Buying Advice Southern VT Newbie Advice

[Maineuropa]

Wow...somewhere in this was a tractor request. I have been looking to replace my 955 with a somewhat larger tractor as I have recently begun haying my own farm, as well as snow blowing, stall mucking/composting, etc. Everyone insists on 50 plus Hp but fails to talk total expenditure vs actual activity. I can hay with what I have, a 33 hp compact tractor. I cannot afford a $16000 snowblower which fits a 50 hp tractor, whereas the 59 front snowblower I had for $3500 was perfect for the job. So consider the cost of all those attachments before oversizing your tractor is my advice. I had one fertilizer salesman telling me I would save $ buying a 250hp tractor.

 

[arrow]

Thank you. And dont take it the wrong way, like I said some people would burn wood if it cost them 3 times more, its a hobby I get that. My only point was is some or even a lot of folks fail to see the whole picture. I had friends raise chickens in the name of saving money. They tried to talk us into it. We sat down and said ok what was your cost, building a coop, to buy chickens, feed, medicine, and then effort. Worked out that the chicken was twice the money then in the store and 3 times the effort to put that same piece of meat on the table. Then the argument turned into we just like to eat what we make or raise, which again Im fine with that, but often times the living off the land just inst cheaper. My mentality is for basic life needs, maintaining property is the accountant view, I wouldnt say cheap but i try to accomplish the basic task of food, water, shelter the most effective and least time consuming way, as I have better things to do and prefer my money goes elsewhere. I can appreciate people that enjoy living off the land to speak.

Never took it the wrong way and you raise valid points for those like minded. There always comes a "balance" to obtain that best fits the owner.
Living off the land is not cheap. The accouterments of such becomes a choice that pays other parts to the individual who wants to be "paid" in that way. "Value" is also in the eye of the beholder.

 

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I had one fertilizer salesman telling me I would save $ buying a 250hp tractor.

It would be if you were planting 3 or 400 acres. You also bring up good points about balanced expenditure. Hmm.. you've been here since 2008 and only 21 posts. You probably won't see this.

 

[Jack Murdock]

I snow blow an 1100 foot gravel driveway, brush hog 14 acres twice a year, maintain said driveway box blade, skid 7-10 cord per year of firewood ( and some neighbors ) with my JD2032R which I believe is 32HP. I am 30 minutes from Southern Vt ( at least Bennington ) and had good luck with CJ at Hudson River Tractor for both new and used equipment. This is my first and last new tractor.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

So here is an idea and maybe run the numbers get a quote and think hard about it. Pave your driveway. I know it all comes down to cost cost, but you can get it done from around a little less than $2 a sq ft to about $4 a sq ft depending on how much site work, grade of material etc. I just paved around 500ft and it cost me around 12k after i put the rock down. That driveway will last 10 years after 10 years it will probably last longer if I am willing to deal with cracks and dips, even then I could just top coat it for a fraction of the cost of 12k. I know i know still cost. Im telling you I know people around here who have more time and money into a gravel driveway then they would just paving it. Plus with paving its easier to plow, keeps vehicles cleaner and not as much dirt near and and in the house.

That is a good idea, certainly it has merits, I'll pretend it's my own and convey it to my wife. There are a number of problems with it too, besides the cost, and I'd still want a tractor for my other activities, so ... probably not, but still worth discussing.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

Yeah occasional wood burning a wood burner is probably smarter. But I will say this about wood boilers. My furnace went out and had somebody try and sell me wood boiler. Cost to install was about 15k and thats pretty standard around here. Cost to replace current furnace was 3500. Yes i will always pay for propane about 1000 or so a year thats also cooking as well. But thinking about this wood boiler if the wood isnt free the money never works out really. If the wood is free, I still had to factor the cost of equipment to harvest wood, and money for gas, oil, and break fix maint. Laying it all out id have to burn wood forever to break even on the investment around here. and thats not factoring in my time cutting, stacking, and feeding the fire, my time is worth something. Plus the fact in -10 weather I would have to walk outside to feed the thing.

Listen I get it for some people location demands what they have, and every situation is different, and some people just like to burn wood. Just when I ran numbers it was a decade at its best of breaking even on the purchase, now if I had invested in a large tractor for the purpose etc, i would probably never break even. Only reason I point this out is sometimes people get this illusion on something like, oh wow I can burn wood its free but dont think about the legacy costs

Good points I will definitely consider more, because the boiler stuff is expensive and complicated that's why it isn't the primary driver in my tractor goals, at least not yet. The tractor would be an enabler, there's no boiler for me without the tractor. But the boiler is still a big 'if' even with a tractor. In my case the heating application is an indoor pool which I currently can't afford to heat with propane except in the summer, and I woulid really love to have it year round, at least when I want to swim. Propane is the worst for this, but a wood gasification boiler is, in theory, the ideal application. Burn that wood as hot as you can, and sink all the heat into 33,000 gallons of water. My propane bill is $2500-3500 a year and I don't even heat home space with it beyond a couple week's of workshop heat in the winter and an occasional fireplace substitute faux-wood-stove. Just the pool in the summer, cooking stoves year round, and the generator. Based on some back-of-napkin stuff I did years ago and wouldn't vouchsafe for correctness (depends on heat exchanger and other things), a load or two of wood would seriously raise the temp of the pool and would cost a small fortune in propane. That's partly because my propane boilers are too distant from the pool (not dedicated to it), the fuel density of propane is awful, and ... well ... it's propane, imported from parts unknown and subject to huge price gouging.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I have a fireplace that will heat my house unless its really cold, but I use it just for "fun". I already need a tractor and a chainsaw so the only real cost was the splitter. If I was older and had a back that was a problem I'd skip the wood boiler idea all together.

