Dk45_Jeff
Silver Member
Yes it’s yet another 'what should I buy?' question. My home is on 10 acres in central Virginia, but I also have 130 acres 600 miles north in New York. It’s been hard enough convincing my wife (that’s were the jewelry comes in) we need one tractor so a second machine is not in the immediate future. The machine I buy will have to serve at both places so it will have to be trailered. The tow vehicle is a 2500HD pickup, which will realistically tow 5 tons. Subtracting 3000 pounds for the trailer, my tractor and implements will have to weigh less than 7000 pounds.
Our VA property was clear cut six years ago, and the property is littered logs and large limbs with lots of 1’ to 2’ stumps. There is a 1 acre area that we want to convert into a pond with some excavation and building an earthen dam. With the contours of the site, I estimate its about 450 yards of dirt to dig and move for the pond. My hunting club has nearby property that needs brush cutting and food plot management. There are all the usual chores moving and spreading mulch/compost/sand/gravel/etc, road and trail maintenance, snow removal and a medium sized vegetable garden to be done. We have garden tractors at home and at the cabin to handle finish mowing and the smaller gardening chores.
At our vacation property we have several small fields to rough cut each year, I let them grow 5 to 7 years between cuttings. ~80 acres are forested and I have a lot of downed 60’ to 80’ balsams forming tangles that need clearing. The semi-annual privy relocation would be a lot easier with a backhoe and a set of pallet forks. There’s a couple of miles of roads, 300 feet of river bank two creeks and food plots to maintain on top of the rest.
I have plenty of time in Virginia, but when at the cabin I want to do the chores quickly. To accomplish my goals I think I need a tractor somewhere between 20 and 40 hp with a FEL, BH, 2 button plow and 5’ or 6’ rotary cutter/box blade/disc. Are my expectations reasonable? My budget for all this is $25k, it would have been substantially more but my wife can identify cubic zirconia at 5 yards.
Our VA property was clear cut six years ago, and the property is littered logs and large limbs with lots of 1’ to 2’ stumps. There is a 1 acre area that we want to convert into a pond with some excavation and building an earthen dam. With the contours of the site, I estimate its about 450 yards of dirt to dig and move for the pond. My hunting club has nearby property that needs brush cutting and food plot management. There are all the usual chores moving and spreading mulch/compost/sand/gravel/etc, road and trail maintenance, snow removal and a medium sized vegetable garden to be done. We have garden tractors at home and at the cabin to handle finish mowing and the smaller gardening chores.
At our vacation property we have several small fields to rough cut each year, I let them grow 5 to 7 years between cuttings. ~80 acres are forested and I have a lot of downed 60’ to 80’ balsams forming tangles that need clearing. The semi-annual privy relocation would be a lot easier with a backhoe and a set of pallet forks. There’s a couple of miles of roads, 300 feet of river bank two creeks and food plots to maintain on top of the rest.
I have plenty of time in Virginia, but when at the cabin I want to do the chores quickly. To accomplish my goals I think I need a tractor somewhere between 20 and 40 hp with a FEL, BH, 2 button plow and 5’ or 6’ rotary cutter/box blade/disc. Are my expectations reasonable? My budget for all this is $25k, it would have been substantially more but my wife can identify cubic zirconia at 5 yards.
