Tractor or skid steer? Just bought 150 acres.

[tradosaurus]

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.

The devils lettuce?

 

[kenhar]

I have a dresser 175c track loader with 4 in 1 bucket that will do any of the heavy work you are looking at. 10 to 15 G and will do anything a similar size Cat 977 will do for half the price. They weigh around 34,000 lbs. You will need some type of dump truck for your hauling needs. A flat bed is more versatile. I would use steel posts instead of wood, you can drive by hand and will outlast you and your significant other. Once you get the homestead like you want it, sell the loader and buy a tractor. You can't bush hog with a track loader. Buy a 80 to 100 hp used tractor with a cab if you don't like the outdoors in summer and winter. Those size tractors are the cheapest horsepower you will find and are big enough to do about anything you need to do. A skid steer is more of a specialty tool, not universal like a tractor. Buy equipment as you need it and enjoy life.

 

[SW OR John W]

I need help figuring out what to buy!

Please tell me what YOU would do! And how YOU would approach this project.

We just bought a 150 acre farm (all crop land). All of it is rolling hills - nothing terribly steep, but not flat either.

In the next year or so, I need to:
1. Cut and grade an entrance from the road (about 50 ft of wooded area next to the road). Need to install culvert, etc. for road access.
2. Grade and install a 1/2 mile long driveway. Everything except the entrance is through the middle of a field - rolling hills - with 1 extra culvert needed
3. Grade a 60'x120' pad for our barn.
4. Clear 2.5 miles of fence line that is currently extremely overgrown honeysuckle (think 50 years of honeysuckle growth)
5. Pound about 1200 5-6'' round posts into the ground (quoted over $70k just to pound the posts, so I'll be doing this myself.)
6. Standard maintenance of pasture - so mow about 150 acres

We plan to hire someone to come in and seed hay - so roundup and a seed drill. We plan to hire that job out to someone who knows exactly what they are doing. Currently all weeds, so will hopefully be pasture and hay fields by this time next year.

But the big question:
Do I buy a tractor or a skid steer (with tracks, so a track loader)? And buying one thing - keeping it for a year to complete all of the above jobs - and then selling it and buying something different - is something I am willing to do.

Budget of about $35-40k, including any needed attachments.

I can buy a track loader for about $30k, a bush hog for $4k, and a post pounder for $4k - and be comfortably under my $40k max. Going this route means I wouldn't be able to harvest my own hay, etc until I sell the track loader and buy a tractor. And bush hogging 150 acres with a track loader is going to be rough.

Alternatively, I spend $30k on a newer 60-70 hp tractor with a loader, $5k on a post pounder, $5k on a bush hog - and be right at my max. I would probably need to rent a bulldozer or track loader to do the driveway, etc - which would be about $2000/week. No idea if I can get it done in one week or not, but my guess is closer to 2 weeks.

And it might actually be better if I buy a cheap dozer ($10k?) and sell it when I am done with it. Then buy the tractor after I sell the dozer.

I need help making a decision! Any and all advice appreciated!

7 years ago I was much in your situation. I have a few thoughts,

1. that is a long long list, you aren't going to get it done in 1 year! Prioritize, I'd start with getting the hay producing revenue (I guess pretty obvious)
2. is the pasture all in good condition or are you going to have to remove trees/overgrowth?
3. don't look at the average rolling hills, look at the worst areas you'd want to go up/down/side hill on.
4. rent equipment, make some progress, see what is good/bad about it, then rent a different piece of equipment. You start to make progress, make no long term commitment, and have no maintenance responsibility. Our local rental places give you a free weekend on either end of a weeks rental, great for a 7 day/week DIYer.

I got a tractor, wasn't smart enough to consider the options as well are you are so you are way ahead of me. I won't say I regretted it but many times I wish I'd gone skid steer instead, mainly due to higher lift capacity (we have forest so big logs) and versatility. $70k for 1200 posts doesn't sound bad at all < $60/post, I'd bet they have much more specialized equipment then just a post pounder. I bet after you do a days post installs, see how many you get done, it might be worth reconsidering.

 

[ning]

IMO the full time job plus trying to get these things done ASAP is a big red flag.

I also have a full time job, and though it's very flexible and I often can fudge my time +/20 hours in a week (I'm not cheating, just moving my time around - I always get the job done when it needs to be done), it can be very hard to budget getting time-intensive work done.

My biggest concerns with your scheme is that you haven't put in a road, and only have theoretical knowledge of how to do so, and you've never operated the heavy machinery for it - and you need it done pronto. That's a painful number of strikes right there. You really really need to hire that out, even if you think you can do everything else yourself with rented or bought equipment, you need that road done right and fast.

 

[Aden2112]

A question or three I haven't seen yet, but should be asked. 1, When it comes to a dozer, have you actually ever used one? I ask, because if you haven't (or have only a couple of hours on one) it may take you much, much longer than your neighbors are giving you time to be finished, AND you could really screw things up for your property - you said they would give you 2 weeks. 2. Are you comfortable in making the initial sloping of the drive for runoff (goes back to question 1) and 3. Maybe I'm wrong, but it sounds like you are possibly implying that the boarding (of critters. I'm guessing) is part if your business plan with the bank. Have you ever done this before? Hay in the off season can be pricey and depending on the types of critters the other kinds of feed can really eat into your budget. I won't even begin with Antibiotics, wormers, etc, etc.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting you might be in over your head, just some advice from an old guy that's been around the block a time or three.

Great advice.

1. I have, but very limited use. I am very much a beginner.

2. All I need to get done right away is to cut an access through the wooded area. 50 ft - and I have access. The rest of the road can come in more than 2 weeks time.

