I will be bushhoging 12-13 acres of the field once a year or once every 2 years. My intentions are to let the field grow up some for deer and rabbit hunting. I will keep the other few acres either mowed down monthly or in food plots.
I want something that'll pull a 5' bushhog easily with only being mowed once a year or every other year. And maybe a 4' bushhog would be fine, just don't know how long either would take me to mow.
Here is a mowing calculator. Mowing once per year will require a tractor speed of around 4-mph. Mowing every second year will limit tractor speed to 3-mph due to density of vegetation.
Mowing once per year will require 40 - 45 tractor horsepower to operate a 60" HD bush hog = 2 acres per hour.
Mowing once per year will require at least 50 tractor horsepower to operate a 72" HD bush hog = 2-1/2 acres per hour.
Allowing for a 6" overlap, a 48" bushhog mows only 42" per swathe. Ugh!
Mowing Calcuator | How many acres can I mow in an hour
Kentucky has a lot of hills in parts, which strongly influences tractor width required for tractor stability.
Do you have hills to tractor? Are your fields on a slope?
Are potential food plots on flat or sloped ground?
Tractors are inherently unstable operating on sloped ground. Tractor rear wheel/tire spread, adjustable on the MX series, is a critical factor increasing compact tractor stability working sloped or uneven ground. Rear axle is the tractor component on which rear wheels/tires mount. A 6" to 10" wider rear axle substantially decreases tractor rollover potential. Tractor width is an approximation of rear axle width.
Given the limited info you have provided in your opening post I suggest a cabbed Kubota MX5400 tractor of 4,250 pounds weight including 600 pounds for cab, 53-horsepower net, 66" width, capable of pulling a 72" heavy duty Rotary Cutter weighing 1,100 pounds through tall grass, tall weeds and brush.
Cabbed Kubota MX5400 tractor/'SSQA' Loader/4-WD/HST transmission = $42,000.
Land Pride by Kubota HD 72" Rotary Cutter/RCR2672 = $4,000.
Every tractor producer has models with above specs. This is a high sales volume category.
John Deere pricing for equivalent equipment will be the same to 5% more expensive. Other tractor brands such as very fine Kioti, LS and Branson, all three produced in Korea, are available for 5% to 10% less than Kubota.
KUBOTA LINK:
Tractors - Utility - MX Series | Kubota
A quality dealer, reasonably close, available for coaching, is important for tractor neophytes. Most new tractors are delivered with a glitch or two requiring correction, often safety/cutout switches which require adjustment to operator weight. My Kubota dealer is six miles away. I feel my local dealer continues to add value to my equipment after seven years. Dealer proximity is less important for those experienced with tractors and qualified to perform their own maintenance.
When considering a tractor purchase bare tractor weight first, tractor horsepower second, rear axle width third, rear wheel/tire
ballast fourth.
BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR