Which tractor would you get?

[ericstac]

I sure have enjoyed reading all the post here. I am new to this forum and I sure am glad I found this place. I will be moving to my piece of land that we are almost done building our house on and I need some help in the tractor department. I own about 6 acres of wooded country in Fort Bend County, along with Brazos River. It is clay ground and covered with brush and trees.
I'm hoping to buy another 6-10 acres this year so I will need a tractor to handle this land as well. I will be doing mainly land clearing, brush hogging, land leveling, fencing, driveway maintenance (no snow), and any other job I can create

I'm looking at John Deere because its a nice tractor, people say good things about it and my kids think all tractors should be JD Green.

Here are some pictures of my land to give you an idea of what my paradise looks like. Hopefully I will be posting my house and barn building in projects so please visit to see my project.

 

[Soundguy]

You own 6ac, and may own 12-16.

That's a tough call.. If you were for sure to get the extra land.. I'd say deffinately get in the high 20's to low 30's hp range. however.. if only staying at 6ac.. somewhere in the 2o's should be fine.

By the way.. farm tractors are not good land clearing machines. it's better to hire the big back breaking work out to a big bulldozer or excavator who can do the job in a day.. than to either buy too big a tractor for a single job.. or beat up your small tractor doing that work... size your tractor for 80% of your work.

soundguy

 

[ericstac]

I was thinking about brush hogging the little stuff and clearing it out of the way and then hiring out the heavier stuff for a day. Then I would use my tractor to move piles to the burn pile as needed. I'm planning on leaving the big live oaks and just clearing out the smalling 6" less saps. You think 6" less diameter trees are too much for a tractor?

After that it would mainly be maintenance and mowing.

 

[digicamnut]

Please put my deer stand in the fourth picture Thanks.

I've been where you are... just yesterday I decided which tractor was for me. I settled on the Kubota L3400 hst. Gool luck from another Texan.

 

[gordon21]

If you want JD green, high quality, low cost and simplicity, check out the JD 790's or even the big brother 990. They are gear tractors. Old technology and stone simple. Perfect size for 6 acres. About $15k new with a loader and some other things added in.

People that do a lot of loader work prefer the hydro trans or some variant. They will reverse motion once a minute or less. If you mainly see motion in one direction, then gears are fine.


If you ever think you might want a backhoe down the road, ask if the tractor you are considering can accept a FACTORY backhoe. Some can't.

 

[jbrumberg]

ericstac:

Welcome to TBN ! Nice pictures . I agree with Soundguy. Tractor research and acquisition should be an enjoyable part of the process. Do not get hung up on data and numbers . Those fancy glossy brochures are driven by Sales & Marketing Departments . They will always "spin" the criteria to put their own product line in the best perspective. It is much more important to sit on as many different tractors as you can as well as visit the different dealerships to get a "feel" for both. A good dealer will save you in the long run. For all practical purposes your major brand tractors of a similar HP and frame size will give similar performance. Good luck- Jay

 

[Reg]

Take a closer look, US name brand doesn't mean US manufacture, until you get up to the 100 HP or so machines - even then only maybe.

So, make your choice of which Asian manufacturer first, then see which of the big brand names re-badges it, has it sprayed to their colors and gives you the better deal (-:
BTW, some folk here believe that the dealer is more important than the manufacturer.