A Newbie With Questions???

[DJFaninTN]

Hello,

I have been reading on TBN for the past few nights. We own 5 acres with zero trees and have a fence located on the front of the property. We moved in back in October of 07.

The lot was a former corn field. They laid sod around in the house so that part of the grass is fine. Now the rest of the 5 acres needs help. We plan on using a disc to break up the ground and then level it out. Then seed and put the fertilizer to it. What I really desire is for the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course. We've always been able to obtain this type of look at our other house.

Here is the question. We are looking for a good used tractor. I would think something in the mid 20 hp range. I do want the hydrostat since the wife may want to cut the grass. My wife loves being outside and working in the yard.

4WD would not be a must but thinking of down the road it might be better to go ahead and get it. I really don't think I will need the FEL. My neighbor has one if needed.

We been looking at Kubota and JD. There is a JD dealership just a few miles away from the house but I cannot say they are the most friendly folks I've met. 2 Kubota dealerships are within 30 mies of the house. The Kubota we are looking at is the B7610. I also have looked at a JD 855.

I am open to suggestions of what else I should consider. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[RobS]

First, welcome to TBN DJFan. Your property sounds like mine, a recovered cornfield. I have no interest in the golf course grass though, so I have a lot of it in natural prairie. One thing you shouuld consider is all the other things you might want a tractor for. Do you have landscaping visions for the place? Are you a builder of sheds and such? I'm assuming you live in TN, is snow in the winter a problem? What kind of driveway do you have and is there any maintenance on it?

You're probably in the right ballpark for size, but some more details on your uses might help people provide input to you.

Again, welcome!

 

[frank_f15]

Welcome to the forum. if you realy wabt the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course, you probably would be best with MMM and turf tires, also don't completly disregard a FEL AMAZING how many uses you will find for it.

 

[DJFaninTN]

First, welcome to TBN DJFan. Your property sounds like mine, a recovered cornfield. I have no interest in the golf course grass though, so I have a lot of it in natural prairie. One thing you shouuld consider is all the other things you might want a tractor for. Do you have landscaping visions for the place? Are you a builder of sheds and such? I'm assuming you live in TN, is snow in the winter a problem? What kind of driveway do you have and is there any maintenance on it?

You're probably in the right ballpark for size, but some more details on your uses might help people provide input to you.

Again, welcome!

Thanks for the welcome. Landscaping around the house is done for the most part. My wife enjoys planting all the flowers and stuff around the house. This was a new house we happened to pick up from a builder going under. I am in the process of having a 24 x 36 detached garage being built as we speak. So, yes it will be housed inside. The driveway is asphalt and already down.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is a link to a webpage we put together to share with friends. You can see the lay of the land. If you want to see a larger pic just click on the individual picture.

Again ... THANKS for the help.

Outside Pics

 

[RobS]

Hey, looks great. I almost moved to TN a while back. Nice part of the country.

As I mentioned, I'm not into the golf course grass so I can't really help you much. If it were me, and the main chore was mowing, I'd get a ZTR. I'm guessing you'll need to fertilize and I really don't know what the options are there. I love my FEL, but I also enjoy a lot of serious DIY projects around the house. I have a Craftsman lawn tractor for finish mowing and if it ever dies I intend to replace it with a ZTR, but I will always have my tractor too.

 

[bota7800]

Assume Tennessee is not water starved like Colorado. Five acres is a lot of grass.

If you are sure that mowing is the only use (no road or driveway maintenance, rock moving, excavating, etc) then you might want to consider something other than a typical small tractor. Landscapers use these: Walker Mowers - The Zero Turn Radius Lawn Mower from Walker Manufacturing Company a lot and mow really fast. They even plow snow from walks and things with them. A neighbor at our last place had a service mow with the industrial size ones and they were fast. A tractor and finish mower will not be as fast.

