Will need used CUT for many uses. Help me focus.

[colestin]

We're selling our place and moving to a large property. Though I have read lots of the posts here, no discussion has covered a situation exactly like mine. Here goes:

There will be a long driveway. One mile. some steep parts. There looks to be a base of large rock, 3 inch and larger which has been exposed and torn up a little on steep parts.

There will be snow. It's at 3500 feet. One night last year dumped 3 feet. Not always that bad, but some snow every year.

220 acres, hilly. Some pasture (maybe 10 acres), some scrubby stuff, some large timber and oak.

My main concerns are road maintenance, snow removal, some mowing, for fire prevention, and general stuff that's done with a bucket. I guess (from these discussions) that 30 HP would work. for road maintenance, I saw ads for a Grouser Belly Blade which looks really nice. I want a snow blower, too, front mounted I think. I saw a used New Holland TC30 which seemed perfect. But don't have the cash yet (waiting for property to sell). When the property does sell, I want to be ready for any used tractor that might come my way. Do you have advice, given my priorities (road work high on list)? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[phxraptor]

I will be looking for a tractor soon too. I was told for my size property to get no less than 60hp. Of course then I don't know if you will need to plow,till,plant etc. But 30hp seems small for over 200 acres. I only have 82 acres.

 

[mark777]

Wow, one mile of drive......some steep parts....3' of snow. I think I would make fast friends with property owners near by and pick their brain. I don't think one tractor with several implements will do all that you require.

I have limited experience and am confident that some one (many) will provide information pertinent to your requirements...welcome and good luck, Mark

 

[JerryG]

With that much to do, I would look into a utility such as Massey Ferguson 400 series. You would be surprised at the price compared to a compact.

 

[Bird]

For what you describe, I'd say that a 30hp tractor would be pretty small. The work can be done with a small tractor, but it's sure going to be slow. Now I have no experience at all with snow removal, so I won't address that topic, but as for that road maintenance, I'd say, at a minimum, you need a good box blade.

I really think you'll be happier with a 60 to 80hp tractor and good used ones can be found cheaper than a new 30hp tractor. A neighbor of mine who had a bit of road maintenance to do had 100hp class Deeres and an 11' pull behind box blade instead of a 3-point box blade. It had two car or pickup sized wheels and tires on the back that could be raised and lowered hydraulically, so it was easy to transport as well as to adjust up or down when in use. I think that was about as good a road maintenance rig as I've seen.

 

[SteveM]

A front mount snowblower on a 30 hp is very expensive, and will require probably three passes at about 1-2mph. So I am thinking three hours or so....too long. Instead of blowing lots of money on a little tractor with expensive attachments, I concur with others and recommend you get a 50hp or more (5000lb or more) tractor with a front loader and a clamp on snow blade. My uncle has about a 1/2 mile, in very heavy snow country, uses a 75hp diesel case with big loader and a clamp on blade. He can move along at 6-7mph throwing the snow nicely off to the side...he generally only does two passes to keep it wide enough. When the going gets really ugly, he drops the blade and uses the loader to lift and push back banks etc. He also has a used 7 ft rear snowblower for really deep drifts. this type of tractor can be bought in very nice condition for 6-7,000 with the loader, and then a couple grand for a few more used implements.

I have a 30hp diesel, and would freeze to death clearing a mile of snow.

 

[John_Mc]

I've got a situation similar to yours. 80+ Acres, mostly wooded (in negotiations for 60 more which is adjacent to us). 2000 feet of gravel driveway/road, with a steep hill in one part (hill faces east, so sun does not help much in melting ice & snow). 15+ acres of meadow/pasture, and a fairly good network of trails to maintain in the woods. Always finding more huge rocks or stumps to dig up. 3 feet of snow in one night is very rare around here, but we have seen that kind of accumulation over repeated snow storms.

Unlike the recommendations from the others, a 60HP tractor would not work for me. I need to get into some tight spots in the woods when maintaining trails. I also didn't really look forward to the significant increase in prices for implements sized appropriately for a larger tractor. I use a 6 foot box blade, a 5 foot brush hog, and a backhoe on my TC 33D (similar capabilities to the TC30 you were looking at). A rear blade or rear snowblower is in my future (neighbor with an F350 set up for snow plowing has made these a lower priority for me). Yes, there are times I wish I had a TC40 (with appropriately up-sized implements) so I could handle some jobs more quickly, but I've been able to get the job done in what I feel is a reasonable amount of time. I also can get to all of the tight spots I need to, so there are fewer jobs I end up doing by hand. The gravel road maintenance is easy. If I were building the road, My TC33D would have been too small, but for maintaining it with the box blade, it's a breeze.

Faced with your situation, I might have moved up to a 40 or 50 HP tractor, but for me, 60 or 80 HP would never have fit. I do think you are making a good choice with the front mounted snow blower. 1 mile is too darn long to spend twisted around backing up. You might want to consider a quick change system to swap from the loader to the snow blower... there may be times when you need the loader to push back snow banks on a really tough winter.

John Mc

 

[Soundguy]

Power steering.. 4wd.. and minimum of 50 hp so you can use a 10' mower.. perhaps more hp so you can use 12 or 15' depending on what you have to mow.

I'd guess anything 50-100 hp would not be in the overkill area.

Might go for a heated cab at that altitude / temp.

Soundguy

 

[John_Mc]

Judging from th eother replies, maybe I've underestimated your needs. You mention 220 acres, with 10 acres in pasture. I assumed you were mowing/brush hogging the 10 acres, plus some miscellaneous mowing on trails, roads, or other random open spaces. The road maintenance would not scare me at all with a smaller tractor that what others are recommending, once you get an new layer of gravel delivered to cover over the larger base stones which are showing through. I guess the real question is what are you doing with the other 210 acres?

John Mc

 

[frank_f15]

not to be redundant , but to do what you want i do beleive you might be happier with a larger tractor. There are some nice older well maintained utility tractors out there, depending on where u live will often determine how many and what price the will sell for.