3. Yep - we have that set up and ready to go (have experience there).

People here have convinced me that a tractor is the way to go. So I am going to buy or rent a bulldozer - and a tractor - and sell the dozer when I am done with it.

 

[bartjoebob]

I need help figuring out what to buy!

Please tell me what YOU would do! And how YOU would approach this project.

We just bought a 150 acre farm (all crop land). All of it is rolling hills - nothing terribly steep, but not flat either.

In the next year or so, I need to:
1. Cut and grade an entrance from the road (about 50 ft of wooded area next to the road). Need to install culvert, etc. for road access.
2. Grade and install a 1/2 mile long driveway. Everything except the entrance is through the middle of a field - rolling hills - with 1 extra culvert needed
3. Grade a 60'x120' pad for our barn.
4. Clear 2.5 miles of fence line that is currently extremely overgrown honeysuckle (think 50 years of honeysuckle growth)
5. Pound about 1200 5-6'' round posts into the ground (quoted over $70k just to pound the posts, so I'll be doing this myself.)
6. Standard maintenance of pasture - so mow about 150 acres

We plan to hire someone to come in and seed hay - so roundup and a seed drill. We plan to hire that job out to someone who knows exactly what they are doing. Currently all weeds, so will hopefully be pasture and hay fields by this time next year.

But the big question:
Do I buy a tractor or a skid steer (with tracks, so a track loader)? And buying one thing - keeping it for a year to complete all of the above jobs - and then selling it and buying something different - is something I am willing to do.

Budget of about $35-40k, including any needed attachments.

I can buy a track loader for about $30k, a bush hog for $4k, and a post pounder for $4k - and be comfortably under my $40k max. Going this route means I wouldn't be able to harvest my own hay, etc until I sell the track loader and buy a tractor. And bush hogging 150 acres with a track loader is going to be rough.

Alternatively, I spend $30k on a newer 60-70 hp tractor with a loader, $5k on a post pounder, $5k on a bush hog - and be right at my max. I would probably need to rent a bulldozer or track loader to do the driveway, etc - which would be about $2000/week. No idea if I can get it done in one week or not, but my guess is closer to 2 weeks.

And it might actually be better if I buy a cheap dozer ($10k?) and sell it when I am done with it. Then buy the tractor after I sell the dozer.

I need help making a decision! Any and all advice appreciated!

Your short term needs can be accomplished with FB marketplace then resold. Skid steer, tractor attachments and implements for certain projects fall into this category. And I'll even go out on a limb and call these items practically free since resale value will be about what you paid. How do you plan to use the property long term? Tractor will be more versatile and adaptable. Skid steer will definitely allow for some heavier duty applications but the attachments are going to be more costly and less common to find. If committed to buying new, I'd go tractor personally

 

[Aden2112]

7 years ago I was much in your situation. I have a few thoughts,

1. that is a long long list, you aren't going to get it done in 1 year! Prioritize, I'd start with getting the hay producing revenue (I guess pretty obvious)
2. is the pasture all in good condition or are you going to have to remove trees/overgrowth?
3. don't look at the average rolling hills, look at the worst areas you'd want to go up/down/side hill on.
4. rent equipment, make some progress, see what is good/bad about it, then rent a different piece of equipment. You start to make progress, make no long term commitment, and have no maintenance responsibility. Our local rental places give you a free weekend on either end of a weeks rental, great for a 7 day/week DIYer.

I got a tractor, wasn't smart enough to consider the options as well are you are so you are way ahead of me. I won't say I regretted it but many times I wish I'd gone skid steer instead, mainly due to higher lift capacity (we have forest so big logs) and versatility. $70k for 1200 posts doesn't sound bad at all < $60/post, I'd bet they have much more specialized equipment then just a post pounder. I bet after you do a days post installs, see how many you get done, it might be worth reconsidering.

1. Yep - we are going to seed 100 acres (hiring this out) and get the hay production started this fall. I'm installing paddocks on the other 50 acres this fall as well. Those are the major income producing parts of the operation.
2. Great condition. About 149 usable acres right now as it sits.
3. There are a couple of bad spots - so I will keep this in mind.
4. I like the suggestion. This was part of the plan based on all of this advice. I'm going to rent a post pounder for a day and see how it goes before we make any decisions there. You may be right.

 

[Aden2112]

IMO the full time job plus trying to get these things done ASAP is a big red flag.

I also have a full time job, and though it's very flexible and I often can fudge my time +/20 hours in a week (I'm not cheating, just moving my time around - I always get the job done when it needs to be done), it can be very hard to budget getting time-intensive work done.

My biggest concerns with your scheme is that you haven't put in a road, and only have theoretical knowledge of how to do so, and you've never operated the heavy machinery for it - and you need it done pronto. That's a painful number of strikes right there. You really really need to hire that out, even if you think you can do everything else yourself with rented or bought equipment, you need that road done right and fast.

I may have a lot of strikes against me. I'll post a road - or a lack thereof - in a few weeks as a follow up!

Going to be using a dozer for the road based on the advice here. Rent it - and if I can't figure it out, I'll hire an operator.

 

[moparrob]

I know a lot of folks will tell you that you need 3 machines- farming tractor, skid steer and excavator. I have the Kubota M59 and it will do probably everything youd need, but maybe not as stupendously as a fleet of specialized machines. The M59, L47 and similar, or a JD 110 TLB would be excellent choices. If you plan on loading and stacking big bales, go M59 or the new M62.

See if your local rental yards will rent low flow skidsteer attachments for the infrequent jobs like post holes or a loader mount hydraulic flail mower for tall weeds. TLBs with skid steer quick attach and 3rd funtion hydraulics are like big, smelly kitchen aid mixers...youll want all the attachments!

 

[sandman2234]

Good luck with the road and be careful!
David from jax