Buying Advice How much Tractor Do I need for 300 acre farm

[Egon]

Consider doing a lot more planing, estimating cost/earnings and seeing the local agriculture agent before laying out any money for equipment.

 

[jenkinsph]

Consider doing a lot more planing, estimating cost/earnings and seeing the local agriculture agent before laying out any money for equipment.

My guess is it would need more planning too. A small utility tractor would be nice to have to get started, to really work 300 acres will take an assortment of tractors and equipment.

 

[TripleR]

I really can't improve on the advice given so far. Having grew up farming many years ago and having been out of it since the early 70's nothing I could tell you would be relevant today. I still live on a farm and my wife recently retired from USDA, so we have some frame of reference. I do know enough about farming that we rent out all of our tillable ground 180 acres on one farm and about 120 on another a few miles away. We have taken a little over 100 acres out of production completely. We have our Great Plains no till for sale.

You simply cannot imagine the obstacles or requirements. You not only have the tractor and equipment, but a combine, grain truck/trucks/buggies, grain storage with dryers or pay a boatload to have this done AFTER everyone else has finished with theirs. Depending on where you live, you will need to look into putting your land to grade for irrigation or price walking rigs if your land can't be contoured properly. You will also need sheds for storage of equipment if you don't already have them. You need to become a decent welder or make friends with one, get lots of tools, really big air compressor etc.

We raised cattle and you couldn't get me back into that at the point of a gun.

You really need to have a good financial reserve for the off years. Prices are not bad now, but have been and may be again.

Just a few thoughts for what they are worth and I am sure others will disagree. Also, I am not saying it can't be done, just not by me.

 

[GGB]

This discussion reminded me of one of my favorite jokes about farming:

"What's the best way to make a Million dollars farming?"

"Start with $2 Million!"

GGB

 

[Duffster]

Good point-I was referring to 30" row equipment, not 40". In our area, you really don't see much left of the older 40"-much of it has gone to the recycler when scrap iron prices went up, but I'm sure there's still 4 row equipment out there. (For that matter, a lot of used up 6 row equipment has gone to the scrapyard as well.)

My thought was that you can get by with a smaller, less expensive tractor if you are using 4 row equipment.

It's certainly true that the newer tractors are more fuel efficient, but without know the budget and available time available for the operation, I was assuming a limited budget but a lot of time. Although fuel is certainly one of the costs of operation, you can still buy a lot of fuel with the money not spent on a more expensive tractor. Just a thought....

Ken Sweet, can you chime in on this subject?

GGB

Here there are some 4RW around yet but 4 row narrow isn't real common. Depending on the soil a 65+ hp 4WD should not have a problem with a 6 row planter. We pulled a 4RW with two types of fertilizer with 70 hp 2WD and pull 6RN with 2 ferts with 90 hp 2WD.

Not sure how you would even combine 4RN with modern equipment. We have a JD 9410 that is about as small as it gets for a modern machine and it is tight in 4RW.

 

[rilesdav]

Hey GBB,
Love the joke, I am going to use it but subsitute horses for farming and tell it to all my wife's friends.
Thanks
Dave

 

[Duffster]

I really can't improve on the advice given so far. Having grew up farming many years ago and having been out of it since the early 70's nothing I could tell you would be relevant today. I still live on a farm and my wife recently retired from USDA, so we have some frame of reference. I do know enough about farming that we rent out all of our tillable ground 180 acres on one farm and about 120 on another a few miles away. We have taken a little over 100 acres out of production completely. We have our Great Plains no till for sale.

You simply cannot imagine the obstacles or requirements. You not only have the tractor and equipment, but a combine, grain truck/trucks/buggies, grain storage with dryers or pay a boatload to have this done AFTER everyone else has finished with theirs. Depending on where you live, you will need to look into putting your land to grade for irrigation or price walking rigs if your land can't be contoured properly. You will also need sheds for storage of equipment if you don't already have them. You need to become a decent welder or make friends with one, get lots of tools, really big air compressor etc.

