New member, looking for advice

[bbateman]

Hello all,

My family and I will be moving soon from suburbia to our very small 40 acre farm. Our driveway is about 900 feet long and we're going to need something to plow it. We have enough land that we'll also need some machinery to assist in light dirt moving, hauling, and moving objects (fallen trees etc.). The driveway is currently gravel, but we're planning on paving it, haven't decided for sure yet as we're building our home next spring and it all depends on the budget. Keeping the budget in mind, what kinds of machinery should we strongly consider as a start up multi-purpose tool that we can get the most use out of for the least amount of expense. The property is as follows: 20 acres tilled and rented out, will likely remain that way. The drive bi-sects the tilled area. 5 acres of pasture which we currently rent out but will likely discontinue once the need for our (through-way) pasture to another parcel is no longer existing, and then there's 15 wooded acres which are on two hills which come together behind the location where we want to build. We plan on having about 1.5 acres of seeded lawn around the house and then the equivalent of a half acre of lawn on either side of the drive. I'm going to need a good mower, and a good utility for snow removal and other odd jobs. We're in WI where winters can be harsh so an enclosed cab with a heater.

Here's what I'm thinking, tell me if I'm on the right track: Either a Case or a Bobcat skid steer with a heated cab (all items mentioned used unless advized against it) OR a 4x4 truck with a plow blade and winch system. No idea on a mower yet but I'm starting to look into it among all the other things associated with building a home in the country.

Thanks in advance!

B

 

[GManBart]

First off, welcome to TBN!

Second, I'm not sure that a skid steer is a good/direct comparison to a truck and plow setup. Pickups with plows are great (I have one), but in places that can get a lot of snow like WI, you run out of places to push the snow pretty quickly. In short, your driveway gets more narrow, and shorter, each time it snows. Once you've set the banks or piles, you can't move them later with the truck/plow. The one thing they do very well is move a lot of snow quickly. I can plow my 300ft driveway, and my neighbor's 500' (extra wide) driveway in something like 20 minutes. With that said, I'm looking at pull type snow throwers for my tractor....they aren't quite as fast, but the snow is moved far enough that you never have to deal with it more than once.

For mowing the 2 acres of grass, a good zero turn mower with something like a 60" cutting width will usually be the fastest setup, and give the best cut quality.

If you're going to be doing much of the work/prep work for the construction of the house, a skid steer, or even a decent backhoe would probably give you more flexibility in the long run.

 

[Egon]

Best be wandering around the dealerships looking at all the equipment. Look hard at your needs. They keep changing as time goes on. Don't rush but look lots. Shopping is fun!

 

[XMS]

We have similar needs.

We put nice looking stamped concrete near the house on a huge pad, then leave the gravel to the end of the drive, where more concrete sits as a landing pad. Works pretty well for us and saves cash. Also, we get hot in the summer and the blacktop is not something we wanted. It stinks, and the chemical residue gets into your house, even if you don't see it. That's a personal thing, I guess. In any case, the gravel looks nice, especially as the grass has grown up the middle of it. After a few years of adding stone, everything settled nice. It would be hard to plow, though, and you probably don't want a snow thrower to eat the rocks. I just push the snow with the tractor set high and leave a few inches that the vehicles crush and turn to ice. Just like we did in Upstate NY.

We do our lawn with a mower. I had a riding mower, but it sat unused when I was a traveling bachelor (a few years back), so my brother took it. Travel meant a lawn service company. Today we have a small gas push mower we use, and it's nice exercise for us. We actually chose the push mower over the rider, just so we can walk around more. Your mileage may vary. I would never suggest a heavy tractor with a mower deck for a residential lawn, unless you want to destroy it. Get a cheap Home Depot rider, instead - or a push mower for the ten days of summer you guys get in WI.

As for working the woods or the fields, a skid steer would tear things up, fast. Small wheels, a heavy chassis and very little ground clearance all add up to regret. My neighbor bought one used, and cannot take it off his paved drive because it'll destroy his lawn or get stuck in the woods. And boy do you feel bumps in those things.

For you, I think a truck is an absolute, followed by the lawnmower and then followed by a tractor. That pretty much sums up our existence.

