Tractor Sizing 4 acres what size?

[jacobsdaddy06]

Hello all new tractor buyer here and I have 4 acres and Im not just sure what size I need. Brushhogging, blading and a little dirt work is all I will be doing. Thanks

 

[harpoonalt]

Welcome! You will get much better answers if you can tell us more about your needs and the property. Is it meadow, hills, woods? Brushogging only or finish mowing too. Snow? The more you tell us the better advice we can give.

 

[jacobsdaddy06]

the property is slightly sloped with a pond at the end of the property and all im going to be doing is brushhogging and light dirt work and road maint. Thanks

 

[bp fick]

Jacob's Daddy,

Specifics. Do you have $10K to spend? $20K to spend? Lots of good choices at those price points for subcompacts and compacts.

Sometimes when a guy finally gets his property, he isn't "flush", if you know what I mean. Sometimes, a guy has to start with a used, but solid older tractor for around $3500. Adding rear blades, rakes, etc,? Allow another $1000 with sharp shopping the Craigslist, yard sales, farm sales, etc.

Snow? You didn't say yes. Should we assume no snow to mess with?

 

[newbury]

And as always - location, location, location.
Can you transport a tractor?
Do you need it delivered?
Can you wrench it?
How important is a dealer relationship?
We are a picky bunch here and like to know more to better adapt our advice.

 

[Egon]

Kubota BX series.

 

[jacobsdaddy06]

ok guys sorry , no snow, looking at financing part of the purchase would like to get tractor.w loader, blade brushhog and trailer all at one time, no problems pulling it, want to be able to take in for service if need be, prefer not a belly style setup, thanks

 

[flusher]

Hello all new tractor buyer here and I have 4 acres and Im not just sure what size I need. Brushhogging, blading and a little dirt work is all I will be doing. Thanks

I did the chores you mention on my 10 acres (flat pasture) with my first tractor--a new 2005 Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, 4WD, power steering, hydrostatic tranny) with LA302 FEL (4-ft wide bucket, 800 lb lift capacity). Cost: $12,600 plus tax. I mowed with a 4-ft King Kutter rotary mower (aka bush hog, brush hog, slasher, shredder, $600), graded with a 4-ft wide KK box blade ($300) and tilled my garden with a used Yanmar RS1200 rototiller (4-ft wide, $300).

I'd probably still have that little gem except I decided to put 6 acres into hay and traded the Bota for a 2008 Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto)

 

[JANDG]

I run 5.8acres here & a 3000 series jd, the 3032e is about all the weight my lawn will take after May 1st till winter. 2100lbs, My ZTR mower is over 1500lbs with gas. It will rut also if I don't wait till May. Your soil/ground conditions are important for tractor use, is it all lawn & do you have obsticals other than pond..? I would think 3000 series would be way enough or equivalent Kubota. The sub compacts might even be the way to go, but you might be stuck with 4' mower,maybe I do not know for sure,..If you have a decent lawn , turfs might be the way to go,..R4's will tear sh.. up also if not carefull, I don't mind tearing grass up ...but ruts can be a nightmare. as in easy to make & much,much harder & expensive to take care of. Light & small might be what your looking for. 3000 series & down or equivalent.
Joe

 

[slate mike]

JANDG is right on the money. I have a JD 3120 with R4 tires that I used to cut 3 acres at my former home. The same tractor on my current property tears the heck out of the lawn if it isn't bone dry. If no "lawn" to worry about then get the best bang for your buck whether new or used. Remembering that some day you'll need (want) more power than you have.

 

[FxdGrMind]

All good replies and info.

Then realize that your "current" thoughts on what you might use it for, may change when you get it as the Chores seem to come from nowhere!

There is so much that a tractor can help you with in the managment of land that it is hard to think of all the needs you may have up front. So it is important not to limit yourself in the hp and capability of the tractor you choose.

Get something that fits your current and potential "Future" needs first. Don't do as I did and wast $$$ on something that "just barely" manages what you want from it at the present... then find you need something more substantial down the road and find that the initial purchase was a colosal waste of time, $$$ and your back!

A tractor makes MANY jobs significantly easier than anything else.

If you burn wood, it can haul rounds, skid loggs, (with splitter) split wood... everything but the felling, cutting and stacking. A substantial portion of the back breaking work!

If you have landscaping plans, it's a HUGE help in ditching, grading, moving material, and in general improving the overall appearance of the land!

If you are a gardener or have a desire to Brew beer and grow Hops.... It's a great help in garden prep, maint of said garden, and even harvesting!

If you live in a comunity of others where by you are the one with the only tractor.... you will get ample "Thank you's" for helping others with similar chores and good neighbors are sometimes hard to come by, so having them "Owe" you for help goes a long way in the non tangible asset of "Good Neigbor" quotent.

