Tractor Purchase Recommendation - Mahindra vs Kubota vs New Holland vs JD

[jascott]

We're looking for a new/used tractor for some ranch land in central Texas. We have about 500 acres of land comprised of rocky brush and pastures. We currently have a 71' Ford 3000 in need of a new hydraulic pump and a few other repairs and are looking at "retiring" it to a backup tractor and getting something which is more apt to start up after sitting for a month and work, without spending an hour fixing it...

Usage will be lots of bush-hogging along fence lines, in some pretty rough terrain. We would like a FEL, a disc, and some sort of planter. We have about 200 acres of cultivated land that is currently leased, but I do anticipate having to maintain this at some point in the next five years or so. We'll likely just plant a few food plots for hunting and turn the rest of it once a year to keep it from getting overgrown.

How much tractor do we need? The Ford 3000 was purchased new and the only tractor for a number of years on the place. With that said, I don't know if we really need anything bigger than this. I know a much bigger tractor would allow us to run a much bigger disc, but I don't think we could justify a tractor big enough to pull a 10' disc or so.

2wd vs 4wd??? The Ford is 2wd and seems to do fine, but I am guessing a FEL would benefit from 4wd???

Thanks in advance for the help.

We are looking at the Mahindra, Kubota, New Holland, and JD.

 

[ModMech]

Personally and you did ASK.......

I don't think you could go "wrong" with any of those brands. Many people have suggested that the DEALER is more important than the color, and I believe it.

Good advice, good parts availability and an honest deal are worth more than the preception of a premium product, at least in my view.

I don't think 4x4 has any real value on most farms, if you MUST traverse wet terrain, then you can possibally make an arguement for it. I'm not at all a believer in 4x4 on much of anything and I have some (to me) good reasons for it.
- When it's stuck, it is REALLY TRUELY stuck.
- More maintenance
- More purchase cost
- More parts to break/wear out
- Added weight (larger trailer for transport etc)

I have posted before, in the "good old days", you bolted on another set of R1s and moved on.

Anything over 40 PTO HP would likely do what you are looking for, but may not be enough for future needs if you will be actively working the land. I believe a gear tractor is superior to one with HST for field work with ground engaging equipment. Not everyone agrees, but I will concede if you are doing a lot of work with a FEL or in tight quarters, the benefits outweigh the costs.

My $0.02

 

[jascott]

Any thoughts on the Mahindra 4530/5530?

What about the Kubota MX 4700/5100?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Any thoughts on the Mahindra 4530/5530?

What about the Kubota MX 4700/5100?

Maybe check out the Mahindra 5035. A little bit light at 4939, but add the loader at 1450lbs and load the tires and get another 1000lbs. You end up with a nice modern style tractor that weighs over 7000lbs. Not to bad for 50 hp tractor. Check them out, they look to be a pretty nice machine. :thumbsup:

 

[two_bit_score]

jascott, good advice and questions so far. Welcome to TBN. Would you mind saying what county you are in? As you know 'central Texas' could mean Falls county which is mostly blackland farms to Kerr county which is pretty rocky and anything in between. What dealers do you have close by? All the brands mentioned? I think as far as an all around tractor I'd rather have 4x4 than not. If it was going to be specifically a field tractor pulling disc/plows/planters, etc. in level fields that were regularly worked maybe 2wd would be fine. Just my 2 cents.

 

[flusher]

Any thoughts on the Mahindra 4530/5530?

What about the Kubota MX 4700/5100?

My tractor is a 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD, power steering, 8F/2R constant partial mesh gear tranny) with the ML250 FEL (6-ft wide bucket, 2950 lb lift to 10.5 ft). Bought it new. Cost: about $18K plus tax.

I also have a 6-ft Hawkline bush hog ($1100).



I only have 10 acres of flat pasture land, 6 in oat hay so I can't really comment on using something like the 5525 on 200 acres. I assume by "turning" you mean that you want to run a disc over that 200 acres once a year. A tractor the size of the 5525 can probably handle an 8-9 ft wide tandem disc provided the soil fairly dry. But you would log a lot of seat time doing 200 acres with that size disc. You might want to look into larger used ag tractors in the 75-100 hp range.

 

[texasjohn]

Welcome to TBN:thumbsup:

Where are you... Central Texas is a big area....come by for a visit/call if you wish...PM me if you wish.