 

[LD1]

For you, I think a truck is an absolute, followed by the lawnmower and then followed by a tractor. That pretty much sums up our existence.

I'll second this.

For a long drive, a truck and plow will be fastest. For only 2 acres, take your pick of mowers. Anything from a cheap rider to a $10k ZTR will get the job done.

I agree bout the skidloader too. I wouldnt want one in a hilly woods for reasons already mentioned.

Get a ~30-40HP tractor would be about right. bushhog for the pastures, FEL for working in the woods and moving stuff.

 

[XMS]

One more thing that I have, you are going to want: Central Boiler Wood Gasification Hydronic Boiler

I load it and poke it in the morning and at night. Saves me $5K in heating and has very little or no smoke. Will pay for itself in five years. In WI, that would probably be shorter for the payoff because your winters are colder and longer than mine. That said, last winter was a cold one and this one will be just as bad, judging how cool our summer was.

We run the house warmer than previous years, and save cash. We do forced-air exchange through two existing propane furnaces, heat hot water and 1400 foot of stone tile in the kitchen and hallways. Our baby would roll mostly naked on the stone tile in the kitchen, in the dead of winter, because the floor was a cozy 90 degrees.

Use that tractor to mine those 15 acres of trees for heat. I have just as many acres of trees and most of what I need falls on its own, or I just pick the next big loser (tree about to fall) and drag it to an area where we slice, dice and Ginsu the wood. Dump it in a pile and stack it in summer. It's great exercise, too. My wife used to pay personal trainers in Los Angeles for those workouts. So I'm double-saving!

 

[GManBart]

For a long drive, a truck and plow will be fastest.

I agree bout the skidloader too. I wouldnt want one in a hilly woods for reasons already mentioned.

Yeah, a plow is great...the first time it snows. After that, you can quickly run out of places to put it. I have a plow for my truck, and there's a reason why I'm shopping for pull-type snow throwers for my tractor. A truck and plow just aren't as good when you get a lot of snow....and the OP probably gets a lot more in WI than folks in OH do.

Skid steers on tracks solve the problem of small tires and heavy loading. My neighbor's is a T200 and is an absolute beast...I've used it in my woods, and all around my property, and it didn't have any issues with ground clearance, or tearing anything up. It does have a bit of a bumpy ride, but it didn't seem to bother me much. It's not perfect, but nothing else is either.

 

[LD1]

Actually, where he is in WI, they dont get that much. 44" per year.

Bout the same as where I live. I live about half way between columbus oh, which gets 26, and mansfield, which gets 48". And plow in both those cities.

Its all about planning. Using a plow, you have to plan ahead and get the snow far enough out of the way each pass. Now if we were talking somwhere that gets 100+" a year or more, I would change my recommendation. But 44" a year wouldnt justify a blower IMO. There may only be once every several years where it would be better than a plow. But the rest of the time, it will be alot slower, especially with a 900' drive. But to each his own.

 

[GManBart]

Its all about planning. Using a plow, you have to plan ahead and get the snow far enough out of the way each pass. Now if we were talking somwhere that gets 100+" a year or more, I would change my recommendation. But 44" a year wouldnt justify a blower IMO. There may only be once every several years where it would be better than a plow. But the rest of the time, it will be alot slower, especially with a 900' drive. But to each his own.

Yep, I tried doing that last year, and still ran out of places to push it....had to move the banks back with the FEL bucket.

I'm not seeing the huge time savings though. If someone has a 6-7' blower, that means one pass up,and one pass back to be done. That total of 1,800ft will only take 10 minutes going only 2mph, which seems reasonable. Sure, it might only be 5 minutes with a plow, but that's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of storm cleanup.

I don't have a dog in the fight....I have a plow, an 8' back blade, and I'm getting a blower....all bases covered ;-)

 

[Fossil Farm]

I have always used a tractor (30 to 45 HP) and a back blade to plow snow. We have a grassy area deep enough to push all the snow off the driveway and turn-around into. One neighbor has a long concrete driveway, uses a pickup and a blade. He just plows through (north-south driveway) leaving snow on both sides of the drive and it just blows right back in. My long time friend and still farming neighbor also has a long driveway, but also uses a tractor and back blade. Pushes all the snow to the east and has no problem. Both neighbors have no trees on either side of the drive.

