I need help:

[FRIZ]

I need help:

I am city slicker who bought 78 acres of land. And I am smart enough to know that I know nothing. My contractor made sure that I bought the right chainsaw, STIHL 290 with safety equipment chaps, gloves, helmet and so one. He took me along for one day to introduce me to operating the 290. Thatç—´ how bad it is.

But before I ask my tractor question, let me give you some information:

The land is in the Midwest, mostly flat a few slight elevations. Most of it is wooded, approximately 10 acres are meadow, which has not been mowed in 2008.
Two ponds, 1+ acre and 0.5 acre, both with trees and grass around it.
The house has also trees and grass around it.
Approximately 800 yards of gravel road.
Approximately 1 mile of hiking trail which will be expanded.

I have identified four immediate tasks for the tractor and some possibilities for the future:

1. Cut grass around the house and pond. (mower deck)
2. Collect leaves around the house and pond. (bagger)
3. Clear the gravel road from snow. (snow blower)
4. Transport stuff from A to B. (utility cart)

Future possible tasks:

1. Maybe mow the 10 acres of meadow
2. Maybe drag trees out for firewood
3. Maybe lift heavy stuff and take it from A to B

I have looked at the following tractors.

John Deere X749
John Deere 2305
John Deere 2320
John Deere 3320
Kubota BX2660
Kubota B2320
Kubota B3030

The John Deere X749, John Deere 3320 and Kubota B3030 can have a factory cab. The John Deere 2305 & 2320 can have a Curtis aftermarket cab. All cabs are available with heat. But only the John Deere 3320 and Kubota B3030 are available with A/C. which would be great considering Midwestern summer heat and mosquitoes.
All tractors have 4 wheel drive but only the John Deere X749 has 4 wheel steering, which would be great for mowing around the house and pond with all those trees.
John Deere has two interesting utility carts (18 cu.ft. & 21 cu.ft.). Kubota has no utility carts.

The John Deere X749 is perfect for the four tasks. But cannot be easily adapted to new tasks and has no A/C.

John Deere 2305 I find unattractive.

John Deere 2320 is very attractive. But can it mow efficiently around the house and pond with all those trees? And it has no A/C.

The John Deere 3320 is too big, isn稚 it?

Kubota BX2660 & B2320 are not bad but no cab, to the best of my knowledge.

Kubota B3030 is very attractive. But can it mow efficiently around the house and pond with all those trees?

There are two friendly John Deere dealerships nearby (8 miles, 35 miles). Both are willing to negotiate price.

All the nearby Kubota dealerships (35 miles away) belong all to the same owner. And I have not found a salesperson I ç”°lick with.

John Deere will come to do maintenance (for a reasonable fee) at my property. Kubota will come to pick the unit up for a 途ansom?

I just don稚 know what to buy.
Am I looking at the right manufactures and models?
Am I too obsessed with 4 wheel steering and/or utility carts and/or A/C?
Do I have to buy two tractors? My wife will not be amused!!!
PLEASE help with constructive criticism and with your experiences.

Thank you,
Regards,
FRIZ (the clueless)

 

[RWolf]

Welcome to TBN, From what I see you could use 2 machines. A smaller machine for your yard maintanence and a larger machine for working your pasture and woods. 78 Acres is a fair amount of land and a larger machine will do you justice to maintain the larger area. I'm biased to JD but the any of the major brands are good. I can't recommend anything for the yard but for the larger tractor I'd look at something in the 60+ PTO HP.

Good luck.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree. I would get a nice commercial ZTR like a Ferris or Exmark. Plan on spending 7-8K for one of these then you will need a to see what other task you want it to handle and go from there. I use my mower to chop the leaves, just run over them twice and they are gone in a few days.

For the tractor I would look at the 30ish Hp size with a good FEL and then pick up a good box blade, a 7' grader blade, and a decent medium duty bush hog. Get AG R1's tires on this machine not the Industrial R4's they push so hard. I can not see you needing 60Hp unless you plan to farm with it. I would not use a snow blower on a gravel drive. The rear grader blade is the way to go. Some even get a snow blade to go in-place of the bucket on the FEL for the winter months. A bucked is not a very good way to plow snow with but can be helpful if major drifts or piles need to be moved.

As for the cab its just a matter of preference. If you plan on keeping those trails cleared its going to take a beating. It would be nice in the summer and winter months but I just do my chores in the morning and evening and have been fine. There are also many nice days in the spring and fall where it will just get in the way. The spring and fall is when I find myself doing most of my work and the rest of the year is just maintenance and playing.