You can see what I use..have 200 acres and it works extremely well for me, 25 mother cows/calves, it's about 50hp. You could justify around 60hp and still be in a nimble tractor. I understand the country well...have both black land and hill country experience. Sounds like you have both.

4wd is a MUST....
I STRONGLY believe HST is needed for the type of work you will be doing... we can discuss why personally... I have expanded on my reasons in other TBN threads.

I know of several dealers in the area, we can discuss. Recommend Lanford Equipment for Kubota.

 

[jascott]

jascott, good advice and questions so far. Welcome to TBN. Would you mind saying what county you are in? As you know 'central Texas' could mean Falls county which is mostly blackland farms to Kerr county which is pretty rocky and anything in between. What dealers do you have close by? All the brands mentioned? I think as far as an all around tractor I'd rather have 4x4 than not. If it was going to be specifically a field tractor pulling disc/plows/planters, etc. in level fields that were regularly worked maybe 2wd would be fine. Just my 2 cents.

Stonewall County, but I will be buying and servicing the tractor from the DFW area...

 

[jascott]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm going to go shopping Friday and see what I can find... I'll report back with my thoughts.

Couple of comments...
-I'd love to have the HST, but don't think I can justify the price from the amount of loader work we'll do.
-I need to see how much difference in cost there is between the 2wd and 4wd. I won't be using it in the mud, if at all possible. My main thoughts are how much more dirt work we can do w/ 4wd vs 2wd.
-I have thought about buying a used bigger tractor for the disc work. However, one of my goals here is to get a tractor which can sit for 2 or 3 months and still be reliable to start without me having to work on it when I need it.

I really appreciate all the comments and welcomes.

 

[Dargo]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm going to go shopping Friday and see what I can find... I'll report back with my thoughts.

Couple of comments...
-I'd love to have the HST, but don't think I can justify the price from the amount of loader work we'll do.
-I need to see how much difference in cost there is between the 2wd and 4wd. I won't be using it in the mud, if at all possible. My main thoughts are how much more dirt work we can do w/ 4wd vs 2wd.
-I have thought about buying a used bigger tractor for the disc work. However, one of my goals here is to get a tractor which can sit for 2 or 3 months and still be reliable to start without me having to work on it when I need it.

I really appreciate all the comments and welcomes.

I don't care what anyone says, if you're considering a front end loader, you lose about 90% of it's ability on a 2wd tractor. I'm sorry, but I personally consider a 2wd tractor with a FEL a joke if you really need a FEL. Unless you're getting up into 300, 400 hp tractors etc., 4wd makes a HUGE difference. Even then, look and see if you can find any even in that size that isn't 4wd. Except for just mowing mostly flat pastures, I view a 2wd tractor as obsolete. I can flip my tractor into 2wd anytime I want and see how it operates. The difference is unbelievable. I would positively never consider a 2wd tractor. If you need to save money, there are other areas that are a lot better places to save money.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I don't care what anyone says, if you're considering a front end loader, you lose about 90% of it's ability on a 2wd tractor. I'm sorry, but I personally consider a 2wd tractor with a FEL a joke if you really need a FEL. Unless you're getting up into 300, 400 hp tractors etc., 4wd makes a HUGE difference. Even then, look and see if you can find any even in that size that isn't 4wd. Except for just mowing mostly flat pastures, I view a 2wd tractor as obsolete. I can flip my tractor into 2wd anytime I want and see how it operates. The difference is unbelievable. I would positively never consider a 2wd tractor. If you need to save money, there are other areas that are a lot better places to save money.

Come on now 90%? How about 75-80%. Other than that, I agree 100%:thumbsup:

 

[Dargo]

Aww, c'mon now; you know about 95% of all statistics are made up, right?

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Aww, c'mon now; you know about 95% of all statistics are made up, right?

Well, I don't know about made up, but they sure do manipulate them to get whatever answer they want. :shocked:

 

[texasjohn]

4wd isn't just for mud...it's for traction all the time.... and on the few occasions where I take mine out of 4wd (to drive on pavement) I inevitably get get soon reminded to put it back in 4wd when working on the ranch...in dry conditions....because I'll lose traction, wonder why, remember that I'm not in 4wd, put it in 4wd and all is well.