We raised cattle and you couldn't get me back into that at the point of a gun.

You really need to have a good financial reserve for the off years. Prices are not bad now, but have been and may be again.

Just a few thoughts for what they are worth and I am sure others will disagree. Also, I am not saying it can't be done, just not by me.

Do you really think that trucks and buggies are necessary for ~80 acres of corn? A couple of used gravity boxes would do everything necessary. Hire it hauled to market in the spring.

80 acres corn @ 200 bu/acre would require one 16k bu grain bin with a stirator and a drying floor. Not really that big of deal. 80 acres beans @ 55 bu/acre would need only a 4500 bushel bin which could easily be bought used.

None of this seams the least bit overwhelming if done over a few years.

 

[dawoodwa]

I agree with duffster, I wouldn't buy all the harvesting equipment, if there are other producers in the area I would contract my harvesting. We did all our own on the dairy but we were farming 1500+ acres. Sizing equipment is the key to getting it done, we aimed for getting our corn planted in about 10 days. We kept the planters about a day behind the discs, dont want the soil to dry out too much before you get the seed in.

Just saying a 100 hp or 150hp or 60hp tractor will fit your needs doesn't give you the help you need. How much time do you have to devote to the farm, do you have an off farm job that dictates your schedule? The size of your fields also needs to be taken into consideration, we had 12 to 24 foot wide discs that we used depending on the fields. We always planted with 6 row planters though.

Don't jump to the 7330 or any of the new tractors, lot of overhead that may take a lot of time to payoff. If you can afford it go for it. We farmed with all JD equipment but we kept it in the 40 series, mainly 4440 and 4640 sized equipment, technology was a little dated but we could work on it. When one of the 7000 or 8000 series tractors gets a cold it takes a doctor with a lot of expensive diagnostic equipment to fix it. That is unless you want to drop 80k or more for a new machine.

Also consider you will need spray and fertilizer equipment. This can be contracted but spraying is usually dictated by conditions and you might need it when no one is available.

I had beef cattle for many years and for the most part I teamed up with another farmer and we split the equipment costs for the hay equipment. I cut, tedded, and raked all the hay and he rolled it.

 

[nebraskasparks]

I've known people that were in the same boat....and the best advice they got was to rent the crop land the first year or two so that they could get their homework done on what they needed and see what needed fixed. Took all the stress and hassle of having to "run" the farm off their shoulders for a couple of years while they fixed the house, barn...etc..
Give you plenty of time to ask questions and get the right equipment you need. Best wishes.

 

[TripleR]

Do you really think that trucks and buggies are necessary for ~80 acres of corn? A couple of used gravity boxes would do everything necessary. Hire it hauled to market in the spring.

80 acres corn @ 200 bu/acre would require one 16k bu grain bin with a stirator and a drying floor. Not really that big of deal. 80 acres beans @ 55 bu/acre would need only a 4500 bushel bin which could easily be bought used.

None of this seams the least bit overwhelming if done over a few years.

Just throwing stuff out there, so maybe not, but when we were farming we lost a lot of money when we had to wait to have someone do this. We could not afford to wait a few years as we had to have other jobs. We sold all of our equipment, but kept the land. An important component left out or missed by me was the OP financial situation which would significantly impact how much he could invest and how long he could hold out.

I do not mean to be a complete downer, but I and my wife have seen too many farmers of this size lose everything including their land. It happened to our neighbor a couple of years ago. He had to sell the family farm and he grew up farming.

Refer to the last line of my post. "Also, I am not saying it can't be done, just not by me."

 

[blueriver]

Farming is a difficult task ... sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

Money is important or a source of money, if your source is a bank ... be carefull your good credit can allow you to go overboard and thus good credit may go bad.

New equipment is nice, cost nice too!!

