Something I don't understand about applications of below 40hp tractors

[dh206]

I read you don't plough with any tractor under 40hp. At least maybe not on a new unworked field. Don't know if that's right, but it is what I have been reading on more than one site.

If you don't have a front loader or a lawn cutting pull behind implement, what do you use them for? For example, I found a good price on a Kubota B6000e. It is only the tractor. I can only cut the grass with it?

Are all the old tractors over 40hp?

Edit:. I read the Kubota was 10.5 hp. My jd L110 is 17.5, but no pto. I don't know what I'd do with the Kubota.

I've got a Kubota BX2350 with FEL. I have 3 acres. Here's what I use it for, and it's quite enough tractor. Because it's small and light, it doesn't destroy my grass.
1) last-ditch mower (I prefer ZTR for speed, but this will do if it's too mushy and the ZTR would get stuck, which happens in spring over the septic field)
2) moving mulch around, or sand, or topsoil, or firewood (especially firewood)
3) big broken tree branches that fall down from some old swamp maples. I sometimes have branches in excess of 200 lbs. I just drag them into the woods with the BX, no problem.
4) I have a new(used) 36" rototiller attachment - Going to use it to make a garden plot instead of turning all that dirt by hand the first time.
5) I have some forks that go on the 3ph, useful for moving a <= 1000lb pallet on occasion.
6) I have a plow for the front for the driveway. It does a good job in winter.
7) I have a boom lift that I can use to pull old fence posts that need to be replaced, or lift the septic cover off, or lift the rototiller off the trailer when I brought it home a few days ago.
8) I have a 3ph wood chipper/shredder (Goosen, used, but in excellent shape, craigslist) - good for making mulch. I can do branches up to about 5" with it.
9) I have a single-bottom sub-soiler - planning to use to run some irrigation pipe out from the house when the weather cools off a bit
so, I can use this little 23HP tractor for lots of useful stuff. It fits through my gate openings into the back fenced yard, and it fits nicely in the (car) garage or the barn.

 

[greggyy]

I read you don't plough with any tractor under 40hp. At least maybe not on a new unworked field. Don't know if that's right, but it is what I have been reading on more than one site.

If you don't have a front loader or a lawn cutting pull behind implement, what do you use them for? For example, I found a good price on a Kubota B6000e. It is only the tractor. I can only cut the grass with it?

Are all the old tractors over 40hp?

Do not tell my 2 40hp tractors what they can and cannot do, you may be surprised.

if with low gearing, even a 2wd old Inter tractor can pull a 7ft chisel in dry ish clay, on a slope mind you with rock in ground too....lol

the limiting factor is weight/traction and lift ability of the hydraulics, you can get a lot done with an old 40hp tractor.

 

[J Wolfe]

I have a 2N and needed to brake a new garden. 1acre hasn't been touched in over 20 years. that little 2N pulled a two bottom then a disc. Ran through wit a modified cultivator and didn't miss a beat. Would bigger newer equipment do it faster? Sure would! I paid $800 for the tractor and around $500 for the implements. I do have a larger tractor, but it's a 70s IH B414 and I was repainting it. Got that one for cutting down a tree. Small tractors can do the job, you just don't need to get in a hurry.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

It's all based on the need for instant gratification. As a child I lived on a 250 acre mixed farm. We had a Ford 9N, a much older Fordson Major (hand crank to start) and two horses. All the farm work got done, most of it by the little 9N. Plowing, discing, harrowing, cutting, seeding etc etc. If your budget dictates 40hp or less, the job will get done, just slower.

If your budget allows and time is of the essence get a JD Quad and do everything in one pass.

 

[tjandrews]

I read you don't plough with any tractor under 40hp. At least maybe not on a new unworked field. Don't know if that's right, but it is what I have been reading on more than one site.

If you don't have a front loader or a lawn cutting pull behind implement, what do you use them for? For example, I found a good price on a Kubota B6000e. It is only the tractor. I can only cut the grass with it?

Are all the old tractors over 40hp?

Edit:. I read the Kubota was 10.5 hp. My jd L110 is 17.5, but no pto. I don't know what I'd do with the Kubota.

At one time or another, my old 1952 Case SC (roughly 25-30 HP) has done just about everything. Plow, drag, plant, cultivate, mow hay, tedd hay, rake hay, bale hay, plow snow, the list goes on and on. And it hasn't quit yet.

 

[rjc1861]

I read you don't plough with any tractor under 40hp. At least maybe not on a new unworked field. Don't know if that's right, but it is what I have been reading on more than one site.

If you don't have a front loader or a lawn cutting pull behind implement, what do you use them for? For example, I found a good price on a Kubota B6000e. It is only the tractor. I can only cut the grass with it?

Are all the old tractors over 40hp?

Edit:. I read the Kubota was 10.5 hp. My jd L110 is 17.5, but no pto. I don't know what I'd do with the Kubota.

This is just my experience but what I found I can plough all day long with an old ford 9n or 8n both with about 30 hp. But I can't plough 10 feet with a jd2038r with 40hp. In my case it's because the newer tractors have smaller tires with much lower ground clearance. The jd does everything else but it won't plough. See what kind of arguments you get.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

With the right implement(s) and enough time you can accomplish an incredible amount of work with a small tractor. My ID picture, an old Farmall Cub, was designed to replace a mule--having about the same capability for a day's work. In its day, that was a standard everyone understood.
You've been given a LOT of good information here. A lot of the decision-making process depends on the time you want to invest in the task.

 

[Snezzy]

Yeah, will say there is a difference in pulling power between the two, plus the difference torque wise between a diesel and gas. Biggest problem with the B6000's PTO is that it turns backwards. I had forgot about that.

I had to give up my B6000 because an idiot neighbor who claimed to be a diesel mechanic ruined the engine by taking apart the sump-oil-filter screen and not telling me. Two years of running it with no oil filter! I still have the PTO reverser if anyone would like to buy one, as well as a Kubota mower brush hog that matches the B6000 PTO.

The B6000 has, as you know, no roll bar, and my wife rolled it on a hill and survived with no damage to her or the tractor. I don't know how.

 

[Snezzy]

It's instructive to learn how folks cleared land before we had power equipment. To dig up a tree stump you would poke kernels of corn into the earth underneath the stump. Then put the hogs out so they can hunt for and dig up the corn, lifting the stump as they go. The horses or oxen can pull the dug-up stumps elsewhere. No tractor required. My buddy in South Dakota told me that they didn't get tractors at his farm until after WWII.

 

[brewer1301]

I read you don't plough with any tractor under 40hp. At least maybe not on a new unworked field. Don't know if that's right, but it is what I have been reading on more than one site.

If you don't have a front loader or a lawn cutting pull behind implement, what do you use them for? For example, I found a good price on a Kubota B6000e. It is only the tractor. I can only cut the grass with it?

Are all the old tractors over 40hp?

Edit:. I read the Kubota was 10.5 hp. My jd L110 is 17.5, but no pto. I don't know what I'd do with the Kubota.

Just a bunch of stupid people on these post. Dad farmed 150 acre cotton patch in the 50's with a two row 2N ford. So don't say it can't be done.