How many tractor hours per year?

[kfriis]

Hi -

I see here and elsewhere on the internet a lot of the long-time forum posters saying that "100 hours per year" is the average for a hobby tractor owner (not full time pro or farmer). Is that really true?

I am probably closer to 300 hours a year and I am certainly not a full time anything. I just use my tractor for so many different things and can't imagine only using it only 100 hours - I would never get anything done!

Wonder where the 100 hours/year is coming from ....

How much do you use your tractor?

 

[Jstpssng]

I'm about the same as you. I bought my tractor 2 years ago this month with 179 hours on it, now it has about 680.

 

[sea2summit]

I’ve had my MX five years next month. Been deployed 18 months during that time plus a few 30 day trips for different training and it has 440 hrs on it so I think I’m just over 150/yr. A month with less than 10 hrs of engine time is rare for me and this month I’m well over 20 with a big chipping project planned for this long weekend if the weather holds.

 

[John0829]

100 hours sounds about right, for each of the 3 tractors.

 

[3gunr]

I think some tractor owners are like alot of harley owners i know , Who buy things just to say they have them and show them off. A person with only a few acres would have a hard time putting many hrs a yr on a tractor.Iput about 250 hrs a yr on all my tractors together.

 

[fruitcakesa]

150-200 hrs mostly plowing snow

 

[Peter 315]

Same here about 150-200 hrs both tractor and 3 to 4k on the Harley...

 

[duffer]

I bought mine in 2016 right before I started to build a new house on 10 acres. Used it a bunch for grading, back filling, hauling materials, etc on the build of the house. Now I use it to mow, fertilize, spray the 10 acres. Had it right at 4 years, and have 1350 hours on it. So I'm a little over 300/yr.

 

[ctgoldwing]

On my last tractor, a L3400HST, I put only 240 hours on it in 8 years. Most of the hours were the 1st couple of years. After that it was mostly snow removal. btw in 50+ years of riding I averaged 20,000 miles per year - not one on a Harley. I've put 10 hrs on my new to me L3800 in a couple of weeks.

 

[nybirdman]

I am about 125/year,snow removal,food plots,brush-hogging ect.

 

[Ryansweatt2004]

My 2017 kubota L3901 that I bought new with .6 hours on it has over 1040 hours now so Im pushing over 300 hours a year easily. That said I have a bad hip and bad back so my tractor is my muscle and I use it for literally everything including doing work for other people. I used to worry about putting too many hours on my tractor but once I realized that its a tool and not just a toy, I started to see things differently. As long as I keep up on the maintenance and don’t beat the heck out of it the hours are kinda irrelevant unless I plan to sell it.

 

[Avenger]

Depends on what your using it for. Some people have a tractor to til their garden plot and plow the snow in their driveway. Others have pastures to mow and ditches to dig. Some people start their tractors in the morning and let it idle most of the day while they are working around the tractor, never shutting it off. Others will turn their machines off at every opportunity. For me, I put about 100hr a year doing a bit of everything, including taking the trash bin down to the road and getting the mail.

 

[Ryansweatt2004]

I definitely make it a point to turn off my tractor whenever possible but when your working it for 6-8hrs a day a few days a week and an hour or so every other day it doesn’t take long to rack up the hours.

 

[KennyG]

I use my tractor for mowing, snow plowing, wood splitting and minor dirt moving. I'm almost exactly 100 hours per year after just under 10 years. I just don't have enough applicable projects to use it more. Of course, my tractor seems to record hours at rated RPM instead of clock hours. If it was clock hours (as some tractors are) I would be over 150 hours per year.

 

[rademamj1]

Averaging 163 hours per year on my Kioti. Top three tractor tasks are: Wood Chipping, Box Blade and material transport using the bucket.

 

[dodge man]

I’m pretty close to that 100 hour a year number.

 

[joeu235]

We have 4 tractors and a skid steer, all get about 150 hours a year:
JD 4020 has a loader and is the main hay feeding tractor
JD 6403 is the hay cutting and baling tractor
Ford 3600 is the raking and mom's favorite shredding tractor
Ford 5600 does some shredding, odd jobs, and feeding at another location
JD 317 skid steer does skid steer stuff

 

[Gary Fowler]

I recently sold my 2010 LS P7010 with less than 200 hours in 10 years of ownership (hence the selling). My Kubota B26 has around 650 hours in 9 years of work but my RTV900 has almost 1000 hours in 10 years. The big tractor got work done fast so very few hours on it. The B26 does most of my maintenance work, digging and loading/ moving materials. The most used is the RTV which moves / hauls materials and transports me and the wife all over the place and gets daily use whereas the tractors only got cranked when major repairs to the acreage were needed which was mostly storm damage after the first couple of years. I have probably put as many hours on the B26 doing work for the neighbors as I have for my personal use.

 

[BRMyers]

I'm at about 125 hours a year. We have more projects that could be tackled, but between work and weather, we are limited to how much we can get accomplished.

 

[RalphVa]

Used to be about 100/yr. Now about 70.

Mostly trail maintenance, shredding/chipping and snow removal. Had lots of work moving logs cut up from downed trees in removing invasives this past year.