 

[flusher]

I recently acquired a 300 acre farm through inheritance. The farm has not been worked in many years. There are roughly 150 to 160 acres of tillable land and about 100 acres of good rolling pasture land with about 40 or 50 acres of timber. I plan to purchase a tractor and some equipment to work this farm but I am unsure of the size/type of equipment to buy. I plan to plant corn/soybeans on the 160 acres of tillable land and start a cattle herd on the 100 acres of pasture. I don't expect to do all of this over night but I want to purchase a tractor and some row crop equipment. What size and type of tractor should I purchase and what size disc, cultivator and planter should I purchase to row crop 160 acres?

Ask yourself how much time you intend to devote to farming. If it's full time, then you probably can get by with a smaller tractor (50-80 hp pto) and smaller implements 8-12ft wide and keep your equipment costs down.

If you're a part time farmer, time becomes an issue. Then you might want to consider a larger tractor (100-150 hp pto) and bigger implements (up to 20 ft wide).

One of my neighbors farms part time and plants a 200 acre hayfield with a 165 hp Steiger Super Wildcat and a 100 hp IH tractor using 10-20 ft wide implements.

 

[Duffster]

Just throwing stuff out there, so maybe not, but when we were farming we lost a lot of money when we had to wait to have someone do this. We could not afford to wait a few years as we had to have other jobs. We sold all of our equipment, but kept the land. An important component left out or missed by me was the OP financial situation which would significantly impact how much he could invest and how long he could hold out.

I do not mean to be a complete downer, but I and my wife have seen too many farmers of this size lose everything including their land. It happened to our neighbor a couple of years ago. He had to sell the family farm and he grew up farming.

Refer to the last line of my post. "Also, I am not saying it can't be done, just not by me."

That is a shame but I would have to think that there was some managerial or business practice issues at hand. Or maybe they just live to high on the hog.

I guess I am looking at things differently than most here. Most are saying to rent it out. Not bad idea but if the renter can make money while paying rent then the owner should be able to make money with out the rent coming right off the top.

If this farm was here it would rent for north of $300/acre. Assuming that "inherited" means that the farm is paid for or nearly paid for. If that was the case here he would have a $48,000 dollar head start.

As far as the equipment issues, everything that needs to be done could easily be hired done or the equipment rented to do it if the equipment was not/can not be purchased in a timely manner. Here there are tons of guys doing custom combining and planting, including us. Corn and beans have a large enough planting and harvesting window that hiring it done if needed should not cause any real financial harm.

 

[radman1]

IMHO, do not try starting farming from the beginning. My original family farm, combined with my land and brothers land is about 1200 acres. I have a full time job and mostly weekend farmer. My brother has full time job but has much more flexibility in his job and can take times as he needs it. Strongly recommend renting out all the acres to begin with. It would seem the OP has no experience in this field. No offense but starting with "what kind of tractor to buy" and asking TBNers is a little on the wild side IMHO. Why hasn't the land been worked for many years? That alone makes me nervous about the land. Will it require lots of work to get it back in production? Is the soil poor? Is it overgrown? Where is it located? Are you willing to buy a tractor, planter, sprayer, fertilizer machine, cultivator, disc, chisel ect? Do you know how to maintain much of this equipment? No till verses tilling the land requires different equipment. Will you need to have the soil tested? Do you know the seeding rates, fertilizer rates, spraying what chemicals, which chemicals, when to spray? Honestly, farming corn and soybeans for 100-150 acres of land it really a waste of time and not profitable. The overhead is just way to high. Why are farms getting larger and larger? Because they can use 1 relatively large machine to do many acres. Our 1200 acres uses primarily 2 tractors (245hp and 125 hp), 1 16 row no till planter, 90' sprayer, 1 fertilizer machine, ect. The efficiency of a farm actually goes down when they become over a few thousand acres because now they need 2 planters, more expensive sprayers, more tractors, ect to make the next level of production and they don't really have the land to make it as profitable for all the equipment.

