There is no such thing as the perfect tractor, or even the best tractor. I wont go into what the better brands are out there because they all have their plus and minus to them. What I think is the most important thing to know when buying a tractor and making the decision on what to get is knowing that one tractor is not going to do everything. I have 4 and I think I'm at a good place. The small one rarely gets used and I probably wouldn't miss it if I sold it, but when I do use it, it's nice to have.
Nothing digs better than a backhoe or excavator. But it's very specialized and it will either be used a lot for a short period of time, or sit for a very long period of time. When just starting out, it would be better to rent a mini excavator, or hire somebody with a mid sized excavator to do the work. It's just to much money to invest in a machine that could be used towards buying a better tractor.
Since you want a cab, you will be paying a lot of money. I just bought my first cab tractor 3 1/2 years ago. It shocked me how much it cost, but even more, it's amazed me at how much use I get out of it because of the cab. Put your money into the best cab tractor that you can afford. I'd stick with a brand that you can get parts for. The all break and you don't want to spend forever chasing down parts.
I financed my cab tractor over 7 years with 0% interest. It cost me $3,000 more then the cash price, or the price with interest. I did the math and the $3,000 was a lot less over a five-year loan with 5% interest, which is what they offered. My payment for a $55,000 tractor is $664 per month. I had to have it insured, and Texas Farm Bureau was something like $40 a month for insurance. I'm not sure exactly right new because I added my other tractors to it, my barn and liability for the farm and dumped Geico for a total of $180 a month. When financing a tractor, you will have to have insurance on it.
My small tractor is 37 hp and it's just too small to really get anything down. My other tractors are 65, 70 and 80 HP. I think this is a very good HP range to be in. Nothing uses DEF. I can pull a 12 foot batwing with plenty of power. I can handle 5 1/2 foot round bales easily, and I can move logs to the burn pile. The 80 hp tractor has a grapple, and that's one of the most used things I own!!! Buy the most HP you can afford, and then some. You will never have enough HP for everything, so get as much now as you can!!!
I keep the 12 foot batwing on my cab tractor all summer long. It's a huge pain to switch implements on the back of a tractor. Once it's attached, I keep it attached until mowing season is over. I keep the auger on the back of my 65 HP tractor all year round because I'm working on fencing. That's another never ending project that I do when I have the money and the time. Finding time is always a challenge because we have livestock and there are always ten things that have to be done every day.
Be sure the tractor you buy can operate a grapple. The day you buy the grapple will be the best day of your life!!! Don't worry about 3-point lift, it's the most meaningless thing to consider. I have controls for my lift arms on my back fenders. It's a very nice feature when connecting and removing implements. I only have it on the cab tractor, and it's something you really appreciate when you have it. Find the transmission with the lowest first gear out there. There will be times that you will pray for a lower gear!!!! Going fast is meaningless, but when you are at a bad angle, you can't go slow enough. Read up reviews on how well the AC works. It's shocking how many people complain about their AC not working very well and having to tint their windows to get a little relief. 4x4 is worth the money. It's the difference between being productive or not operating when you need to.
I'm not even considering anything not 4WD, I'm in the Appalachians. This ground might as well be virgin it's been left in hay for so long, and undeveloped. That means the root cellar needs dug, the greenhouse needs dug, the stream that feeds the pond has deltaed and needs reconvinced to be a single channel, there's a lot of land sculpting to be done, drainage to be cut... I could spend five years just doing all the dirt work that needs done. Fortunately I'm retired, and so is my wife, and the other couple living on the land, so time is available.
Everyone keeps helping me be as profitable as possible, and I appreciate that.
But
Profit is not the motive here. Self sufficiency is. If I can show just enough profit to keep the tax man off my back one year in five, I'm FINE with that.
Everyone involved in this have been top of our field professionals, who have hung up our duty belts/hardhats/keyboards/teaching credentials, and are now working on being as far away from that rat race, and all of the joys of working with things like nuclear bombs, and server farms as we can get. Yes, I could hire someone to do all the dirt work. And then be bored spitless.
Many folks have said things about "well buy old used iron, it's still good." And in many parts of the nation, that's probably good advice.
This is the part of the nation that believes in "Make it work, and keep it running." If it still runs, and takes less money a month to keep running than a new one costs a month, they ain't selling. We're talking about folks that are still using 1956 Ford row tractors for everyday work. That's not a complaint by the way, that's a brag. I've spent too long in the land of "disposable everything and throw money at the problem."
If this sounds like what we're setting up is a homestead? Right in one. That also means that we need to make everything we can, do multiple jobs. Four tractors is a wonderful thing, and I wish you the best with those.
I had a foreman that worked for me that had six ATVs, four boats on puget sound, three houses and a beach cottage... and worked every weekend to pay for all that crap. I guess he bought it so his kids, and his wife would have something to do, while he worked himself into an early grave.
Not my aspiration.
I'm working on separating the backhoe with a pto hydraulic pump but they're not easy to find anymore.
