Considering new BCS

[ElSueno Farms]

Have a nice 3/4 acre garden spot on new property and want to make as much of it as possible into a garden. Nice pipe and field fence surrounds plot, water available, was used as horse pasture prior to us getting the property.
considering a BCS 739 with power harrow, roller blade flail mower, and chipper shredder as attachments. Plan to compost and use green manure as much as I can. Soil is good sandy loam.
i have a 6 ft disc harrow and planned to disc the entire plot several times and plant fall cover crop.

it has been years since I operated a tiller of any type, your suggestions on equipment choices, closest dealers is almost 3 hours away. Plan to dedicate the equipment to garden use, but over time May find additional uses for other attachments on the 30 additional acres.

 

[HEC]

I had one a few years ago and they are a very good machine . I only had the tiller for mine and it did a fine job , other than that I can't add to much . I don't remember the model number but it was one size smaller than the biggest . The one I had a differential lock and that was a very nice feature to have .

 

[WesKootenay]

The 739 appears to be similar to our 732 with the addition of an extra gear and 'power safe' clutch. Ours came with a rototiller and plow about 7 years ago, we have added a Berta flail mower and a trailer hitch. We were going to buy a rotary plow but our local farm co-op has a rental unit. Considered a snow blower and a chipper but went with individual machines. Our BCS has been almost bullet-proof, have had to replace cables + free up the clutch (my fault ) don't know how we could garden without it.

 

[joecoin]

I've had a Grillo 107D for 7 years.

Used for mowing only until this year, I have put in a 200 sq ft garden.

Tiller and cultivator are the only attachments I have so far.
Next year will be buying the Aldo Biagioli Mini Bedshaper.

If your soil is already loose (which it may be since it was a horse pasture) I don't know if you'll need a plow, I tilled my plot that was farm land that had lain fallow for 30 years. Did not need a plow.

 

[cmyoung2]

Spend the extra and get the 749. Steering brakes are worth it. Or spend some time and find a used 850, 85852, or 853. All have the larger motor and brakes. Since you have larger tractors, use them for the heavy plowing like you plan, altho discing may not be enough for a old horse area, it will be hard. I have a 850 with rotary plow, tiller, culitivators, ridgers for the garden, plus a chipper/shredder which I don't use much, flail mower(love it) finish mower(Zannon),Snowblower, plus I built a blade, wheel barrow(heavily used) logging arch, and a couple of other pieces. I started with a BCS that did not have the steering brakes, traded and would not go back.

 

[Ford850]

I have a 853 that I use with a tiller, snow blower, large converted Gravely blade, sulky, and ride on trailer. I wanted the 853 so I could use the transport gear for the trailer and sulky use. I also pull my log splitter and fertilizer spreader occasionally. The flail and power harrow seem to work for others, but I think my soil has too much clay so I rely on the deeper till. In sandy loam it would be better, but does it provide enough churning to handle the green manure?

 

[Freep]

I also have an 853 with sulky, flail, power harrow, and rotary plow. That rotary plow will loosen up soil significantly and makes a good first run prior to the harrow if you are interested in any deeper tillage, though possibly not as necessary for your soil. It's a relatively (to flail and harrow) inexpensive attachment, so just pointing it out. I bought the 853 thinking that I'd rather have more power than needed than not enough: Now, given my use of flail and harrow, it seems to me to be ~just~ enough.

 

[5030]

I guess of you are upwardly mobile and money is no object, they are a nice machine but, there are a number of rear tine tillers on the market for a lot less

 

[ElSueno Farms]

I rented a Honda rear tine years ago, nice machine, but no attachments available. Other than Grillo, what are some other machines that have a full line of attachments?

 

[5030]

Troy Bilt (Horse) used to. Not sure now. My Cub Cadet has the hiller-furrower attachment available and I have one but all I need. I would be concerned about available output power on the BCS for running auxiliary implements as there isn't very much (power) available

 

[cmyoung2]

Troy Bilt (Horse) used to. Not sure now. My Cub Cadet has the hiller-furrower attachment available and I have one but all I need. I would be concerned about available output power on the BCS for running auxiliary implements as there isn't very much (power) available

Not sure why you think there is not much power to run equipment with a BCS. THe larger models use a 13hp Honda, and mine easily handles the rotary plow, tiller, chipper/shredder, with no problem. The flail mower is probably the most power hungry implement I have, and my 850 will handle almost anything if I am reasonable about the speed.

 

[5030]

Probably because I farm so PTO power for me is not less than 100. 13 horsepower crankshaft is minuscule for me. I bet the starter motor on my tractors makes that much.

For my use, a tiller is for the garden anyway. Nothing else. I looked at a BCS, my tractor dealer sells them. Just too much jack for my use. besides, blue isn't my favorite color anyway.

I guess for a postage stamp sized plot and being upwardly mobile, a BCS might be a good investment of should I say an expensive investment. For me, it's not.

