Tractor or skid steer? Just bought 150 acres.

[North to Alaska]

Currently looking at a 2010 JD 4x4 80 hp tractor. It fits the budget and is low hours (1.5k hrs).

I’m confused. Did i miss something here?
This JD 2010?

TractorData.com John Deere 2010 tractor information

www.tractordata.com

1,500 hours is not all that low…and that tractor should be WAY within your budget.

 

[Aden2112]

Tractor, it will do most everything you need. Sometimes not very efficiently though. Brush clearing is easy…get a root grapple and make sure there is a 3rd function/diverter valve on it.

Adjust your price and size down a little. Grandparents did that much land with less tractor than what you are looking at.
You don’t need to do ALL 150 acres in ONE day.

Putting the drive might be hired operation if you need to get it done quickly. A tractor with a loader and box blade can do a lot but for time sake, hire or rent a dozer?

Buying a tractor and just renting a dozer was another option I had considered.

How many hours do you think it would take to clear the entrance (50 wooded ft), grade a drive (1/2 mile), and grade a barn site (about a 60x120 pad - 3' high on one corner, 2' high on another corner - so not a terrible amount of grading work)?

Are we talking 5 full days? or 10 full days? And keep in mind, I have never operated a dozer, so there will be a learning curve.

There is a JD 550k that I can rent for $1800/week (max 40 hrs per week). Think I can get this done in a 1 week rental?

 

[North to Alaska]

Sorry
I keep thinking of more things to say…,

Price out your driveway and I assume you already priced out your barn?

Then start from there.

When the hits the fan and you have no money left for repairs….you might have to sell a few things to keep going.
I assume that you are getting/have a job that you will continue working for since 150 acres of hay isn’t going to pay for your living?

 

[Torvy]

Do some pricing of maintenance and 'consumables' for that tractor.

Not sure where you are, but when I was looking, the track loader equivalent was 2X the cost of a similar tractor.

Around here we have some great options to rent excavators and skid steers. The tractors for rent are too small to do what I need.

Are you going to be a full-time farmer or is this a side-hustle or hobby?

I wouldn't consider mowing more that a few acres. Either hire it done or wait until you have hay equipment to use yourself. If it's pasture land, maybe have a neighbor run cattle on it in exchange for some beef while you get the rest of the work done. It will probably be 2 years or more before buildings, roads, etc. are good to go.

The real answer to your question depends on which tasks you can actually do and which tool will do most of them. I got a quote for $28k to fence my 20 acres. Cost a little under $6K to have it cleared (2 guys on TLs with Forestry mulchers)...30ish hours. Have you ever installed or maintained fencing? Looks easy on videos, takes experience to do right.

 

[Aden2112]

I’m confused. Did i miss something here?
This JD 2010?

TractorData.com John Deere 2010 tractor information

www.tractordata.com

1,500 hours is not all that low…and that tractor should be WAY within your budget.

A 2010 model year. Not the model 2010 JD. It is a 2010 year JD 5080 with a loader priced at $31k.

 

[newbury]

And keep in mind, I have never operated a dozer, so there will be a learning curve.

IF you could find a decent operator/dozer combo to get it done you might be ahead of the curve. But I expect it would be difficult at this time of the economy to get a bargain.

 

[Aden2112]

Sorry
I keep thinking of more things to say…,

Price out your driveway and I assume you already priced out your barn?

Then start from there.

When the hits the fan and you have no money left for repairs….you might have to sell a few things to keep going.
I assume that you are getting/have a job that you will continue working for since 150 acres of hay isn’t going to pay for your living?

Yep. Priced the barn build out. Building it into our loan to make sure we have enough cash on hand to do everything else.

Driveway gravel is going to be just shy of $20k (quoted from local quarry - includes tailgating the gravel).

The two culverts I need are $1k each (already sourced).

And yes, I have a full time job to pay for this. In addition to that, we are going to move our boarding operation to this farm (on 50 acres) (the boarding operation is not my full time job - just a separate job - my wife says I have too many) and do hay on the other 100. But can't move the boarding operation until we get the barn up and the paddocks fenced.

The boarding operation and hay should cover 75% of the mortgage payment by year 2 if we stay at current levels. I can handle the payment on my own without that, but it is tight until we can start making a little money from the farm.

I don't ever expect the farm to pay for itself - I would just like it to pay some of the mortgage payment.

And we are 10 minutes from a major metro, so the mortgage payment is a bit scary.

 

[Aden2112]

Do some pricing of maintenance and 'consumables' for that tractor.

Not sure where you are, but when I was looking, the track loader equivalent was 2X the cost of a similar tractor.

Around here we have some great options to rent excavators and skid steers. The tractors for rent are too small to do what I need.

Are you going to be a full-time farmer or is this a side-hustle or hobby?

