a waste of money. Where a rental makes sense.

 

[flusher]

Hi there. Welcome to TBN. Join the fun:thumbsup:
I was in your boots 10 years ago--never owned or drove a tractor. Bought 10 acres of flat pasture with a few dozen mature almond trees remaining from an ancient orchard, chest high weeds, junk littering the place.

I bought a new 2005 Kubota B7510HST tractor (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, hydrostatic tranny, 4WD, power steering) with the LA302 front end loader ( FEL, 4-ft wide bucket, 800 lb lift). Cost: $12.6K plus tax.

Three years later I decided to become a hay farmer. Traded the Bota for a new 2008 Mahindra 5525 (55 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD, gear tranny 8F/2R, power steering, triple rear hydraulic remotes) with the ML250 FEL (6-ft wide bucket, 2950 lb lift to 10.5 ft height, skid steer quick attach (SSQA) option). Cost: $19K.

I mowed the weeds initially with the 7510HST and a 4-ft wide brush hog (aka bush hog, shredder, slasher) that cost about $600 (King Kutter from Tractor Supply). Now I use a 6-ft wide hog (Hawkline from my Mahindra dealer).

With only 8 acres, it's feasible to do most of your jobs, except you tree removal tasks, with a small tractor in the 25-30 hp (engine) range. It you plan to do farming on your acreage, you probably want to go with something in the 40-60 hp range.

Good luck.

 

[newbury]

Jim, good, valid points. I have even considered a 2-wheeled tractor with implements (tiller) for the garden...depends on how big. But, the exercise behind a 2 wheeler would be either priceless or it would kill me.

My Grandfather had a 2 wheeler in the '60's to '70's. They are VERY useful for only a few acres, however the larger the property get's the further you have to walk.

Reads like you've a nice piece of earth.

Definitely check out rental agencies - sort of why buy the cow if you can rent it?
But there are inherent problems with renting:
Timing -
How often do you need it ?
How long do you need it for?

Weather
Can you use it any time, any weather?

Availability
What does it take to get and return it?
Will it be available when YOU want it?
Often certain implements are only really needed during certain times. People rent floor sanding machines all the time, not really dependent on weather, tillers are usually needed during fall and spring.

Examples I've done -
I have a continuing need for a tiller and a backhoe.
Renting a $1600 tiller for a day twice a year costs about $160 - on the face of it.
BUT - for me (In Fulton, Mississippi) to rent one would involve 160 miles of travel thus about another $100 (now we are up to $260) and I'd probably have to keep it for 2 days each time (now we are up to $420 annually) and I still have to gamble on good weather and if there will actually be one available when I want it. I bought a 5' KK II tiller for $800.


Renting a mini-ex for two one week periods a year (about my expected usage) would cost me about $2K, I bought a 7.5' BH for my tractor.


I strongly second about knowing your harvest. From apples to zucchini my Grandfather and father overplanted the home garden and orchard. We had (northern Vermont) about a dozen apple trees for 6 people. WAY to much apples, even though we canned a ton of it (perhaps literally). Enough corn so we gave bushels away. Excess food isn't bad, but it was the excess work we had to put in to get the excess food that bothered me.

 

[def]

Welcome from Wisconsin

Wisconsin is near and dear to me. I used to visit cousins in Stevens Point, sail on Geneva, worked for a steamship company (lake boats) out of Sheboygan, raced cars at Road America. My brother has a spread up in Door County.

Love your politics in WI.

Go Packers!

 

[ultrarunner]

Great stuff so far. Please keep it coming.

As for the garden, vegetables mostly plus some potatoes and some tomatoes. But, the main thing is the orchard. Peaches, lemons, grapes.

In 1984 I bought a run down cottage in the middle of the city with a very old San Jose Mission Fig tree that was horizontal... the trunk just was about waist height.

I was going to take the sad excuse for a tree out and the neighbor told me the old fellow that was born in the house in 1910 parents had taken a cutting from a tree planted by the Padres that founded the California Missions and the fruit was outstanding.

To make a long story short... the tree is still there and has probably 100 offspring I've given to family and friends.

Mom planted one in her garden and makes about $600+ selling the figs at the local market...

You can always cut the trees later if need be...