Newbie here with the same old questions, but for the last several days I've been burning up the web as well as my brain, trying to figure out what to buy, if anything.
First, this seems like a wonderful site, full of friendly information.
The JD 2320 has definitely caught my eye, and I've enjoyed reading all the great reviews about it on here.
My place is just shy of 2 acres. My yearly vegetable garden takes up about 2/10s of an acre. Little less than half an acre is wooded. What's left gets mowed. It's all flat, with a few trees in the yard, but mainly trees around the border.
My current equipment consists of a 15 year old JD STX46 mower which is beginning to show its age. My tractor is a 1949 Farmall Cub that I inherited from my Dad about 4 years ago, and is the only tractor I've ever owned. Both the STX46 and the Cub still do the job for which they were intended, but for those of you not familiar with the Cub, the '49 Cub was produced before a fast hitch was invented for the Cubs, so the drawbar is bolted to the final drives, with plow or disc harrow bolted to the drawbar. Drawbar and attached implement is then removed so the cultivators can then be bolted to finals. Needless to say, the older I get, the harder it becomes for me to get those implements attached/detached. I will never part with this tractor because it was Dad's, but it sure would be nice to have something a little more modern!
So, I'm thinking, ok, the 2320 with the 62" drive-over deck would handle my mowing. But the thing is, out of all the web sites I've researched, I've never seen anyone mention running a 2320 with a landplow. Deere sells them for the 2320 - it's on their site. Then I began thinking, maybe everyone uses the tiller attachment, which eliminates the need for a plow as well as a disc harrow. Is that the way it's done? I don't claim to be a farmer - just a "country" guy that enjoys his garden and the harvest from it.
I am in NC, so a snowblade/blower might get used once a year - not worth the money. There may come a time when I would clear out some of the woods at the back of the place, but I really have no plans for that set in stone, in fact, the more woods the better - it seperates me from the neighbors. Driveway is only 100' long, so I don't know if a box blade would even be of much benefit. You see, I'm trying to "justify" my expense :licking:
So for the present, the 2320 would only be used for mowing 7-8 months out of the year, and prepping the garden for planting - which might take a week at the most. I would still use the Cub for cultivating as it has all the CUTs beat as far as ground clearance.
Is the 2320 a $15K - $20K overkill for what I want do?
The Cub can be retrofitted with a fast hitch for about $500, but then I'd have to replace all my non-fasthitch implements (plow, disc harrow, and cultivators too I guess) with fast hitch ones. All that is still cheaper than a 2320, but also still dealing with a 61 year old piece of antique iron that has the turning radius of a small airport.
Anyways, thanks for any and all advice. I appreciate it!
First, this seems like a wonderful site, full of friendly information.
The JD 2320 has definitely caught my eye, and I've enjoyed reading all the great reviews about it on here.
My place is just shy of 2 acres. My yearly vegetable garden takes up about 2/10s of an acre. Little less than half an acre is wooded. What's left gets mowed. It's all flat, with a few trees in the yard, but mainly trees around the border.
My current equipment consists of a 15 year old JD STX46 mower which is beginning to show its age. My tractor is a 1949 Farmall Cub that I inherited from my Dad about 4 years ago, and is the only tractor I've ever owned. Both the STX46 and the Cub still do the job for which they were intended, but for those of you not familiar with the Cub, the '49 Cub was produced before a fast hitch was invented for the Cubs, so the drawbar is bolted to the final drives, with plow or disc harrow bolted to the drawbar. Drawbar and attached implement is then removed so the cultivators can then be bolted to finals. Needless to say, the older I get, the harder it becomes for me to get those implements attached/detached. I will never part with this tractor because it was Dad's, but it sure would be nice to have something a little more modern!
So, I'm thinking, ok, the 2320 with the 62" drive-over deck would handle my mowing. But the thing is, out of all the web sites I've researched, I've never seen anyone mention running a 2320 with a landplow. Deere sells them for the 2320 - it's on their site. Then I began thinking, maybe everyone uses the tiller attachment, which eliminates the need for a plow as well as a disc harrow. Is that the way it's done? I don't claim to be a farmer - just a "country" guy that enjoys his garden and the harvest from it.
I am in NC, so a snowblade/blower might get used once a year - not worth the money. There may come a time when I would clear out some of the woods at the back of the place, but I really have no plans for that set in stone, in fact, the more woods the better - it seperates me from the neighbors. Driveway is only 100' long, so I don't know if a box blade would even be of much benefit. You see, I'm trying to "justify" my expense :licking:
So for the present, the 2320 would only be used for mowing 7-8 months out of the year, and prepping the garden for planting - which might take a week at the most. I would still use the Cub for cultivating as it has all the CUTs beat as far as ground clearance.
Is the 2320 a $15K - $20K overkill for what I want do?
The Cub can be retrofitted with a fast hitch for about $500, but then I'd have to replace all my non-fasthitch implements (plow, disc harrow, and cultivators too I guess) with fast hitch ones. All that is still cheaper than a 2320, but also still dealing with a 61 year old piece of antique iron that has the turning radius of a small airport.
Anyways, thanks for any and all advice. I appreciate it!