If the OP does not want to rent the farm land, try share cropping the tillable land. In my area, the owner puts up the land, pays the taxes and pays half of the input costs including fertilizer, seed, chemical ect. The other guy provides all the equipment, fuel, labor and does the harvesting. OP assumes some of the risk and potential reward. This would also allow the OP time to find equipment, see how the farming is done and give time to decide if this is a viable venture.

The pasture maybe a little easier to start with less initial output but does the OP know how to care for the cattle? Will the cattle be in the pasture all year? Will they have to be fed in the winter? Will it be cow/calf operation, feeders ect? Does OP know how to care and look out for the cattle. Facilities to vaccinate, or treat animals? Do you have means to haul the cattle when needed? Cattle require frequent checking. 1-2 dead or sick animals really eats into the profits. How good is the pasture and fence? How many head/acre can it support? I rent out some pasture. So much $ per head/day. Renter maintains the fence but I supply the materials.

 

[Bob Ha]

I'll give a little advice that I haven't read yet. Contact the USDA/NRCS/FSA if your state/county has this service. I'm not sure they can or will help with the tractor choice but the land management they are wonderful. From analyzing your soil and giving recommendations to partially funding your projects. The Ponds, Bermuda grass (sprigged) and erosion are my projects under the Beginning farmer section.

 

[nwngunner]

I would start looking at good used equipment. Will save you alot of cash in the long run. Get your self a good field tractor and get your self a skid loader. Your going to be running cattle your going to need a skid loader to clean barns ect ect. Along with the skid loader you can use it for setting your new fence ect ect.

I would rent out the row crop for the first few years and start getting the property cleaned up. Get your fences and buildings back in to shape along with your pastures. Along with that get an atv, you will use the **** out of it.

Also, one thing that most people are looking over is repairs. Your going to need tools ect ect to do alot of your own repairs. Not every thing can be done by you, but alot of things can be fixed at home. Its going to take you most likely at least a year to get all of this togeather.

Once you get your pastures cleaned up and good to go start getting cattle. How ever you will need to get hay equipment. Also contact your local coop about getting lime put down on your pastures and hay fields. Another thing your going to have to consider what type of cattle are you going to run? Also your winters how bad are they, are you going to feed lot your cattle? If your going to feed lot are you going to just feed them corn and put bales of hay out, or are you going to grind silage in with hay and put silage out to the cattle each and every day. Along with that are you going to sell fat cattle or sell off calfs.

There is a **** of alot involved with cattle, includeing doing the vet work. If you do decided to do the vet work your self, now your looking at chutes and runways ect ect. Also looking at a semi and cattle hauler to transport them to market each year. Will have to put in automatic water tanks that are heated for winter. Also one last thing if you plan on feed lotting, you are going to want to put in bridge rail as fenceing as its going to be about the only real application for feed lotting cattle.

 

[Mace Canute]

oshills, there's been a lot of advice given here, but I have to side with the people who have said to forget about farming it yourself and just rent it out. That way you can watch for awhile and see what it takes to actually do it. A mixed farm takes lots of money, lots of time, quite a bit of knowledge, a little bit of good luck, a whole lot of hard work (some very hard work at times) and then you can cross your fingers that you don't go T.U.

You say you "unsure of the size/type of equipment to buy" and ask "What size and type of tractor should I purchase and what size disc, cultivator and planter should I purchase to row crop 160 acres?" It is obvious you are at the low point of the learning curve and I think you should not commit yourself to a course of action where the outcome is likely that you will lose your shirt. I grew up on a mixed farm, 1440 acres and about 150 to 200 head of cattle, so I do have a background to draw my opinion from.

 

[TripleR]

That is a shame but I would have to think that there was some managerial or business practice issues at hand. Or maybe they just live to high on the hog.

I guess I am looking at things differently than most here. Most are saying to rent it out. Not bad idea but if the renter can make money while paying rent then the owner should be able to make money with out the rent coming right off the top.

If this farm was here it would rent for north of $300/acre. Assuming that "inherited" means that the farm is paid for or nearly paid for. If that was the case here he would have a $48,000 dollar head start.

