2410 or 2710

[Cathy]

David,
Don't you have to have 10 or more acres to get the tax break? I think a dealer mentioned that to me when I was talking to him about the 7 % sales tax,I only have 2 1/2 acres. I have sold corn at work before & would consider selling corn at the farmers market but I think to get any kind of tax break I would need more acreage. I wish I could think of a way to somehow use the tractor purchase as a tax write off!

 

[David USMC]

Cathy, my dealer never mentioned the 10 acre rule. I'll be on the phone Monday morning. The only thing he said was that if you should be paid a visit you must demonstrate an intent to market agriculture products.

 

[Bird]

Cathy, As far as deciding how far apart to space the rows in the garden, I've just tried experimenting with different spacing. When I had the 17" walk behind tiller, I set out my onions in rows that were only 26" apart and other things 3 to 4 feet apart, but when I got the 40" wide tractor and 40" tiller for it, I spaced the rows 60" apart and could drive between the rows with the little tractor and tiller. Then when I got the B2710 with R1 (ag) tires and my rear tire width is about 54", I spaced the rows closer together this year (actually 47" just because I had a piece of rebar that length handy to use in spacing - very scientific/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif). Then I used a 6 tine cultivator plow (about $150) on the 3-point and I drive straddling the rows with 3 tines on either side of the row. And yep, if you get careless in your steering . . ., well, I only plowed up about 10' of turnips and a couple of broccoli plants/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. The only other problem with that method is the fact that you can only do that until the plants get to be 12" to 18" high so they pass safely under the tractor. Since the garden's produced more than we could use and give away (I even gave some and sold some to a fruit and vegetable stand operator), next year I'm going to make the spacing about 72" so I can easily drive the B2710 and tiller between the rows. Your best bet is to buy a tiller that's the same or slightly greater width than the tractor, but finish mowers and tillers are both expensive. Brush hogs are much cheaper for pasture mowing, but it can certainly be done with the finish mower if you only have grass and weeds; no brush or rocks.

Rust on the disks doesn't hurt anything; using it will let the dirt remove the rust. Where rust hurts is the bearings. If they are not damaged, you may only need to grease them. If they are damaged, they simply have to be replaced.

Using a moldboard or turning plow, followed by the disk, is a cheaper alternative to a tiller for preparing a garden for planting; may not be quite as smooth as a tiller does, but the majority of the big farms in this area (corn, cotton, milo, grain sorghum, etc.) use only a disk prior to planting, but of course, they are using monstrous sized, heavy disks.

Good luck with your shopping, and you're looking at the right tractors, but go by and look at some blue ones, too, so JimBinMI can quit worrying about it./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[Will]

My guess is that all of the tractors you are thinking of are going to have all the power you will ever need. I'd recommend buying the smallest tractor with the conveniences you want, (like ground clearance appropriate to your terrain, hydrostatic transmission if you want it). This will give you some extra money to buy the implements that you'll need to get the a lot of work out of your tractor.

 

[David USMC]

Cathy, I went to the North carolina Dept of Revenue's web-site and pulled up the Farmers Certificate E-599. I read it front and back. Be advised, Im not a tax attorney, however the document states that the test is your intent to resell vegetables,livestock,greenhouse products etc. There is no mention of any quantities or sizes. With a property your size you could produce alot of stuff for sale at the farmers market. Hope this helps. As far as writing off the tractor well, better talk to your accountant.

 

[Bird]

Financial considerations are certainly a good reason to consider smaller in my book; that's why I bought a B7100 in 1995 and didn't move up to the B2710 until last year./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird

 

[PaulB]

Cathy - sorry I am so late joining in on the discussion, but I have been too busy USING my tractor to get online!! As alluded to above, I own a B1700. Last year it was made was 1999, but the current 2410 is the exact same tractor with a 200cc larger motor. I love mine, and find it capable of doing everything on my 10 acre horse farm that I need it to do. For your needs it, or the current 2410, would be perfect in my opinion. That being said, if I were to do it again I MIGHT have gone with the BX2200 just so I would have an additional $3000 to spend on implements. A tractor in and of itself is of little use - it needs stuff attatched to it to do any work. So far I have a loader ($3000), back blade ($300), bushhog mower ($500), and manure spreader ($2000) and would like to get a post hole digger ($650) and finish mower ($1500) in the near future. As you can see, the implements add up to a lot of $$ quickly, so you just might consider spending less on the initial tractor purchase if you are sure it would be enough tractor for the intended use, and leave some money in reserve for implements.

 

[David USMC]

I know the 2410 is a good tractor but, what about the new 7500 besides not having float control is there another reason for not choosing this model,of course less horsepower but also less money and weight...QQQQ

 

[DaleW]

Cathy,
Go for the 2710...you will not be sorry it is a great machine with about all the features that you would want. Don't worry about buying too much machine, you'll grow into it and find a new use for it everyday.
Try Modern Equipment at 800-540-1704. I bought mine from Steve Bowman. Good price and great people to work with.
Good luck on your decision
Dale

 

[JimBinMI]

DaleW,

Cathy's also been considering the B2910 and since she'll grow into more horsepower, I think she should probably get the M9000! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!