I wouldn't consider mowing more that a few acres. Either hire it done or wait until you have hay equipment to use yourself. If it's pasture land, maybe have a neighbor run cattle on it in exchange for some beef while you get the rest of the work done. It will probably be 2 years or more before buildings, roads, etc. are good to go.

The real answer to your question depends on which tasks you can actually do and which tool will do most of them. I got a quote for $28k to fence my 20 acres. Cost a little under $6K to have it cleared (2 guys on TLs with Forestry mulchers)...30ish hours. Have you ever installed or maintained fencing? Looks easy on videos, takes experience to do right.

This is a side-hustle. Kind of a dream that we are trying to make reality.

I work a full time job, so will do this as my other full time job. I can work 120 hours a week, right?

We are going to put paddocks on 50 acres (this will take a loooong time to complete) and hay on the other 100. I want to seed the full 150 before paddock fencing starts going up - but we are going to hire out the roundup/seed drilling. There are guys who know how to do that better than I do. I'll pay for their expertise there.

Mowing should be down to the 50 acres of paddocks only by year 2. With maintenance elsewhere.

We are juggling rent for our boarding operation and this mortgage until we can get it build out. Time is of the essence because of that. Can't wait 2 years to move everything over. I want to get it done in 6 months, but I know reality is closer to double that time frame.

 

[North to Alaska]

Buying a tractor and just renting a dozer was another option I had considered.

How many hours do you think it would take to clear the entrance (50 wooded ft), grade a drive (1/2 mile), and grade a barn site (about a 60x120 pad - 3' high on one corner, 2' high on another corner - so not a terrible amount of grading work)?

Are we talking 5 full days? or 10 full days? And keep in mind, I have never operated a dozer, so there will be a learning curve.

There is a JD 550k that I can rent for $1800/week (max 40 hrs per week). Think I can get this done in a 1 week rental?

No clue
I’ve never used a dozer either. Hire it done, they will probably have it done in 2 or 3 days…but get some estimates from contractors in the area. Of course, you are in a time crunch and they probably won’t get to yours till later
Talk to neighbors…usually someone, somebody knows, who is experienced and will do the job on their off hours in short notice.

Is the dozer available soon too? Make sure it’s available and not on back order.

I grew up in Iowa in the country. Not a farm but helped on other farms. I can’t imagine needing more that a solid 50 horse tractor for what you need.

I have a 48 horse 4520r branson that gets abused clearing a forest of spruce so it can retire to an easy life of berry picking and haying on my 40 acres.

 

[Aden2112]

IF you could find a decent operator/dozer combo to get it done you might be ahead of the curve. But I expect it would be difficult at this time of the economy to get a bargain.

Agreed. While I would love to hire these things out - they would get done faster and likely better - I just can't do that for everything.

Was quoted $30k to do the entrance, drive, and level the barn site. And that is $30k was dirt work, plus $20k for the gravel. I can't fit that into the budget. I am better off buying a cheap dozer, doing it myself, and selling the dozer when I am done.

But my current thought process (based on all of the comments here) is to buy a tractor - and rent a dozer for 1-2 weeks. I'll be out $3500 in rental fees - but will have the right tool for that job. And $3500 in rental fees is much better than hiring it out at $30k. So I still see a big savings going that route.

 

[North to Alaska]

You would be amazed at what 100 acres of farmland can rake in… but not with your typical farm crop.
Look into alternative crops.
some of those alternatives leave enough space between rows to hay as well.

 

[North to Alaska]

Not sure where you live but those prices are a bit outrageous

Yes, rent dozer and check out if someone is around that can work it. They probably do it for less than $1000 a day and be done in three days?

Are you grading down to gravel and then filling it up with gravel for your drive?
Don’t know your soil type, but I bet your neighbors have gravel on top of soil?

Forgive me, I never had to have a drive put in accept here which is bulldozed to gravel only because of soul type and as a kid I watched my parents new home and driveway made with about a foot? of gravel on soil for driveway.

 

[K5lwq]

Another thing to check is if the county will set the culvert for you. Here our county road department will do it for free if we provide the culvert.

 

[Rustyiron]

Still wondering you general location. (and soil type)
Any meaningful dirt work is abusive to a tractor and very poor with anything but grading with a pulled 3 point implement.
Could you describe what this 1/2 mile driveway needs? Is it just skimming off the topsoil and dumping in gravel or cutting and filling? (moving yards of earth).

