Hi everyone,
I'm new here, and seeking your guidance.
I've recently purchased 5 acres near a big city here in Australia that I'd like to do some small scale agriculture on, likely to be sheep and pigs with a decent sized vegetable garden/fruit trees. It's not a huge amount of land, but it's located in a very productive area.
I come from living in a small block in the inner of the big city, so need to organise suitable equipment - but grew up on a dairy farm, so am very familiar with tractors & implements.
Based on advice I've read here, I'm better off purchasing a zero-turn to mow the lawn areas, as opposed to a mid-mount on a compact, so I will be purchasing one of those.
I would still value a tractor with loader & 4-in-1 bucket for tasks around the house, as well as pallet forks, hydraulic auger for post holes/planting trees, hay spear, slasher (I think its called a rotary cutter in NA) or flail mower. A Rotary hoe (tiller) might also be in the future.
We may chose to take on my father in law's 160ac farm that is nearby in the future too - that currently has a Kubota 7040 w/ loader, and a couple of older 45hp Internationals, one with a loader - but I'm hoping the tractor I purchase has an application not only today, but if that becomes a reality too, and could complement the existing utility tractors.
I'd like for the loader to have the capacity and lift height to lift 4x5 bales 3 high on their sides (i.e. min 8'6" lift height), decent enough flow for aforementioned auger, but be small in footprint as possible so it can work around the house if needed. If it can fit onto my existing 10x5 tandem utility trailer, that would be a bonus.
Price will definitely be a big consideration, and I want the tractor to give good service over a long time, and I'd like to have a good Dealer near me and Manufacturer that will stick around.
I'm not considering many of the Chinese options that exist here, or even Mahindra (even if I know the latter has better quality), and haven't heard the best reports on the NH Boomers or CaseIH Farmall's.
Low hour good brand used models seem to go for as much money at the moment as new ones, and after destroying my knees many a time riding clutches stacking hay etc. in my youth I'm inclined to avoid an older tractor without hydro trans.
I'm yet to go sit on tractors in a dealership - and some of the manufacturers don't publish pricing, but I've narrowed down the likely suspects to:
Some of the model numbers above might be different to NA, as we don't have emissions requirements in off-road vehicles here, so we get different engines (or the same engines minus emissions equipment) - but otherwise they will be the same as the similar model numbered models in North America.
In terms of pricing, from what I can judge is TYM is the cheapest ($32k AUD fitted with 4in1 loader), Kioti has some good specials on at the moment ($34k AUD hydro trans fitted with 4in1 loader) followed by Iseki ($35k fitted with 4in1 loader), with Deere and Kubota not offering up their pricing, but I do anticipate them being high 30's (possibly even low 40's with a 4in1 loader), as I know the standard L/3E is low 30's fitted with a regular loader/bucket.
I've got excellent dealers for all of them close, but of note the TYM dealership network is limited in Australia and they are imported privately - both of these facts worries me if either party goes belly up. This happened recently to many Branson dealers here recently.
Kubota/Iseki/John Deere are all imported by the manufacturers here and have excellent dealer networks - Kioti is imported by a large 3rd party (that also imports Deutz tractors) and has quite a strong network too.
My heart says buy a Kubota no matter the cost, as I know they are really great machines, and I've been really impressed with the hydraulics of all the Kubotas I've ran in the past, but the specs and price of the TYM is really hard to beat, but outside of a really great dealer close by, their future support is of concern to me, and so perhaps the Kioti is the best compromise between the lot.
Questions:
Am I looking at the right tractors for my intended purpose?
Are their other brands/models I should be considering?
Given my usage, with your collective experience, what do you recommend? Would you share my concern about the TYM dealer situation?
Thanks in advance. :drink:
I'm new here, and seeking your guidance.
I've recently purchased 5 acres near a big city here in Australia that I'd like to do some small scale agriculture on, likely to be sheep and pigs with a decent sized vegetable garden/fruit trees. It's not a huge amount of land, but it's located in a very productive area.
I come from living in a small block in the inner of the big city, so need to organise suitable equipment - but grew up on a dairy farm, so am very familiar with tractors & implements.
Based on advice I've read here, I'm better off purchasing a zero-turn to mow the lawn areas, as opposed to a mid-mount on a compact, so I will be purchasing one of those.
I would still value a tractor with loader & 4-in-1 bucket for tasks around the house, as well as pallet forks, hydraulic auger for post holes/planting trees, hay spear, slasher (I think its called a rotary cutter in NA) or flail mower. A Rotary hoe (tiller) might also be in the future.
We may chose to take on my father in law's 160ac farm that is nearby in the future too - that currently has a Kubota 7040 w/ loader, and a couple of older 45hp Internationals, one with a loader - but I'm hoping the tractor I purchase has an application not only today, but if that becomes a reality too, and could complement the existing utility tractors.
I'd like for the loader to have the capacity and lift height to lift 4x5 bales 3 high on their sides (i.e. min 8'6" lift height), decent enough flow for aforementioned auger, but be small in footprint as possible so it can work around the house if needed. If it can fit onto my existing 10x5 tandem utility trailer, that would be a bonus.
Price will definitely be a big consideration, and I want the tractor to give good service over a long time, and I'd like to have a good Dealer near me and Manufacturer that will stick around.
I'm not considering many of the Chinese options that exist here, or even Mahindra (even if I know the latter has better quality), and haven't heard the best reports on the NH Boomers or CaseIH Farmall's.
Low hour good brand used models seem to go for as much money at the moment as new ones, and after destroying my knees many a time riding clutches stacking hay etc. in my youth I'm inclined to avoid an older tractor without hydro trans.
I'm yet to go sit on tractors in a dealership - and some of the manufacturers don't publish pricing, but I've narrowed down the likely suspects to:
- Deere 3R (most likely 3039R)
- Kubota Grand L (most likely L3540HDA)
- Iseki TG (most likely TG6400H)
- Kioti CK (most likely CK4210)
- TYM T413
Some of the model numbers above might be different to NA, as we don't have emissions requirements in off-road vehicles here, so we get different engines (or the same engines minus emissions equipment) - but otherwise they will be the same as the similar model numbered models in North America.
In terms of pricing, from what I can judge is TYM is the cheapest ($32k AUD fitted with 4in1 loader), Kioti has some good specials on at the moment ($34k AUD hydro trans fitted with 4in1 loader) followed by Iseki ($35k fitted with 4in1 loader), with Deere and Kubota not offering up their pricing, but I do anticipate them being high 30's (possibly even low 40's with a 4in1 loader), as I know the standard L/3E is low 30's fitted with a regular loader/bucket.
I've got excellent dealers for all of them close, but of note the TYM dealership network is limited in Australia and they are imported privately - both of these facts worries me if either party goes belly up. This happened recently to many Branson dealers here recently.
Kubota/Iseki/John Deere are all imported by the manufacturers here and have excellent dealer networks - Kioti is imported by a large 3rd party (that also imports Deutz tractors) and has quite a strong network too.
My heart says buy a Kubota no matter the cost, as I know they are really great machines, and I've been really impressed with the hydraulics of all the Kubotas I've ran in the past, but the specs and price of the TYM is really hard to beat, but outside of a really great dealer close by, their future support is of concern to me, and so perhaps the Kioti is the best compromise between the lot.
Questions:
Am I looking at the right tractors for my intended purpose?
Are their other brands/models I should be considering?
Given my usage, with your collective experience, what do you recommend? Would you share my concern about the TYM dealer situation?
Thanks in advance. :drink:
