I'm looking for some advise on what I should buy, first a little bit of background on me, then some info on what I'm looking to accomplish, followed by what I've been focusing on and why. I'm leaning into the experience on here for advise and I'll take it as such, I would however prefer something more in depth than "my tractor is the best tractor out there and you should buy the same one!" if that's how you truly feel please elaborate on why yours would suit my needs.
OK, so I'm early 40's, bit of a hillbilly(jack of all trades type) there hasn't been any farming in my family for 2 generations and they're all long gone but some of the knowledge and most of the mentality has been passed down; spent 5-6 years as a full time mechanic with last couple years in a truck shop; bummed around a couple other trades and ended up getting my electrical license and worked in that trade for 10 years; rest of my life since 18 has been spent in the army. So basically I know my way around tools and there's not many I haven't used in the past 20 years, literally a jack of all trades. I have experience running skid steers, front end loaders, smaller kubotas, an old Massey, and I have an old Ford LGT-18H that I work too hard both summer and winter, it's size for mowing my lawn but kinda small for anything else and doesn't have many implements available or even have a real PTO.
What I'm looking to accomplish with the tractor I buy is to fix up an old family piece of property, it's only 1 acre but I feel like the work is a bit heavy for a SCUT or old garden tractor. It's an old farm field with a bit of a grade, no swampy or wet areas that hasn't been hayed in 20 years and I'm sure it's bet 40+ years since it was plowed; it hasn't been completely taken over by alders, blackberry bushes, juniper, or spruce yet, but they are growing, I was able to clear them off with a bush saw in 1-1.5hrs last weekend. I want to bush hog it, to plow it, disc it, spread some lime, and maybe do this for a couple years; grade the edge when the dirt road is because the snowplow has made a huge lip(8"-12") for the full length of the property; dig a foundation; and then ongoing mowing, not looking at doing a weekly thing but more interested in mowing 4-5 times per summer. I'll find other things to do with it around my principal residence as well, one of them will be snowplowing my driveway; I have some low land at my house that I would like to fix up, diverting water etc; and removing smaller stumps.
I don't want anything within the past 10-15 years because I don't want all the headaches that come with newer tractors(DPF, EGR, electronics, etc) or their price tags, and I'm capable of maintaining and older farm machine, and I genuinely feel like I have no need for a 4wd on either of my property as they are both relatively dry. Renting doesn't financially makes sense to me because I have an ongoing need and if I only really needed a larger machine for 5 years I can still sell it when I'm done and get something smaller.
I've been looking at the MF 35 and 135 because they're not oversized for my needs, they're simple, effective, will work with all the implements I'm going to need(I'll be renting what I can) but I get the impression that I'll have issues with fitting a backhoe as they're not really sorted for that, if I have to rent a TLB that's no issue but would be handy to have my tractor to mount a rented hoe on for when I need it. I thought about the Massey 1010 but I can see it having issue running a bush hog and would take longer than I'd like to plow that field, I also don't think it will handle whatever roots I encounter.
So based on that, what are some good recommendations on what I should look for?
OK, so I'm early 40's, bit of a hillbilly(jack of all trades type) there hasn't been any farming in my family for 2 generations and they're all long gone but some of the knowledge and most of the mentality has been passed down; spent 5-6 years as a full time mechanic with last couple years in a truck shop; bummed around a couple other trades and ended up getting my electrical license and worked in that trade for 10 years; rest of my life since 18 has been spent in the army. So basically I know my way around tools and there's not many I haven't used in the past 20 years, literally a jack of all trades. I have experience running skid steers, front end loaders, smaller kubotas, an old Massey, and I have an old Ford LGT-18H that I work too hard both summer and winter, it's size for mowing my lawn but kinda small for anything else and doesn't have many implements available or even have a real PTO.
What I'm looking to accomplish with the tractor I buy is to fix up an old family piece of property, it's only 1 acre but I feel like the work is a bit heavy for a SCUT or old garden tractor. It's an old farm field with a bit of a grade, no swampy or wet areas that hasn't been hayed in 20 years and I'm sure it's bet 40+ years since it was plowed; it hasn't been completely taken over by alders, blackberry bushes, juniper, or spruce yet, but they are growing, I was able to clear them off with a bush saw in 1-1.5hrs last weekend. I want to bush hog it, to plow it, disc it, spread some lime, and maybe do this for a couple years; grade the edge when the dirt road is because the snowplow has made a huge lip(8"-12") for the full length of the property; dig a foundation; and then ongoing mowing, not looking at doing a weekly thing but more interested in mowing 4-5 times per summer. I'll find other things to do with it around my principal residence as well, one of them will be snowplowing my driveway; I have some low land at my house that I would like to fix up, diverting water etc; and removing smaller stumps.
I don't want anything within the past 10-15 years because I don't want all the headaches that come with newer tractors(DPF, EGR, electronics, etc) or their price tags, and I'm capable of maintaining and older farm machine, and I genuinely feel like I have no need for a 4wd on either of my property as they are both relatively dry. Renting doesn't financially makes sense to me because I have an ongoing need and if I only really needed a larger machine for 5 years I can still sell it when I'm done and get something smaller.
I've been looking at the MF 35 and 135 because they're not oversized for my needs, they're simple, effective, will work with all the implements I'm going to need(I'll be renting what I can) but I get the impression that I'll have issues with fitting a backhoe as they're not really sorted for that, if I have to rent a TLB that's no issue but would be handy to have my tractor to mount a rented hoe on for when I need it. I thought about the Massey 1010 but I can see it having issue running a bush hog and would take longer than I'd like to plow that field, I also don't think it will handle whatever roots I encounter.
So based on that, what are some good recommendations on what I should look for?
