tractor advise

roxynoodle · Oct 14, 2006

What are you feeding with the hay, and what is your area?

$1000 for a tractor and implements is a good deal provided everything is in working condition. That being said, I don't think parts are available for the Belarus anymore, or at least not as many as owners would like. However, it would get you by until you could buy another tractor, especially if you could keep the implements for the new one. Even if you sold that Belarus later for only $500 I think you'd be ahead with having the implements and for your use out of the tractor.

2000lb round bales are huge though. My neighbor moves his round bales for his sheep with an old Oliver (I'd say it is a 50hp gas tractor, may even be less Hp than that). He spears them and drives them quite a distance down the road just fine. Perhaps an older Ag tractor like that would serve you well on your bales. Especially since a new tractor of that size is quite expensive. He puts the bale on a stand in his pasture, which is okay since I guess sheep can eat moldy hay.

sandman2234 · Oct 14, 2006

Ok, so it sounds like a good deal, provided it stays together to earn it's keep. Now the problem with it is will it move a bale of hay, and what to do if it won't?
I think it will, if you look at it from another angle.
The tractor has hydraulics that will power a small lift, supported by an axle pulled by the tractor. Kind of like the drive wheels and mast of a forklift, to give you a picture of what I am talking about. Not a hard item to build, if you are a building type, and not too complicated to figure out if you need to pay someone to do it.
The only problem with it, is do you have room to manuever a short trailer where you store your bales?
Daddy only uses square bales for his cows. He looked around and found someone with a square baler and pays them to bale his hay. They bale some for other people and take bales in trade for the labor, and sell them later, if he needs more. Unforunately, he is in SW Arkansas, which is a little far to haul hay.
David from jax

radman1 · Oct 15, 2006

That is a 31hp tractor with 1350 lbs of lift. If the box blade and disc are big enough for your next sized planned tractor, and the tractor runs with no problems, then I would strongly consider it. I have a bale lift I bought on an aution for $40 that is a pull type with 2 wheels on it and a spear. Drive backward and spear the bale, then uses a hand winch to tip the bale forward and up over the axle of the bale carrier. Something like that would work for nearly any small tractor or pickup to move bales.

N80 · Oct 17, 2006

I know a guy who has had a Belarus for going on 20 years now and it runs like a charm. He has used it for plowing large food plots for years. It looks like the junk now and not long ago it had some sort of problem he assumed was fatal. I don't know the details but he was about ready for it to die and get a new tractor, but he took it to a shop and they fixed it for $200 and it is running again.

However, when I got my Kubota L4400, 4wd w/ FEL for under $19k and 0% financing, he bought one and says it is far more capable than the little Belarus. But like I say, it still cranks, mows and plows (tiller) same as it ever was.

3RRL · Oct 17, 2006

Personally, I would jump on that deal. I don't know anything about Belarus but the implements could be used on a different tractor even if it did fail after a while. Plus, I'm sure you can get $1000 worth of stuff done around your place with it (less implements) before you'd consider trading to a newer one?
Once you get started after evaluating what you do with it, you would know better what it is you really want. IMO