So in conclusion... only one thing. Buy as much HP as you can afford in a package that fits your bill for Size Tractor you need (as in 5 acres... doesn't require a 8wheeled behemoth that has 1000hp... but 12 isn't going to cut it either....

 

[MESSMAKER]

I've always heard it said "buy one size larger than you think you need". I think that is good advice.

 

[jacobsdaddy06]

good info thanks for all the help and future info

 

[nhkabotab7800]

i agree with mess maker always try to buy the next size up i was given that advise by my brother in law when i purchesed my B 7800 and now wish i had gone up a size to an L.

 

[LBrown59]

I've never neeed or wanted anything bigger than my BX 23.
Guess I was one of the few who knew what they were doing and made the correct buying decision>.>

 

[ChuckinNH]

Having a "real" tractor is much more fun than having a riding mower. Still, there is something to be said for having the right tool for the job. I have 3+ acres of yard, and another 10 acres of woods that I play / work in. In the 22 years that I've been here, I've done everything with a 12.5 hp rider....... well, everything I could, but I did take nice care of the yard. Then I traded that for a Simplicity Legacy thinking that I could do much more with it. Well, the truth is that it is much more comfortable, and stable, and does a better job in deep grass, etc. but it is still a garden tractor. I have the Simplicity still, but tried a BX22 for a few years. I know that I'm going against the grain here, but I found that when the ground was damp, it was too much to be a good rider, and really not enough to be a tractor. I needed clearance in the woods, and wanted implements that were a little heavier, if not larger than the BX really seemed comfortable with. I see that many others here run into the same thing. The other truth is that I generally put almost twice as many hours per year on the Simplicity than I do on my new Kubota B2620 though I sure like that beast. So, my advice is to buy something nice for what you are going to do most. You will thank yourself everytime you use it. Then buy a tractor for the tractor work. Lately I've seen quite a few of the smaller B series Kubotas around used, and something like that would serve you well. Have fun with both your shopping, and buying!

 

[IslandTractor]

I was very happy with a 20hp Kioti CK taking care of landscaping, brush clearing and field mowing in addition to other tractor duties on a 5 acre plot. Four foot bush hog and five foot finish mower were appropriate sizes.

There is a tendency on TBN to "buy more than you need" but consider the downsides of bigger equipment than you need 90% of the time. More expensive initial tractor outlay, bigger implements (more expensive, more difficult to store, more difficult to manuver, more difficult to mount). There is very little a 30 or 35 hp tractor can do that a 20hp tractor cannot do with a bit more time so it's not like there is a threshold you need to pass in order to have an effective tool. There are places a 20hp tractor will fit that a 30 or 35 will be difficult to manuver.

I personally think the subcompacts (Kubota BX, JD 2300? series) are excellent for relatively lawn and well groomed fields but they have pretty low clearance for work in woods. The Kubota B series, JD 2500 series, Kioti CK etc are bigger framed and that is an advantage in fields and woods (often the same HP or less than the SCUTs).

 

[jacobsdaddy06]

Wow I never realized there were so many options and things to consider. This site is awesome . Thanks to everyone

 

[KU Gator]

We purchased a house on 3 acres. I bought a J.D. GT245 garden tractor from the previous owner of the home and used it to keep up with the mowing and the front blade to clear the occasional KS snow. Then we bought 12 acres about 25 miles to the South of here. It had about 5 acres that had been used for hay, another acre or so that hadn't been mowed in at least a year, a small pond and the rest in woods. We bought a tandem axel trailer and took the garden tractor there and mowed what had been mowed for hay previously while I researched tractors. We ended up with a Kubota B2920 with a FEL and MMM and also kept the garden tractor. We used it to mow the same part and few times, then bought a 5' Bush Hog Squeeler rough cut mower. With it, we were able to mow the part that had not been mowed in at least a year and get into some other brushy areas. I have use the tractor also to haul trees that were pushed down to build the pond and create a burn pile and do other projects. But now that I have the mowed areas in pretty good shape, I use the MMM for mowing as it is easier to control the height and don't use the rough cut mower unless we are clearing an area.

Back at the house, I mostly mow with the little John Deere. It has turf tires and does not track up the yard. The Kubota is faster, but unless the ground is really dry and hard, it tracks it up due to the R4 industrial tires and heavier weight.

So with that background, my thought would be the smaller BX size or equivelent would be a better fit unless your property is quite rough or needs significant clearing. You could pay someone to cut it with a brush hog and then keep it up with a MMM. With the popularity of the subcompacts, there seems to be more implements sized to them. Although I would think the B tractor as overkill for my 3 acres, I think it would depend on what you needed to get done with it and how rough the property is.

 

[MossRoad]

I've never neeed or wanted anything bigger than my BX 23.
Guess I was one of the few who knew what they were doing and made the correct buying decision>.>

Careful, there, L.B. You have three of them.... many would say that is due to poor planning, difficulty in changing implements and a few other things. Best not to toot your own horn in this case.