By the way where are you located. I see you said midwest but where? I live in Northern Indiana where things are totally different from where I grew up in Southern Indiana. For example we get 2' of snow blizzard once or twice a year plus plenty of 6" snows in between but just 150 miles south where I grew up we are lucky to get 12" of snow the whole year.

Chris

 

[LBrown59]

I have looked at the following tractors.

1*John Deere X749
John Deere 2305
John Deere 2320
John Deere 3320
Kubota BX2660
Kubota B2320
Kubota B3030
2*only the John Deere X749 has 4 wheel steering
3*John Deere has two interesting utility carts (18 cu. ft. & 21 cu.ft.). Kubota has no utility carts.
4*The John Deere X749 cannot be easily adapted to new tasks .
5*Am I too obsessed with 4 wheel steering and/or utility carts and/or A/C?
/////////L . B ./////////////)

//////////////////////
1*This is the only garden tractor on the list and way to little tractor to handle the task you listed.
2*That's fine if all you plan on doing is making turns in tight circles,
All wheel steer is not automatically an asset as it can also be a liability .
3*That should not be considered in evaluating Kubota vs Jd .since carts can be purchased anywhere from anybody ,
Lots of guys here have built their own.
A cart/ trailer adds or subtracts no value to or from a tractor.
4*Such as handling a tiller FEL front blade or back hoe.
5*That's my take.
L . B .

 

[kozak]

You need two tractors.

Vic

 

[LBrown59]

I just do my chores in the morning and evening and have been fine. Chris

That's what i do too.
I don't work during the heat of the day .

I need help:


*Do I have to buy two tractors? My wife will not be amused!!!

Thank you,
Regards,
FRIZ (the clueless)

I have less money in these 3 tractors than some people have in just 1 tractor.http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/1378422-post10.html

 

[john_bud]

I would just buy a decent lawn mowing yard machine. Probably a used one, but I'm so tight I squeak when I walk. Then get a used tractor with front end loader. In the 40-90 hp range. Oddly enough, the longer you have and use tractors, the smaller they get. At first, you will think that a "tractor" like those X749's are "big" but after a couple years they become pretty dinky. Same with a machine like the B3030, it just takes longer. The bigger the land, the faster that happens.

I would also say that you don't need to be in a big hurry to buy anything right now. The economy is in the dumper and it looks like there will be at least 4 years of hard to extremely hard times ahead. If you have the $$ now, you could wait till spring. Or you could even put a "wanted" add up in places like craigslist for used. And give lowball offers.

If you have little mechanical aptitude, experience or time you may be better off getting new or slightly used. Can't tell from here how it swings.

In the 40hp and down market, Kubota is the standard of excellence. In the 40-90 range, JD is in that spot, with Kubota nipping hard at the heels. Others like Ford / New Holland are good too.

 

[smfcpacfp]

I do 3 & 4 on your list with my Kubota B3030HDSC (cab model). We get 15 to 30 feet of snow each year, so I mainly got it for snowblowing although I used the FEL to put in a new rear entrance to my house. I also use it for wood chipping and hauling and processing firewood. My yard is quite small so I have a small power mower. I couldn't imagine mowing around a house with the B3030 however, collecting leaves possibly. It is too big and bulky for mowing in tight spots. It would probably be great for mowing acres of grass. I think the rest of the posters are right, you need two machines.

The heater is very nice but I never imagined I would use the air conditioner, but I did quite a lot this summer. As you said it gives you protection from the nasty biting, and other annoying bugs.

 

[AKfish]

john_bud pretty well nailed the important considerations - 78 acres is a fair bit of work with the different kinds of projects you outlined.

And when you've worked on your place for a spell; the tractor's do get smaller and the projects have a way of "expanding"!

I don't know how refined a look you want regarding the lawn, trees, etc. near the house. If you want the "estate" look - you'll need a dedicated lawn mower. Maybe a zero turn.

A 10 acre meadow/field, a mile of trail to maintain and expand, 800 yards of road to grade, plow and resurface and you'd like a cab with A/C.

I'd think you'll need to start looking at machines at 45hp pto and up. The Kubota Grand L40 series are super machines as are the 4000 series cabbed JD's.

The L5240, L5740 and the 4520 and 4720 from JD would handle the projects you've got in mind. However, those machines would translate into a sizeable cash outlay. Even good used machines - a zero turn mower and a cabbed 45hp tractor with brush hog mower, FEL and rear blade would likely run somewhere close to $50K.