As far as the equipment issues, everything that needs to be done could easily be hired done or the equipment rented to do it if the equipment was not/can not be purchased in a timely manner. Here there are tons of guys doing custom combining and planting, including us. Corn and beans have a large enough planting and harvesting window that hiring it done if needed should not cause any real financial harm.

The mere fact that he lost his farm is evidence of some level of mismanagement or poor planning, but my point is that someone with a lifetime of farming experience can lose it all, so what are the chances someone with no experience on farmland that has been out of production is going to succeed. It took us several years to build our ground back up after someone farmed it to death; very, very lean years.

Yes, where you live makes a difference as there is no one here who will run their equipment down the road for small acreage unless they are close enough not to break their equipment down and even then you will get hind teat.

IMHO, do not try starting farming from the beginning. My original family farm, combined with my land and brothers land is about 1200 acres. I have a full time job and mostly weekend farmer. My brother has full time job but has much more flexibility in his job and can take times as he needs it. Strongly recommend renting out all the acres to begin with. It would seem the OP has no experience in this field. No offense but starting with "what kind of tractor to buy" and asking TBNers is a little on the wild side IMHO. Why hasn't the land been worked for many years? That alone makes me nervous about the land. Will it require lots of work to get it back in production? Is the soil poor? Is it overgrown? Where is it located? Are you willing to buy a tractor, planter, sprayer, fertilizer machine, cultivator, disc, chisel ect? Do you know how to maintain much of this equipment? No till verses tilling the land requires different equipment. Will you need to have the soil tested? Do you know the seeding rates, fertilizer rates, spraying what chemicals, which chemicals, when to spray? Honestly, farming corn and soybeans for 100-150 acres of land it really a waste of time and not profitable. The overhead is just way to high. Why are farms getting larger and larger? Because they can use 1 relatively large machine to do many acres. Our 1200 acres uses primarily 2 tractors (245hp and 125 hp), 1 16 row no till planter, 90' sprayer, 1 fertilizer machine, ect. The efficiency of a farm actually goes down when they become over a few thousand acres because now they need 2 planters, more expensive sprayers, more tractors, ect to make the next level of production and they don't really have the land to make it as profitable for all the equipment.

If the OP does not want to rent the farm land, try share cropping the tillable land. In my area, the owner puts up the land, pays the taxes and pays half of the input costs including fertilizer, seed, chemical ect. The other guy provides all the equipment, fuel, labor and does the harvesting. OP assumes some of the risk and potential reward. This would also allow the OP time to find equipment, see how the farming is done and give time to decide if this is a viable venture.

The pasture maybe a little easier to start with less initial output but does the OP know how to care for the cattle? Will the cattle be in the pasture all year? Will they have to be fed in the winter? Will it be cow/calf operation, feeders ect? Does OP know how to care and look out for the cattle. Facilities to vaccinate, or treat animals? Do you have means to haul the cattle when needed? Cattle require frequent checking. 1-2 dead or sick animals really eats into the profits. How good is the pasture and fence? How many head/acre can it support? I rent out some pasture. So much $ per head/day. Renter maintains the fence but I supply the materials.

Very impressive, wish I had said that.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Why is it that in these type of threads the OP is seldom heard from? He has made 2 posts 22 minutes apart and has not been heard from since. To me, there have been enough questions raised that I would think that he would want to answer so that we can help him out with some better advice. I know maybe something came up, and time will tell. It just seems odd to me.

Just my :2cents:

 

[Pushing_Tin]

Why is it that in these type of threads the OP is seldom heard from? He has made 2 posts 22 minutes apart and has not been heard from since. To me, there have been enough questions raised that I would think that he would want to answer so that we can help him out with some better advice. I know maybe something came up, and time will tell. It just seems odd to me.

Just my :2cents:

Agree, I think it's disrespectful to come here, ask a question and then have people with decades of experience spend a great deal of time thoughtfully answering questions... and then the OP never even comes back. It seems to happen here quite frequently. The "RTV or Tractor" thread is another example.