A couple points to consider - Build your driveway higher than the existing ground if possible (just a few inches is fine) so snow will blow off and not "settle" into it if it is low.
If you plant trees near the drive, be sure to think of where snow will drift before planting them.
Keep a few "open" areas to push snow into along the drive depending on your land use. Of course it depends on the orientation of the drive (east-west or north-south) and
the direction of the prevailing winds.

Of course budget has a lot to do with it also. As I get older, a cab tractor would be nice, but an hour or so plowing the drive and the farm lane is not too bad, even on windy days as long as I bundle up and have my warm boots on. It also depends on how early you have to leave for work. If you (and/or your wife) have to leave really early, a truck and plow may be the best bet.

Good luck. Enjoy.

 

[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Central Wisconsin and I have to agree that a pickup will run out of room pushing snow.

First off, welcome to TBN!

Second, I'm not sure that a skid steer is a good/direct comparison to a truck and plow setup. Pickups with plows are great (I have one), but in places that can get a lot of snow like WI, you run out of places to push the snow pretty quickly. In short, your driveway gets more narrow, and shorter, each time it snows. Once you've set the banks or piles, you can't move them later with the truck/plow. The one thing they do very well is move a lot of snow quickly. I can plow my 300ft driveway, and my neighbor's 500' (extra wide) driveway in something like 20 minutes. With that said, I'm looking at pull type snow throwers for my tractor....they aren't quite as fast, but the snow is moved far enough that you never have to deal with it more than once.

For mowing the 2 acres of grass, a good zero turn mower with something like a 60" cutting width will usually be the fastest setup, and give the best cut quality.

If you're going to be doing much of the work/prep work for the construction of the house, a skid steer, or even a decent backhoe would probably give you more flexibility in the long run.

 

[boggen]

i am going to push in other direction vs others. just to push in that direction.

a SCUT "sub compact utility tractor" perhaps a little bigger nearing the CUT (compact utility tractor) range. say around 25HP. with possibly a backhoe

skid steers are very nice. but implements / attachments tend to cost extra. vs same for a regular tractor.

your going to be doing ditch work, culvert work, trenches for various things (gas,electrical, phone, etc...), dealing with posts aka PHD (post hole digger), your more likely going to be cutting some tall thick weeds, requiring a rotatory cutter (newbies tend to call them a bush hog), dealing with stump removal, and i am guessing it is going to be a few years till pavement happens, possibly putting in septic system (septic tank / leach field), dealing with say planting some trees later down road,

skid steer can do as much as a SCUT, but there is a difference. more so if you jump away from more of a riding lawn mower frame, that sets low to the ground, and get more into a CUT that has a bigger frame, weighs more, and seats off the ground higher.

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additional things to consider, is overall lifting capacity of a FEL on tractor or skid steer. and dealing with pallets, if you have trailer to go pick up stuff yourself, and/or waiting at the house for stuff to be delivered, granted most companies offer some sort of fork lift option for delivery. at a fee.

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box blades, rear blades, landscape rakes, there a whole slew of stuff that attachs to 3pt hitch, making jobs easier to deal with dirt moving and smoothing it, etc...

checkout Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer videos on everything along with a good amount of text to describe different attachments / implements. it might help ya decided of what you are wanting to do yourself vs higher stuff out. vs renting a bigger machine if need be initially.

 

[bbateman]

Thank you everyone for your posts, you've definitely given plenty of food for thought. I'll continue to consider all of your input over the next several months. Thank you!

 

[LD1]

I guess my suggestion, would be blower last. IF the truck and plow, or tractor and blade dont cut it, then by all means get the blower. But living on that kind of acreage in a snow state, a 4wd truck is already a must. Dont cost much to add a plow. Especially a good used one.

Blowers are more $$$. And you certainly want a heated cab. But getting a tractor for his wooded property, I personally wouldnt want a cab. Too easy to tear up in the woods.