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Probably a little late to the thread but here is another opinion , I have a 112 acre farm and currently have 2 tractors and 1 tracked skid steer that I use for my business, if I had to pick one it would be a cabbed 85-100 hp tractor and I would be saving for a 4x4 backhoe. My skid steer earns me money every week but is useless on the farm for tillage, planting, hay work, etc and while it does get some use on the farm it is minimal compared to my tractors. I did see a couple of points that I don't agree with 100%
1. That a 2010 model tractor with 1400 hours on it is not exactly low hours, where I'm from farm tractors of that age will have 3 or 4 times that many hours, 1400 hours is low.
2.This one I agree with mostly about working by yourself in a skid steer and not being able to get out of the cab unless the arms are all the way down and that's true with a lot of brands but all one needs is a skid steer with a roll up door which Kubota and Takeuchi both have, I work by myself everyday and get out of my Kubota with the arms in any position , so don't let that stop you if you go the skidsteer route, you just have to buy the right brand with the right options.

 

[North to Alaska]

1. That a 2010 model tractor with 1400 hours on it is not exactly low hours, where I'm from farm tractors of that age will have 3 or 4 times that many hours, 1400 hours is low.

Slight misunderstanding. Agree, for that model (made in the 60’s), 1,400 hours is low. I meant as a general rule, 1,400 is somewhere in the middle for farm tractors. Guess I also see so many compact tractors that don’t get too many hours on it that skew my view on that.

 

[redman135]

Re post #17, access through the neighbours yard, get the road access done asap. Alternative, open a temporary access through your road fence if possible,(is the road frontage all or partially wooded?).

When getting a loader I recommend a self leveler model as I am picking you will do a lot of forklift work on a new build.

When you say "Boarding", are you talking horses?

Paddocks: If the stock you are having is horses( or cattle) think about an electric fence system. A single hot TAPE(high visibility), not wire(low vis), is enough to keep a horse in, and is flimsy enough that a panicing horse can charge through and be at minimal risk of injury. A bonus is an electric fence system is budget friendly low to moderate cost compared to conventional post and rail or post and batten fences.


How good is your water supply?

 

[Aden2112]

Still wondering you general location. (and soil type)
Any meaningful dirt work is abusive to a tractor and very poor with anything but grading with a pulled 3 point implement.
Could you describe what this 1/2 mile driveway needs? Is it just skimming off the topsoil and dumping in gravel or cutting and filling? (moving yards of earth).

Midwest. Soil on the farm is very high quality - mostly Maury and McAfee silt.

The plan is to skim off the top 4-6'' and grade it so that the driveway will be predominately flat (side to side).

Will put down driveway fabric before the gravel goes down.

I talked with a neighbor who installed his driveway about 20 years ago. He has to put new gravel down every 4-5 years because it keeps sinking. He never put down fabric and for some reason doesn't think it would help.

 

[Aden2112]

Re post #17, access through the neighbours yard, get the road access done asap. Alternative, open a temporary access through your road fence if possible,(is the road frontage all or partially wooded?).

When getting a loader I recommend a self leveler model as I am picking you will do a lot of forklift work on a new build.

When you say "Boarding", are you talking horses?

Paddocks: If the stock you are having is horses( or cattle) think about an electric fence system. A single hot TAPE(high visibility), not wire(low vis), is enough to keep a horse in, and is flimsy enough that a panicing horse can charge through and be at minimal risk of injury. A bonus is an electric fence system is budget friendly low to moderate cost compared to conventional post and rail or post and batten fences.


How good is your water supply?

All wooded - literally only access is through the neighbor's front yard. Hard to even walk through the wooded road frontage because of the briars, etc.

Good suggestion on the self leveling loader.

Yes, horses.

Our clients hate electric fencing. We have a friend who has it - she struggles to find new clients mostly because of that fence. While I 100% agree with you, clients kind of dictate where we can and can not go that route. If it were my choice, I would have it everywhere.

8'' main water line on the road (we are 10 minutes from a major metro). We are going to tap into that. Also have a pond and a creek on the farm.

 

[Aden2112]

Probably a little late to the thread but here is another opinion , I have a 112 acre farm and currently have 2 tractors and 1 tracked skid steer that I use for my business, if I had to pick one it would be a cabbed 85-100 hp tractor and I would be saving for a 4x4 backhoe. My skid steer earns me money every week but is useless on the farm for tillage, planting, hay work, etc and while it does get some use on the farm it is minimal compared to my tractors. I did see a couple of points that I don't agree with 100%
1. That a 2010 model tractor with 1400 hours on it is not exactly low hours, where I'm from farm tractors of that age will have 3 or 4 times that many hours, 1400 hours is low.
2.This one I agree with mostly about working by yourself in a skid steer and not being able to get out of the cab unless the arms are all the way down and that's true with a lot of brands but all one needs is a skid steer with a roll up door which Kubota and Takeuchi both have, I work by myself everyday and get out of my Kubota with the arms in any position , so don't let that stop you if you go the skidsteer route, you just have to buy the right brand with the right options.

Thank you for the suggestions.

I think I have been convinced (by you and all of the others) that a tractor is the right choice. Cabbed is out of my budget, but I am shooting for 70 hp+ with a self leveling loader. Lower hours, good maintenance, newer, and no dpf if possible.