Thanks for the help. I talked to Rick earlier, and he was a great help too. As my friend says, it's no wonder he sells alot of tractors....he tries!!
As some backround, my wife and I bought a 400 acre farm two years ago. I lease it to my neighbor for his dairy operation, who runs some big 4x4s to deal with the nasty clay and speed up the job. I help out, and will have to do so more since his dad has health problems. His dad's a tough old coot, but he is 86 after all!! Simply put, his success is my success, and I admire him and his profession greatly!!
I maintain the roads on both of our properties (~800 acres), maintain logging trails, mow pasture that our horses don't chew, rake, ted and shuttle hay, equipment & implements. Snowplowing is the big winter sport here, and I also take care of our neighbors. I'm also building our log house, and am almost finished with it and the grounds. Aside from the foundation and raised septic (425yds), I continue to do all with my overworked Jinma 284. I don't care what anyone says...that $5500 was the best investment I ever made! I was never at a loss for horsepower, just weight and hydraulics...oh...and a backhoe. I also realized suddenly, that I'm at a loss for safety, as machines have their limits and I reached it.
I figured a 40-45 hp Kioti TLB, with their impressive mass and hydraulic power, would do the trick for both tip-toeing around the house, and then allow me to brushog faster, remove those ninja boulders, install the many culverts needed for the road and trail crossings of the 4 streams and springs, grade the roads and trails (clay + slopes = ruts) and re-establish the drainage in the fields. After I saw the DK55, I though maybe...just maybe, I could pinch hit with the baling and shuttle some round bales to his barns. I guess either the 45 or 55 will do everything adequately, but neither is a farm unit. I know I can't get it all, but I'll try excrutiatingly hard to!
At this point, I'm still debating between the two. It's gonna be tougher than I thought. It's probably because I was raised by a psychologist mom, and I'm a professional Analyst. Feel free to help some more....I'm actually sane....
