Which Way Do I Go?

[JST]

I recently got an incredible deal on a house and 100 acres. This is the first time Ihave ever owned land or had a "real" need for a tractor (besides plantingfor hunting season). Now I really need a tractor to keep up withthe enormous size of the yard I will have to keep. A local fellow told me that if I wanted to have anysuccess running a finishing mower or a bush-hog I need something bigger than something like a "JD 950". From the size of it - I thought it would probably have been the perfect modle for me. Is he telling me the truth? A tractor of that size looks pretty capable to me. I know only a little abut tractors.

What wouldbe the best size and model for me? JD, Massey, Kubota.........are American better than Japanese models?

I have about 15 acres of yard and the rest is in pine.

I would appreciate your opinion. ANY information would be really helpful..........


thanx

 

[Inspector507]

<font color="blue"> are American better than Japanese models? </font>

You'll be hard pressed to find a 100% American made model in a sub-30HP size.

 

[DmansPadge]

Welcome to TBN. I would encourage you to fill out your profile to give users a better idea of your location and land type. Other than mowing... what do you want to do?

 

[frank_f15]

1st of all welcome to the forum /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif and 2nd you need to give just a little bit more detailed information, General location, type of land , hillls? flat? SNOW? and such,. you also have to think what you might want to do 5 or 10 years from now. 100 acres is a hunk of land. you need first to determine the size of the tractor you want, then you can zero in on brands, this of course is just MHO /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Soundguy]

Ok.. you have 100 ac estate. right now 15 ac in mowable? grass and rest in timber. You going to leave it in timber? or clear it any in the future.

How often and long do you want to mow it. 15 ac will be a good days work.. 7+/- hours on a 5' mower

If you are gonna skid logs.. don't buy a huge tractor otherwise it won't get around int he woods.

30-40hp range sounds good. might even do combo of a high 20's and a an older ag tractor.. say a 25+hp machine and a 50+hp machine.. Could probably get both of those for the price of a 35hp machine... Betweent he two you would be very versatile... small nimble tractor.. and a big brute... pick up a 10' mower and you can mow in about 4 hours.. etc.


Soundguy

 

[JST]

Hey!

Much thanx! and sorry about the profile thing. I will fill it out.

I live in central Mississippi. The hills here are not really steep, we rarely ever get snow, but rain we get often. The soil is pretty sandy.

Most of the acrage is in thick 15 y/o pines but there is a road that surrounds the property

Sorry that I havent replied more readily, had to check on a young one.

Thanx again

 

[JST]

Initially, I am gonna thin the 15 y/o pine. However, I will be contracting that job out of course to a timber company. The major things that I will be doing with the tractor are....bush-hogging, finish mowing, and more than likely disking and planting for wildlife (but not just on this property).

Other than this, I will just be thankful to have a peice of machinery to do all of the heavy things I have always wanted to do but never had the equipment to do it with (more for enjoyment rather than actual work) like maybe buying an auger for it for setting posts.

Hey, I also want to thank you for your welcomming me here.

Good to meet all of you. Hope to learn something from y'all.

j

 

[Egon]

Do you really need to mow 15 acres??

Egon

 

[JST]

Yes -

The 15 mowable acres makes up the lawn of the house. We get rain in Mississippi about every week to 2 weeks. It needs mowing right now but I can hardley make myself crank up the 'ol craftsman 14.5 hp riding mower. Makes for a tough week of mowing *chuckle*.

j

 

[aloha]

You really should think about doing something to reduce the size of the lawn. With a tractor you would be very hard pressed to mow that much in a day unless you have something like batwing mower.

If you are determined to keep that much lawn, you probably need a commercial grade ZTR mower or other specialized high-speed mowing machine.

Once you figure out how the mowing is going to be done in a reasonable length of time it should become more clear what you need in a tractor.

 

[DrRod]

Greetings,

I had to laugh because the last couple of posts echoed just what I was thinking -- do you really need/want to mow that much lawn? I have a great log cabin on an estate-type lot (maybe 2 acres of grass) and I tell anyone who'll listen: "if you build a cabin, don't have even one inch of lawn."

Now you probably want some lawn, but wouldn't a big chunk of it look nice in a game-friendly cover crop like clover? How about a few Christmas trees -- even just for you and your friends? Maybe fence some and rent it out for grazing? You could even "naturalize" part of it -- i.e. let it go wild for three years at a time and just mow it when the brush starts getting a hold. Wild flowers are always nice.

In any case, just some food for thought -- best of luck to you.

Rod

 

[poltroon]

15 acres is a lot of "lawn". If you get yourself some nice lawn ornaments, like sheep, you would possibly spend less time caring for them than you'd spend mowing. Or, you can rent it to someone who has cows or sheep and who would be happy to have some auxilliary grazing. In my area there are many people with arrangements to run animals on a regular rotation over smaller non-farm parcels. Better to have the grass used as an energy source rather than an energy sink.

If not, your local county extension agent or your local organic-minded farming supply will likely have suggestions for cover crops or wildflower mixes that you can grow in your area and that will not need to be mowed, at least not every week. Clover is a good suggestion ( the crimson is especially pretty) but probably the best option would be some sort of meadow mix that includes a groundcover and flowers.

 

[DrRod]

And that got me thinking... pasture ornaments.

I had some idle fields and my wife said "let's get some pasture ornaments." In short -- horses no one rides. So we put an ad in the Baltimore Sun offering "lush pasture, clean streams, and quality care for your retired horse." The phone never stopped ringing.

The deal is, everyone has an extra horse. It may be lame, it may be too slow or too hot, the kids are gone, don't have time, etc. -- but no one can face selling it. Even if the horse is servicable, selling it is ten times tougher than selling a car and auctions can be unsavory (meat dealers are lurking).

We ended up with a pair of registered quarter horses 4 and 5 years old -- the owner was moving and just wanted a good home. One became the champion english pleasure horse of the Washington, D.C. area.

But there-in lies the problem. This approach works so well that you might find yourself in the horse business. But they sure looked good out there as the sun went down -- much better than weeds.

 

[riptides]

Yep.

Boarding is the rave. I have seen prices ranging from 150.00 to 325.00 dollars a month. In this area of the commonwealth.

They do look nice, don't they?

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Varmintmist]

15 AC???!!!!

Think about gang mowers, sheep, blacktop, vegetation killer /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

Actually I know a guy who planted all white clover in his "yard" in VA. He's going to brush hog it twice a year and forget about it. White clover wont get real high and cutting it twice a year will do it.

Any way. Something the size of the 950 (27hp) will do the job. You could go up in HP a little and it wouldnt hurt.

 

[Highbeam]

To keep 15 acres of lawn mowed as you desire. I would not get something as small as a 950. The price difference between a JD 950 and a Kubota 40 or 50 horsepower machine is pretty small when you consider that it could cut your mowing time in half EACH time you mow. There is a direct relationship between horsepower and how wide of a mower you can run, I have heard 5 horsepower per foot. Regardless, double the horsepower, then double the mower width and then halve the mowing time. When you are talking about all day Saturday vs. do it quick after work before supper the choice becomes easier.

I like a huge lawn/pasture/field. My choice to keep it short would be an animal of some sort like cattle. Call it farming and you get a 90% exemption on your property taxes in WA. The 5 acres around your home could be finish mowed lawn and the rest will still be open and nice to look at.

Boarding horses is a nice option. Our homewoner's insurance carrier threw a fit about it. Bigger liability but bigger potential profits if you live near suburban areas.