Or, you could compromise (everything is a compromise...) and take a look at the smaller cabbed JD 3720 with a rear or mid mount finish mower. Forego the dedicated lawn machine and use the 3720 to mow the yard as well as the tougher jobs.

Take your time. Demo a couple of different machines. See if you can use one to mow with (next year) and go from there.

Best of luck.

AKfish

 

[flaming-ace]

just a quick note how is it bad, that it took you one day to learn how to operate your chainsaw?

When you do your chainsaw liesence over here its a 5 day course.

As for the tractor issue, what is your price range?

 

[WayneB]

just a quick note how is it bad, that it took you one day to learn how to operate your chainsaw?

When you do your chainsaw liesence over here its a 5 day course.

As for the tractor issue, what is your price range?

Chain saw license? Darn never heard of that, living in "Live Free or Die New Hampshire" we are sort-of against that kind of thing! Although with so many weekenders using chainsaws around here these days, it might be proper to have a class or two on safety use and sharpening chains if nothing else

As for tractors I would think the Kubota 3030 with cab, front mounted snowblower, FEL, and whatever implements you might desire would do most of your task.

For mowing the lawn around the house and pond I think I would go for a dedicated zero-turn machine just for that type of task

 

[ScottFarm]

I agree with most, your gonna need two machines. I have a Montana 5740 Cab with FEL. (52Hp PTO) I really like it and I feel like I got a good price on a new machine (26K new). I sold my Case 385 which I really liked. Mainly sold it because in one year I had only used it once. I thought I'd keep it around to rake hay with, but after having the cab it was worth 15 minutes to switch impliments to have A/C and the radio. I farm about 75 acres, bush hog the pastures and put up about 300 round bales of hay each year with a Krone 125 baler (4x4 bales). I have about a 3 acre yard. I'd recommend buying a good used zero turn 55" cut mower and buy a larger tractor than your looking at. I'd definatly stay above 50Hp if it were me. I've seen some good deals out there. Below is a similar tractor to mine.

MONTANA 5740C 40 HP to 99 HP For Sale At TractorHouse.com

Good Luck...

Scott

 

[LBrown59]

The heater is very nice but I never imagined I would use the air conditioner, but I did quite a lot this summer. As you said it gives you protection from the nasty biting, and other annoying bugs.

I only do tractor chores morning and evening due to not being able to take the heat.
Air Cond would serve me well .

 

[john_bud]

I agree with most, your gonna need two machines. I have a Montana 5740 Cab with FEL. (52Hp PTO) I really like it and I feel like I got a good price on a new machine (26K new). I sold my Case 385 which I really liked. Mainly sold it because in one year I had only used it once. I thought I'd keep it around to rake hay with, but after having the cab it was worth 15 minutes to switch impliments to have A/C and the radio. I farm about 75 acres, bush hog the pastures and put up about 300 round bales of hay each year with a Krone 125 baler (4x4 bales). I have about a 3 acre yard. I'd recommend buying a good used zero turn 55" cut mower and buy a larger tractor than your looking at. I'd definatly stay above 50Hp if it were me. I've seen some good deals out there. Below is a similar tractor to mine.

MONTANA 5740C 40 HP to 99 HP For Sale At TractorHouse.com

Good Luck...

Scott

That's a nice machine in that link. I know that Montana tractors are not up at the same standard as some, but for the $$ it looks like it would be about perfect for 78 acres and still leave $$ for a lawn mower.

jb

Chainsaw License??? I've been using chain saws for many a year. No way I'd want to be embarrassed by failing the test!

jb

 

[JDeerekid]

That's a nice machine in that link. I know that Montana tractors are not up at the same standard as some, but for the $$ it looks like it would be about perfect for 78 acres and still leave $$ for a lawn mower.

jb

Chainsaw License??? I've been using chain saws for many a year. No way I'd want to be embarrassed by failing the test!

jb

Just curious about what standards you are talking about? I have my montana that if you compare with other makes my tractor has either the same stuff or more to offer at a cheaper price. I dont want to get in a fighting match here just curious why you said what you said.

 

[EdC]

Welcome to TBN! I agree with several of the previous posters about equipment size. One thing to remember though is that size equates to time. You can do a whole lot with a smaller, less expensive tractor, it just takes more time. That time/tractor size balance(money) balance is something only you can determine.

I do think two tractor would serve you better than one. A small lawn tractor for the lawn around the house and a bigger unit for the rougher work. That way you can get a machine that is optimized for the task. For example, my little 2320 does have an option for a mowing deck but we have a small lawn tractor for that because the 2320 is used out in the rough stuff and has loaded tires so:
1. I would be leaving ruts if I mowed the lawn with my loaded R4 tires (and I need R4s or R1s in the fields and woods)
2. I would be taking off the 2320 underbelly mower quite often so I did not beat it to death on the rocks we have around here.