 

[Cherokee140]

I would first tell you to go slow, you have a lot of time here. I would also agree if you don't have a good snow plow able truck that would be top on my list, building a house can go real fast, or REAL SLOW.....just piking the plans for ours took like 4 months.....(women are usually involved, and they want to change things) The truck you can use now, and after you move in it will get the snow out of the way for you. As to the mower and the rest of the gear, I would wait till you are moved in, but be sure to set that budget for those machines aside and don't let your wife use that money as upgrades to the house....you WILL need it later. You know your property, but only you know how it really is. To look at mine with short grass on it you would think it is pool table smooth.....far from it, you are always bouncing all over the place mowing....you have to go slow. I would suggest walking the land and seeing, or better yet if you already have a rider just take it out there (good use for that new truck) and ride around, you really don't want a dirt bike or quad, too much suspension, but it will give you some idea.

As to the tractor, I would bet you are going to want something with a snow blower on it....personally I hate the ones that are back mounted....it really is much more simple and easy to go forward then backward.

 

[GManBart]

As to the tractor, I would bet you are going to want something with a snow blower on it....personally I hate the ones that are back mounted....it really is much more simple and easy to go forward then backward.

About six companies make snow blowers that mount on the 3pt, but work driving forward. Some even add a hydraulically actuated scrape blade behind the blower so you can back up to walls/garage doors, drop the blade, scrape forward, raise the blade, back up, then blow the snow you just scraped...can't do that with a front mount. They are usually less expensive than front mount, and you don't have to spend a boatload of cash on a mid-PTO for the tractor. In places that get a lot of snow (Canada, etc) these are pretty much the preferred method for use with a tractor.

 

[check]

About six companies make snow blowers that mount on the 3pt, but work driving forward. Some even add a hydraulically actuated scrape blade behind the blower so you can back up to walls/garage doors, drop the blade, scrape forward, raise the blade, back up, then blow the snow you just scraped...can't do that with a front mount. They are usually less expensive than front mount, and you don't have to spend a boatload of cash on a mid-PTO for the tractor. In places that get a lot of snow (Canada, etc) these are pretty much the preferred method for use with a tractor.

I use the rear blower, for my BX 25, and I chose it because it is much more sturdy than the front mounted model, and was probably half the cost, and also because I get to leave the front end loader on for cleanup work and for those stubborn frozen windrows that the county plow truck leaves in front of your driveway.

But, a lot of people just despise looking backwards and driving backwards when blowing snow. So, if you're one of those, then go ahead and spend the extra money on the front blower, and to give up the convenience of having the front end loader on at the same time.

Oh yeah, another thing. People on this website have talked about what a pain it is to both buy and put on a power takeoff linksge and hose adapters for front blowers. So do keep that in mind as well.

Good luck to you!

 

[GManBart]

I use the rear blower, for my BX 25, and I chose it because it is much more sturdy than the front mounted model, and was probably half the cost, and also because I get to leave the front end loader on for cleanup work and for those stubborn frozen windrows that the county plow truck leaves in front of your driveway.

But, a lot of people just despise looking backwards and driving backwards when blowing snow. So, if you're one of those, then go ahead and spend the extra money on the front blower, and to give up the convenience of having the front end loader on at the same time.

Oh yeah, another thing. People on this website have talked about what a pain it is to both buy and put on a power takeoff linksge and hose adapters for front blowers. So do keep that in mind as well.

Good luck to you!

Or get a 3pt blower that works when you drive forward, so you don't have to back up to blow the snow....pretty much the best of both worlds.

 

[check]

Or get a 3pt blower that works when you drive forward, so you don't have to back up to blow the snow....pretty much the best of both worlds.

The problem with that type of blower is, what do you do when the snow is so deep that you cannot drive through it?

 

[GManBart]

The problem with that type of blower is, what do you do when the snow is so deep that you cannot drive through it?

For your BX25, that would probably mean you waited until the snow was a couple of feet deep. If you're getting that much snow you're going to have to make multiple trips anyway, so not letting it get super deep shouldn't be a huge issue. There are a lot of discussions on the topic, and the folks up north mostly seem to say it really isn't a problem.