why do you own a tractor? how does it save you $$

[davrow]

Save money? Hahaha. Its kind of like reloading - you don't save money, you just get to shoot more.

I could never do the landscaping I want without a tractor. Contracting it out would be prohibitively expensive. So, buy all the tractor I can and the rest is sweat equity. The only way I could save money is to just stop caring for my property.

 

[txdon]

What would the cost be for an ER visit for an acute back injury. Easily 5k. I do the diagnostic imaging and those costs alone are not cheap. That is why I own an ag tractor with the equipment to keep me out of ER.

Idaho2

Ha! That's how I got my wife to buy me a tractor, When the ER Doctor said: "They make machines to do that, don't they?"

 

[TSO]

Sell your Friends instead. Your Tractor saves your back.

Lol :rofl: lol

....
Oh boy, where to begin:

-plowing snow, driveway is 1000' +, not including where we park, and in front of the barn
-bringing firewood up to the house (sure beats a wheelbarrow)... I burn 2.5 face cord /month.
-moving snow for paths (sure beats a snowblower)
-grading above driveway, along with my dirt road subdivision.
-all aspects of tree cutting and removal, including but not limited to: pushing trees to assist with cutting them down in a safe direction, moving the logs around for future use of firewood, moving the branches around for future use of wood chips/mulch with my 3pt chipper
-leveling the yard
-moving mulch, rocks, boulders, whatever
-moving top layer of pig poop from the pen
-digging a pond (with my previous tractor)
-tilling & maintaining our small 1/4 acre garden
-tilling, plowing, maintaining a 1 acre pumpkin patch (last year)
-small hay "operation" (up to 8 acres, possibly in the works for 2014) including prepping the ground, spreading seed, cutting, raking, baling, then moving the hay
-picking up golf balls (pushing my driving range roller/picker)
-digging stumps (last year)
-grinding stumps (hopefully with a 3pt grinder this year)
Moving large items out to the trash (remember, almost 1/4 mile driveway)
-moving large items (swing sets, tables, toys, etc)
-loading/unloading pallets
-brush hogging (borrowing a buddies...)
-using post hole digger to drill holes for the chicken coop, hog pen, pilot holes for planting trees...
-lifting up the zero turn to get to the blades for sharpening
-digging/quarrying rocks on my property


I think that's it... just those couple things

Now, I can't really say I've saved any money with a tractor ... they aren't cheap. But the time, effort, and back breaking labor that I've saved cannot be assessed with a monetary value.

 

[Baby Grand]

When I have a problem I can't figure out, I try to get out on the tractor & do some ... tractoring ... and more often than not, an idea will bubble up while I'm brush hogging, tilling, plowing, grading, furrowing, plowing snow, building a road, twitching out a log, or hauling a pallet of split wood over to the house.

But as Rich228 put it so well,

The most important reason - Its way cheaper then a psychiatrist.

 

[Thomas]

Hire some or rent plus wait time for projects etc. at any given time was to high in price,so tractor w/fel plus couple attachment save lots $$'s over years.

 

[Egon]

I do not need a tractor. It does not save me money.

It is my replacement for golf clubs & cart:thumbsup:

 

[dieselcrawler]

Brush hog therapy... kills sevral birds with one stone. Clears overgrown/neglected fields on our new farm, allows me to see first hand the condition/contour of the land without walking, helps me gain a sense of accomplishment after a job well done, and keeps me outta the nut house!

Makes cleaning horse stalls a 'two trips with the tractor not 10 trips with the wheelbarrow' job, more time shoveling less time going back and forth to the manure pile.

I dont care what it is... if it had a motor I'd rather do that!

If only there was a way to make a diesel pulling truck practical and cost effective.... *grin* now THAT is music to my ears!

 

[The Fred]

Just as the title says. My friends at work are telling me I should sell my tractors because I would have lots of money. I have used tractors/ pay loaders and my pickup truck to accomplish everything !!!
Examples

* plowing snow.... much cheaper than paying someone
*pull stuck vehicles. The large tired get great grip and great traction in mud or deep snow
*everything to do with firewood
*home and yard repairs
*driveway repairs
*lift engines
*remove post/poles from ground with use of hydraulics


Please make me feel better! Give me your reasons.

Durn things COST me a bunch of money. If I was in your shoes trying to buy a house and all I'd buy a park model trailer home and move to Florida:money:

Fred

 

[lhfarm]

My city friends think I have big expensive toys. I agree with all they others about them being forms of therapy. But the real reason is more related to the "keeps me out of the ER" theme. It is more an issue of being able to stay on this land as long as I can. My late FIL had to leave here long before he wanted to, because he couldn't keep up with the work. He grew up in the Depression and couldn't bring himself to spend money on "new" equipment or things he really didn't "need." If he had "allowed" himself to spend money on equipment, I know he would have spent several more years on the farm, instead of a condo in town.

The happy ending to the story is that we took over the farm and I did spend the money on equipment, which he got to use and enjoy. It also taught me that investing in the right equipment has big payoffs in the long run.

But I wouldn't try explaining it to your friends. If they start to get you down, do exactly what you have done here. Come talk with your TBN friends. We will understand.

 

[Gary Fowler]

For me, it's not really about saving money. My "toys" allow me to do certain things - clear all manner of rock and tree debris for example. If I didn't have the equipment, I imagine most of the work I've done on my property would just still be there.

That is exactly my reason plus I enjoy working with the tractors. It gives me something to do to stay a bit active rather than becoming a total couch potato. Much of the stuff I have done with my tractors I could have been hired out, in fact, I did hire some work with a dozer to clean up some cleared timber piles that were full of dirt, old barbed wire, steel Tpost etc. Some times it is better to hire out the work to the right equipment rather than tear up your tractors.
Much of my work had to do with beautification of the place and without the tractors it would never have been done like removing exposed rocks to protect the mower, thinning out undesirable trees, bushhogging the pasture to keep down weed growth, digging out the dried up pond so when rains finally came it would hold a lot more water, building a small pond, digging out a section of creek and damming one end to form some deep summer pools for the fish (it dried up every summer killing all the water life), hauling and piling brush from tree trimming, pushing up burn piles so they burned completely and lastly using the FEL and backhoe to lift things rather than my already messed up back. This alone has been worth the price for me. Just yesterday I used my LS to remove a 6 foot tiller from the back of my truck. I wouldn't have been able to get it off without my big tractor, but I suppose if I didn't have a tractor I wouldn't have needed the tiller to start with but then I wouldn't have a garden without my tractors. I used the backhoe to set RR cross ties for boundary of the garden and then used the LS to haul top soil into the box to level up the slope.
I don't use them everyday, but both of them are there whenever I do need them and the cost of ownership is worth it to me not to have to haul a rental unit whenever I need some equipment. Would it be cheaper to just rent? Maybe, even most likely, but then many of the tasks I do with my tractors would not ever get done, just like Egbert.