That being said, this is a tractor website and I can almost guarantee that you will find other uses for a tractor iif you have one. You need to figure out what implements you will need. Without implements a tractor is just an really uncomfortable car

Looks like Rob beat me to the suggestion (I type slow)

 

[Blackbird_BX]

I agree with Frank on the value and multitude of uses for a front end loader. Getting a FEL was the original driver for getting a tractor for our place. Of course, the more I read on TBN, the more attachments it needed. Finally settled on a BX24 TLB with a 54" mid-mount-mower a box blade and a thumb for the backhoe. I'd go with a 60" MMM with the flat land that it looks like you have.

What kind of soil do you have? Depending on the soil type discing and leveling will be a breeze or a major endeavor.

I'd plant an orchard myself, but I've always preferred trees to grass. I guess that's why we've 10 acres of woods and less than one acre of grass.

 

[Aquaman]

Welcome to the forum. if you realy wabt the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course, you probably would be best with MMM and turf tires, also don't completly disregard a FEL AMAZING how many uses you will find for it.

Frank is right. A FEL will quickly become your best friend. You'll find uses for it that won't occur to you until you have one. Your back will thank you!

 

[BizDoc]

If ALL you are going to do is Mow then get a Zero Turn. But with 5 acres you're going to find uses you havn't thought of. I would never get a tractor withour a FEL, I have had too many uses, even it it was a glorified wheel barrow, it makes so many things easier.

I started out with 7 acres, of which 5 was field and mowed with a 21hp NH and a 60 inch MMM, worked fine, then I bought another 3 acres and moved to a 30 HP Kubota with a 72 inch MMM, I use the tractor mostly for mowing and removing snow. I know it has to snow sometime in Tennessee and you have a long drive way, I wouldn't want to push a snow blower on that. With 5 acres I would say in MHO you would be fine with a 20 something HP unit, but give a second consideration about the FEL.

 

[bigdad]

For about a hundred bucks you can get a carryall frame for the (B7610) 3 pt. Almost as handy as a FEL. With all that grass to maintain you could mount a spray rig on the carryall.

BTW....Nice home!

 

[tony123]

We just moved onto 3 acres last June. I didn't know jack about tractors prior to that. I knew I would have grass to mow, so I thought I'd splurge and buy myself a "toy". I picked up a 30 year old Yanmar (20hp).

I can testify that you will be amazed at all the projects that suddenly show up once you have a tool like a tractor. I really didn't think I needed one, but I "wanted" one. And now, looking back over the last 9-10 months, nearly every project that we've done has been worlds easier with the tractor. And most would not have been possible without it. I've got a FEL on my wishlist.

It is very likely that you will one day realize that it was short sited to buy a "mowing only" type of machine.

You might consider getting a zero-turn for mowing, and a used tractor with FEL?

Best of luck and have fun shopping!

 

[Gittyup]

Nice place. That's a lot of grass to cut. I would consider two machines: a big zero turn will make quick work of grass. And a tractor is truly indespensible for anyone who likes to work their property. FEL should be mandatory too. 4WD maybe not be necessary on your flat, dry land. But, most tractors in the size that you will be looking at will have it as a standard feature. If you ever decide to sell, the 4WD would be more attractive to potential buyers.

The machines you are looking at are good choices. There are many good machines out there other than Kubota and JD: MF, NH, Kioti, Mahindra, Branson, TYM, CC and so on. You should look at as many as you can before deciding.

 

[Harry c]

DJ
You don't say what part of TN you're in but I'm guessing somewhere in the western part. Never saw that much flat land in the middle or eastern sections. (I'm originally from Knoxville.) Pick whatever ZTR or tractor best suited for the jobs you need. As for the golf course from cornfield, I'd suggest you find someone with a Harley Rake or other power box rake to run over the area. I'm not usually a proponent of "outsourcing" work. I like to do it all myself. But a neighbor had a couple of acres done with one of these rigs on a skid steer and I was thoroughly impressed. It took maybe an hour to do the whole place and it was perfectly smooth and ready to seed.

