What kind of tractor?

[Teamjefe]

Ok so my family owns about 4000 acres of land in southeast Texas. We used to have a farmer that would do pasture maintenance for us but he is on the way out. We have a 70hp Kubota but it just isn't big enough to take care of the whole place. Its fine for light shredding but not when it comes to shredding and disking pastures. We are looking at getting a 150-200hp tractor to pull a 20-25ft disk. Our old farmer used a Case 7140. Any reviews of this tractor as far as power, fuel, and maintenance go? Any other types of tractors I should look at?

Thanks

 

[mikehaugen]

I wouldn't think any one tractor is big enough for 4000 acres.

 

[MIKE R]

Probably need a few tractors to handle 4000 acres in a timly manner.

 

[flusher]

Ok so my family owns about 4000 acres of land in southeast Texas. We used to have a farmer that would do pasture maintenance for us but he is on the way out. We have a 70hp Kubota but it just isn't big enough to take care of the whole place. Its fine for light shredding but not when it comes to shredding and disking pastures. We are looking at getting a 150-200hp tractor to pull a 20-25ft disk. Our old farmer used a Case 7140. Any reviews of this tractor as far as power, fuel, and maintenance go? Any other types of tractors I should look at?



Thanks

My neighbor uses a Stieger Super Wildcat tractor to pull a 15-ft offset disc across his 150 acres of hayfield (dryland, oats). It's powered by a Cat 3160 diesel--around 200 hp. He farms part time evenings and weekends. Don't know how many acres/hour he needs to disc his hayfield, but my guess is around 15 a/h.



All his hardware is pre-owned stuff.

Good luck.

 

[Teamjefe]

I wouldn't be doing this as a full time job. If I tried to disk one of my fields with my Kubota 70hp and my 8ft disk it would take days of working non stop.

 

[foreman Etexas]

My neighbor pulls his 24ft tandom disc/20ft chisel plow and 20ft batwing with a New Holland TS135a and a Kubota M135x.

 

[flusher]

I wouldn't be doing this as a full time job. If I tried to disk one of my fields with my Kubota 70hp and my 8ft disk it would take days of working non stop.

Pasture maintenance? So how many acres of discing are we talking about here? The entire 4000 acres? If so, that's one huge hunk of land. What are you planting there?

 

[econometrics]

Man, that's some serious land to maintain! That's more in-line with the size of places I grew up surrounded by in West Central MN.

I'm interested to know what you end up getting.

 

[Teamjefe]

Won't be disking the entire 4000....probably more like 1300 of that...the rest is farm land and it leased to a farmer.

We are planning on burning, disking, and planting native grasses. We also disk fields to promote forb growth. Our 70hp has been great but not enough power. Then we starting thinking about getting something like a M135x. But after looking at prices I could get an older but very reliable 200hp and a disk harrow for less. We have a Kubota SLV75 skid steer for digging/brush clearing/loading. Also our M7040 has a FEL for loading.

 

[econometrics]

Won't be disking the entire 4000....probably more like 1300 of that...the rest is farm land and it leased to a farmer.

We are planning on burning, disking, and planting native grasses. We also disk fields to promote forb growth. Our 70hp has been great but not enough power. Then we starting thinking about getting something like a M135x. But after looking at prices I could get an older but very reliable 200hp and a disk harrow for less. We have a Kubota SLV75 skid steer for digging/brush clearing/loading. Also our M7040 has a FEL for loading.

Gotcha. Are you in a wildlife valuation down there, or ag/timber?

 

[foreman Etexas]

There is a NewHolland 9282,5700hrs,260HP $37,500 seen in tractorhouse
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=7473633

 

[Teamjefe]

No wildlife valuation. We do quite a bit of farming. When I said southeast Texas I really meant around the El Campo area. So coastal prairie. We also have about 600 acres of moist soil units for duck hunting. We disk these every 3 years to keep woody vegetation down and to increase moist soil plant production.

 

[flusher]

Won't be disking the entire 4000....probably more like 1300 of that...the rest is farm land and it leased to a farmer.

We are planning on burning, disking, and planting native grasses. We also disk fields to promote forb growth. Our 70hp has been great but not enough power. Then we starting thinking about getting something like a M135x. But after looking at prices I could get an older but very reliable 200hp and a disk harrow for less. We have a Kubota SLV75 skid steer for digging/brush clearing/loading. Also our M7040 has a FEL for loading.

I've seen Versatile tractors (articulated) in the 160 hp range sell at $8000 in local auctions. Of course, you have to be handy with a wrench and have the workshop equipment to keep this type of vintage hardware running. Typically these big tractors have a big drawbar, but no 3-point hitch, no rear pto. The neighbor I mentioned in my previous post in this thread has a 70 hp Kubota and a 90 hp Farmall to handle the planting (grain drill) and baling work (3-twine bales). He mows with a pre-owned self-propelled New Holland swather with a 12 ft sicklebar head. He clears the bales off the field with a self-propelled NH bale stacker.

 

[econometrics]

No wildlife valuation. We do quite a bit of farming. When I said southeast Texas I really meant around the El Campo area. So coastal prairie. We also have about 600 acres of moist soil units for duck hunting. We disk these every 3 years to keep woody vegetation down and to increase moist soil plant production.

Gotcha. Sounds like a great spread of property. Glad to hear your intentions to plant back to native grasses. You will have to keep us updated on that project, as that's something I am planning to do on my acreage here in East TX, too. :thumbsup:

 

[Trey318]

The 7140 is an excellent machine. We farm 1000 acres and our biggest tractor is a 7250 case. It'll pull our 21 foot john deere 235 disc like it's not there. It'll pull a 6 row strip till planter no problem as well. I highly recommend those tractors. During cotton season my helper parked the 7250 an the module builder too close to a 3 foot deep ditch. When I got on and started moving the module builder fell in the ditch. It pulled the module builder out of the ditch in 2wd and didn't even spin