My unscientific opinion is that 4wd is like adding about 15 to 20 hp to your tractor. I was renting a dirt buggy once and was asked what tractor I was using, with a comment by the county soil conservation person that typically the buggy was pulled by 75hp or better tractors. I told him about 50 hp but it was 4wd...he said I'd be OK...just kinda take it easy...he was right...it worked but I CLEARLY needed all traction possible.

4wd is all about getting the most from your tractor.

And, HST isn't just for loader work. On any place there is a huge amount of utility work where continuous speed control is extremely, extremely useful ...I actually consider it critical...and HST is the way to achieve this. Yes, HST shines in loader back and forth work, but it's value is continuous.

There are few folks, anymore, who keep their tractors in the field with dirt engaging implements 90% or more of the time. I'm talking hours a day, day after day. If you do, then HST is unnecessary for that application and even slightly less fuel efficient than a traditional geared tractor.

IMHO, it takes 4 times longer to do the same FEL dirt work job with 2wd gear versus 4wd HST. I've tried using only 2wd just to see what happens. For me, in 2wd, I have to seek to take bites of a pile several times to get a heaping bucket full of material, backing up and going forward and playing with curl and lift, etc... with 4wd, I get a full bucket about 85% of the time, first time.

You are going to use the tractor on 500 acres.... sure, people have handled that kind of acreage for years using everything from horseback on up. Commuting between DFW and Stonewall to manage the property is time consuming enough without having a tractor that is less than fully capable of not only starting but doing all the tasks at hand when you get there without you having to fight the capabilities of the tractor while you are doing it.

So, my advice, is you not go short on tractor capability to handle the 500 acres. The threads of TBN are replete with stories of folks who purchased less then moved up to larger tractors/4wd/more equipment/etc and few, extremely few, are dealing with 500 acres, many are far, far less.

 

[jascott]

Thanks again for all the comments. Some great info here. I have decided to go with a 4wd tractor w/ a gearbox.

I feel that a 40hp tractor will be sufficient for our loader, mowing, grading, etc. work. I think it will pull a 6' disc OK also. With that said, we are looking more toward the 55hp tractors for the same work. I have been told the 55 hp tractors might pull a 7' disc, but nothing much bigger.

Question: Should we buy the 40 or so hp tractor and perhaps a much bigger used model also, for they heavy field work?

I'm going to look at the following models Friday.
-Kubota L4400DT
-Kubota MX5100DT
-Mahindra 5530
-John Deere 6045E
-John Deere 5055E

I'd like to look at the Mahindra 4530, but they are not available now... I was told to avoid the 4035 model???

Any comments on this? The Mahindra tractors seem to be heavier, and I'm sure this would be beneficial.

If I buy the 5530, I'll also haeve to purchase another trailer to haul it. The others will fit on what I have...

 

[LAWALLSTRACTOR]

If you get a Mahindra 5530 4WD and load the tires, it will handle a 10' disc.

 

[jascott]

If you get a Mahindra 5530 4WD and load the tires, it will handle a 10' disc.

Thanks for the info. That is very helpful.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

If you get a Mahindra 5530 4WD and load the tires, it will handle a 10' disc.

Galen, any chance you have any pictures of this? How heavy of a 10' disc, what type of disc, and what kind of ground and terrain? Not that we really need to get into all the details, it is just that ALL of these things make a HUGE difference on just how big of a disc one can really pull and do any good.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I would like to know the reasoning as to why someone told you to stay away from the 4035. If you are looking for a 40hp tractor, that would definitely be one of the ones that you should be looking at in my opinion.

 

[michellesc7]

Hi
Seems to be many Mahindra folks here. I have two Mahindras and one JD. One Mahindra is 2wd and about 43hp the other is 4wd and 65 hp. The 2wd Mahindra is only good for wheelbarrowing - really sucks wind for pushing dirt. In sand, 4wd is a must. In muck, 4 wd is a must. Look at the 4wd mahindra tractors - 5530 or 5520 range- always go alittle bit bigger. the 4530 was much more tractor than the new 4035 at about 150% more umph. The 4035 is too small for your needs- go bigger. I bet the Mahindra dealer beats the Deere. Look closely at the specs on the Kubota- kinda inflated - compare tires sizes, weight, cuin, hp rating at rpms. Get the best deal but pay slightly higher for a closer dealer with a real shop not a garage. Also see who has the best deal on skid steer attachments and don't be afraid to buy slightly used on these. Look at total price. Don't know much about NH. Also watch the plastic hoods on the tractors.

Hope I opened you eyes.
Michelle