After you do decide on a HP range try out different tractors and see which one fits you the best. I knew jack about diesels and even running a tractor so I went with new. You may have a little more experience and could go gently used.

Good luck and remember we really like pictures.

 

[JDeerekid]

I also agree with most on here that you need 2 machines. Maybe a zero turn or small garden tractor/lawn mower and something in the 35-50hp range.
The larger tractor I would reccommend the R1 tires for field and woods work. Cabs are definately nice buts adds to the cost. The big name tractors are nice but dont forget about the little guys(kioti,massey,montana,tym). They all make quality tractors and most can be had for much less than the big names. I bought my Montana with cab and loader for less than the equalivant big name without a cab and added options that come standard on most montanas.
For your spring, summer, and fall chores I would definately get a loader, 6ft bush hog, 6ft box blade/grader blade, and 6ft tiller.
For snow removal it all depends on how much snow you get. I would at least get a rear blade to start out with and go from there. Rear blades can be bought for little money. Then maybe move up to a front blade, either frame or loader mount and a rear snowblower.

Oh yea the garden cart dont have to be brand specific. Any cart will fit just about any garden tractor.

But with what ever you decide make sure you get a reliable dealer that will take care of you in the future. And always take lots of pictures and post them. We all love pics.

 

[sandman2234]

Find a good used Ag tractor (50hp min)for mowing the acreage, and tell the wife she has to mow the yard the first year, after which you will take over the yard, provided she has purchased the right equipment for that job. Trust me, she will loosen the purse strings after she mows it a time or two. Zero turn is great (so I have been told) but I just did a job yesterday where the ZT mower couldn't handle the banks of the pond, as it kept sliding into the pond as he tried to go around it. That is where a front deck mower comes in handy.
David from jax

 

[FRIZ]

Thank you everybody for the warm welcome and the good advice.

Are you guys telling me that I need multiple equipment? A small one, a big one and a UTV/Truck?eek:

My goal is to be safe, fast & efficient and have fun doing it. So let痴 assume I can convince my wife that we need multiple equipment:

1. Are you guys saying that the Kubota B3030 and/or the John Deere 3220 are too small for me? I am shocked! For small I would consider the John Deere X749 Tractor. But some of you guys are recommending Zero Turn from Exmark and/or John Deere and/or Kubota? Why? Are they faster and more efficient than John Deere X749 Tractor with 4 wheel drive and 4 wheel steering, which would be great for mowing around the house and pond with all those trees? A salesperson at a John Deere/ Exmark dealership told me that these Zero Turn machines are just for big open & flat lawn area. And not for all those trees and baby hills around the house and pond. Was he mistaken? Did I misunderstand him? I am confused!

2. Should I stay away from a snow blower because of my 800 yards of gravel road? Should I use a plow? I thought that a snow blower would be fast & efficient? Please elaborate.

3. UTV/Truck: Let痴 not go there yet. My wife thinks UTVs are expensive toys. A truck is maybe something else

Please continue educating me.
Thank you.
Regards,
FRIZ

 

[smfcpacfp]

Thank you everybody for the warm welcome and the good advice.

Are you guys telling me that I need multiple equipment?


2. Should I stay away from a snow blower because of my 800 yards of gravel road? Should I use a plow? I thought that a snow blower would be fast & efficient? Please elaborate.


Please continue educating me.
Thank you.
Regards,
FRIZ

Here is my take on point 2...

If you don't have a lot of snow and it comes and melts, I might suggest a plow. We get 15 to 30 feet of snow each year and it rarely get above freezing for 4 1/2 months. I probably have to snow blow 30+ times a season. To me a snowblower makes more sense because I can just throw the snow in the woods. I live in the boonies with no close neighbors. I don't have to worry about where is it all going to go. If I were plowing I would have to make long push lanes and high mountains to store it all until the melt. A plow is going to be much faster than a snowblower at first, and if you have correctly thought your snow piling strategy through, it will always be faster. You didn't say where you live, or how much snow you get and if it stays for the winter.

I have a gravel drive. The gravel is no problem if you start the snowblowing season correctly. As a matter of fact, I don't see the gravel in the winter.

I have a push lawnmower for my small yard. As I said, I think the B3030 would be a real hassle trying to mow around trees and the like, so I think you will need two impliments.