 

[plumberroy]

My Grillo G85D is a far better tiller than Troybuilt horse or Honda's 8 hp rear tine tillers BCS tiller is basically a Grillo design . Even though I don't have a large garden having a tiller that I can depend on matters to me. New Troybuilt tillers aren't what the originals used to be. You might want to look at Grillo too similar to BCS but you get a little more tractor for you money because they aren't as well known as BCS

 

[jbradley]

My Grillo G85D is a far better tiller than Troybuilt horse or Honda's 8 hp rear tine tillers BCS tiller is basically a Grillo design . Even though I don't have a large garden having a tiller that I can depend on matters to me. New Troybuilt tillers aren't what the originals used to be. You might want to look at Grillo too similar to BCS but you get a little more tractor for you money because they aren't as well known as BCS

I had a mid-1970s Troy-bilt Horse powered by the 6hp Tecumseh engine, and I thought it was next to worthless. It always ran fine, but the tine rotation speed was only about 1.5 times the wheel speed (Troy-bilt did increase the tine speed a couple of years later). The tines almost walked along with the forward speed of the tiller. My first BCS, a 932, was an order of magnitude better than the Troy-bilt. I have a 948, now, and my only complaint is that its steering brakes don't work worth a damn. There is plenty of brake shoe present and the cables are adjusted properly, so I'm not sure why. They work so poorly that I can't tell which wheel in braking.

 

[cmyoung2]

Probably because I farm so PTO power for me is not less than 100. 13 horsepower crankshaft is minuscule for me. I bet the starter motor on my tractors makes that much.

For my use, a tiller is for the garden anyway. Nothing else. I looked at a BCS, my tractor dealer sells them. Just too much jack for my use. besides, blue isn't my favorite color anyway.

I guess for a postage stamp sized plot and being upwardly mobile, a BCS might be a good investment of should I say an expensive investment. For me, it's not.

Different scales of farming uses different equipment. For a small market farm a 100hp tractor is slight overkill. For a small livestock operation that only needs fenceline mowing on steep terrain, big just does not work. It would be difficult to turn a large tractor around on our hills, the BCS can go just about anywhere I can walk, and if it does turn over, I'm not on it. I do use a M9000 on another farm, great for what it does, just doesn't work on my place. Retired and definitely not upwardly mobile, but happy with the versatility of the BCS.

 

[plumberroy]

I had my Grillo out last night I set the tiller to dig about an inch and a half And ran through 4 rows planted early to take out weeds but not dig deep enough to get to the still wet ground

 

[ElSueno Farms]

My decision is a BCS possibly model 749, or get a Kubota BX series with reverse rotation tiller and loader. My MX is too large to get around in the planned garden area, and as I age, currently 64 yoa, how long can I handle a two wheeled BCS for gardening needs. Could add smaller implements as needed to BX, which will probably be my wife’s garden tractor. She is planning some raised beds, some garden row crops, an orchard area, chicken coop, and closer to the house a smaller “kitchen” garden for small assortment of herbs and flowers.
if I did not have to drive 3 hours to my closest BCS dealer it may help,
price Difference is least important concern, just want to buy once and get it done.

 

[cmyoung2]

I am 65, but almost 6' 200 lbs. I have a BCS 850 with a fairly full line of implements, which I love, but it can be a handful. But I do live in the mountains where nothing is flat. The BCS is not small, about 7-8' long depending on implement, so sometimes tight spaces are a challenge, but where it works it is great. I also have a BX2230 with loader. It will pick up stuff. I like that. I'm not real comfortable on slopes, but I do use it for bush hogging with a flail mower. Where it can't go, the BCS does. But the Kubota is bigger. Tractor, loader, and rear implement almost fills up a 16' trailer, so small garden plots can be a challenge.
Once a raised bed goes in, forget the tiller. Small row crops, orchard duty,(watch overhead limbs), mowing, either will work, depends on how much physical effort you can put into it.

 

[Hopestill Farm]

Have a nice 3/4 acre garden spot on new property and want to make as much of it as possible into a garden. Nice pipe and field fence surrounds plot, water available, was used as horse pasture prior to us getting the property.
considering a BCS 739 with power harrow, roller blade flail mower, and chipper shredder as attachments. Plan to compost and use green manure as much as I can. Soil is good sandy loam.
i have a 6 ft disc harrow and planned to disc the entire plot several times and plant fall cover crop.

it has been years since I operated a tiller of any type, your suggestions on equipment choices, closest dealers is almost 3 hours away. Plan to dedicate the equipment to garden use, but over time May find additional uses for other attachments on the 30 additional acres.

The rotary plow will do a terrific job breaking up your sod. I use the single-direction one; I have not found a need for the flippable one, though it might be nice for fat gardens. If you are planning to do no-till gardening (and I recommend it) you will not need the plow much after the first year, except to break new ground and recover sections that get away from you. The BCS tiller is a great tiller, much better than the Troybilt. Even with no-till, it's useful for some chores, like keeping quackgrass from running in from the edges, and tilling in cover crop seed after broadcasting. Haven't used a power harrow. A flail mower is nice for cover crops and can be used as a lawn mower, though a good self-propelled mower is a better choice. I would avoid the chipper/shredder. No unit short of a commercial tow-behind will feed fast enough and chip large enough stock to give you much in the way of chips to use around the property, and every second of use will be noisy and unpleasant. The double-action sicklebar mower is a nice attachment. The snowblower works well.