A grapple? I'd love to have one but they are expensive. Forks can take their place, just not as well. For my 3 acres, which is about 1 acres of trees/brush, I just toss the branches into the woods and let them rot.

Yeah, been thinking on the wood boiler for years, but it was always moot without a tractor. And maybe my back still makes it a bad idea, though I'm hoping to heat a pool with it, which is good for my back Catch-22.

I guess a new grapple is like $5-6K? No idea, dunno if I could score one used. And I'm hoping the resale value of all this stuff is good. Is it? I confess I'm completely enamored of grapples because of youtube videos I've seen. My back says "please please please" every time I watch one. My place is pretty big, even just hauling brush from my yard/field to the woods is a hike these days (50 yards or much more (i.e. how many football fields must it travel?), sometimes uphill, depends what I'm hauling and where, I have different strategically placed piles in the woods), so the tractor and possible grapple (if I don't make do with forks or the FEL) are my last gasp at having something that can do the heavy lifting (and portage) for me, before I have to pay someone to do this stuff. I have trees down all the time. With a grapple I might not even even have to load/unload chopped up sections into a cart, I could could haul big pieces right to the pile with the grapple (or use it to load the cart, but probably not unload). Maybe the questions I should are: when are you too old to use a tractor, and can a tractor help you in your old age? My days of throwing a nice piece of wood on my shoulder and marching it in from the woods for woodworking are over.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

You can certainly look at it as an accountant would. As you allude, for me, there is a value to it that cannot be measured with money. I simply "belong" in the woods more so than any other place.

For me, "wood" was primary and the tractor secondary to what I needed to do if it were not logging.

I love being out in the woods. Other people tend their gardens, but I'll spend hours in an afternoon weed-whacking my forest trails (and clearing fallen trees, of course). I actually hate gas engines and noise, for years I would do my trail clearing with hand tools, but age forces me to rely on motorized stuff now.

Reading more of Bullwinkles posts, I've changed my mind for him as far as tractor size. I first recommended that 4000-5000 lb machine. A machine my size ( 2500 lbs bare) would do him well. He'll use it for a myriad of chores w/o breaking the bank.

This forum has always provided answers for me even if no one had the "spot on" advice. A series of posts on this forum has helped me formulate my "end" idea by reading the myriad of opinion and taking things into account as I sift through the contributions. I hope it works for everyone this way as well. There comes a point when too much "detail" becomes a detriment to one's own "feel" for the need. Enlightenment comes with perusal.

Yup, information is key in pursuit of the dream. I just hadn't counted on my traitorous back to interfere (going on four+ years now), but here we are. Meanwhile, I'll have to go look at tractors by weight based on your feedback, sounds _huge_ (and expensive). Like "won't even fit in my barn" huge, but maybe not. Good to get opinions in either case.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

I snow blow an 1100 foot gravel driveway, brush hog 14 acres twice a year, maintain said driveway box blade, skid 7-10 cord per year of firewood ( and some neighbors ) with my JD2032R which I believe is 32HP. I am 30 minutes from Southern Vt ( at least Bennington ) and had good luck with CJ at Hudson River Tractor for both new and used equipment. This is my first and last new tractor.

Excellent info, as one of the questions I wanted to ask where you southern Vt people buy tractors.

I had put snowblowing on my wishlist (not a priority), because years ago I read stuff that said don't use tractors to clear snow (perhaps they weren't using snowblowers?). So I'm very interested to learn more about people who do use their tractors for that. What kind of snowblower attachment do you have? How much does it cost?

Even with this ridiculously warm winter, I had to pay $500 on last months' plowing bill, though part of that covers some plowing beyond the driveway, Maybe I should up the priority of a snow blower attachment. Of course with this global warming stuff, maybe my plow days per year will go down. This week even my most in-the-north-shade snow piles are looking like it's march, not january.

 

[Bullwinkle123]

So thanks to all who replied. One final request is recommendations for where I might buy new or used tractors given my southern Vt location. Thanks in advance.

I notice that there are lots of places that sell tractor equipment but not tractors.

Some of the places on on the web I found that supposedly sell tractors (but I have not called) are:

• PInnacle Equipment in Walpole NH
• Padula Bros. in Greenfield MA
• Aebi New England, LLC in Alstead NH
• Gary's Power Equipment in Winchester NH
• Allpower in Granby MA

I'm not sure if these are good places, and can't recall if they are close, it's just a list I compiled before my last back blowout and have since dug up for your feedback.

Also interested sources of USED equipment.