I like my FEL for mulching, etc but from the looks of your place you can probably back your trailer or truck right to the spot. I also have a boom sprayer for weed control and fertilizer application but you could probably handle all that with a pull behind spreader. Five acres is a lot of mowing. You might try to find something similar to a golf course mower since you have few obstructions.

 

[NuBota]

Assume Tennessee is not water starved like Colorado. Five acres is a lot of grass.

Even if not I'm guessing you'll need to water at least some during the summer - so unless you will have additional wells drilled strategically thoughout, maybe FEL and backhoe for irrigation systems?

I agree with the others though - all that mowing go ZTR

 

[DJFaninTN]

Thanks for all the input. Some good things to really consider. Now for the Zero Turn thought. That was my first thought as well. In fact I had a dealer let me have one for a weekend to test drive. While it was a lot of fun to drive, the ground was way too rough. You wouldn't have to worry about having a kidney stone because it would have been jarred right out of you! Zero turns aren't the most comfortable ride and I am not worried about being so fast either.

So that is why I am looking at the tractor first. Lots of ground work to do (spraying, disc the ground, seeding, fertilizing). I figure it will take a few seasons to get it exactly right.

 

[putt_putt_green]

Make sure your garage doors are as tall as possible. A lot more tractors fit with the ROPS up with 8 foot doors than with the standard 7 foot doors.

 

[LBrown59]

I didn't know they made FELs with out Tractors.

I have a BX23 TLB with a 60"" mmm.
I don't have a box blade so I just use a BX1500 with front blade and a tiller on the back.
Definately for that much mowing.

You can replace a ZTR with a tractor but you can't replace a tractor with a ZTR

A FEL will quickly become your best friend. You'll find uses for it that won't occur to you until you have one.

Finally settled on a BX24 TLB with a 54" mid-mount-mower a box blade and a thumb for the backhoe.
I'd go with a 60" MMM with the flat land that it looks like you have.

I have a Craftsman lawn tractor for finish mowing and if it ever dies I intend to replace it with a ZTR, but I will always have my tractor too

 

[LBrown59]

I* really don't think I will need the FEL. My neighbor has one if needed.
2*I desire the entire 5 acres to look like a golf course.
I had a dealer let me have a Zero turn for a weekend to test drive. the ground was way too rough. You wouldn't have to worry about having a kidney stone because it would have been jarred right out of you!

1*How do you know that his FEL will fit what ever tractor you get?
2*How can a 0 turn ride so rough on ground that's like a golf course?

 

[DJFaninTN]

1*How do you know that his FEL will fit what ever tractor you get?
2*How can a 0 turn ride so rough on ground that's like a golf course?


Well as stated in the original post the ground in its current state is rough. We will have to disc the ground and level it out and then we can work towards getting it looking like a golf course.

The neighbor has a bobcat so that is why I was stating I wasn't sure if I just had to have an FEL. Right now I am leaning towards going ahead and getting one.

 

[LBrown59]

Going with a FEL is a good idea.
A skid steer is very heavy and the wheels have to slide when turning.
These 2 things are the perfect combination for tearing up that golf course lawn.
You will find the little things you need a FEL for won't get done if you try to rely on borrowing the skid steer because you won't want to bother with borrowing the skid steer for them.
You need to try out a ZTR on a golf course like lawn so you know how it will perform on the type of lawn you want to mow with it.
The Big negative of a ZTR is their single purpose.
I much prefer the multi propose tractor.

1*How do you know that his FEL will fit what ever tractor you get?
2*How can a 0 turn ride so rough on ground that's like a golf course?


Well as stated in the original post the ground in its current state is rough. We will have to disc the ground and level it out and then we can work towards getting it looking like a golf course.

The neighbor has a bobcat so that is why I was stating I wasn't sure if I just had to have an FEL. Right now I am leaning towards going ahead and getting one.