I have hundreds of acres yet I get plenty done with my
L2500 series Kubota Tractor. I never see myself getting a bigger tractor.
Bigger is not always better.
1. My Grandfather had a Ford 900, so the implements that we have, are sized for that. While I have the land base to justify a bigger tractor, it would cost me so much money to replace all the different implements that I have, that a bigger tractor would be cost-prohibitive. The tractor is only part of the equation, the implements it pushes or tows is what really makes the tractor versatile.
A smaller tractor with more implements is much more productive then a bigger tractor with less implements.
2. The heavier a tractor is, the bigger it has to be or it will break. Our Ford 900 was a heavy tractor, and constantly broke. My Kubota on the other hand, if I hook onto something it cannot handle, it just breaks traction and spins with no damage done. At that point it is just prudent to stop, and figure a different way to make something work.
3. I look at a tractor as being a Leatherman. It is my swiss army knife of my farm, where I can do 90% of my work, but it does not do it all. When I need to clear land, or dig endlessly in my gravel pit...I just RENT specific equipment that can do the job better. The cost of renting, to do specific tasks, is very cost effective over maintaining and owning bigger equipment that seldom gets used.
4.
Brains win over brawn every time. I had a guy with a 60 hp Kubota ask me how I ever could log with my 2500 series Kubota tractor since it was so small. Well logging is about traction, not size, and my winch (which he did not have) has 100% traction all the time, my tires...any tires...do not. Again, this goes back to having the right implements on the tractor, to do the most with the tractor at hand. In short, in logging, a winch is half the tractor. I can winch around rocks, stumps, up hillsides, etc. I can put 150 feet of 3/8 cable anywhere...my tractor I cannot.
5.
Slow and steady wins the race! We got a $9000 grant to build a heavy haul road across our farm. That required 350 cubic yards of gravel to surface the road, yet a contractor quoted me a bill of $7000 to haul in gravel from my pit a quarter mile away. As I told the wife, we have the gravel, we just have to move it, but I only have a 1 cubic yard dump trailer. That would be 350 trips, way too much....or is it? The truth was, if we hauled 10 loads per day, in 35 days we would have hauled 350 cubic yards, and that is just what we did. Last year I moved 700 cubic yards over the course of the summer. A person can do a lot with small equipment as long as they are consistent.
6. Sizing up a tractor is not some profound equation. The USDA says to be efficient, a person has to double in horsepower. It does not make sense for me to do so, but if I was, I know it only makes sense for me to go from 27 hp to a 60 hp tractor. It would NOT make sense for me to jump up to a 40 hp tractor; the capacity is just not there. A skilled tractor operator with a small tractor can work circles around an unskilled tractor operator who has a bigger one.
A person can never use their check book to pay their way out of operating skill.
Conclusion: I think people buy too big of a tractor most of the time. We call them "Kubota Farmers" because they buy 60 HP tractors and have only 5 acres of land. I think it is better to have a properly sized tractor for 90% of the work needing to be done, and rent for the 10% that cannot not, then to have too big of a tractor 90% of the time.
I know a guy that was going to buy a great big tractor so that when his wood pellets came, he could unload 1 ton pallets. That is stupid. That only happens 1 day out of the year, why buy a great big tractor for 1 day, when the tractor would be too big for 364 other days? Just split the load in half, and then unload the pellets, and save yourself a lot of money.
