My first tractor what do I need......

Anonymous Poster · Oct 25, 2001

To keep this short , I have a small farm (20 acreas) that is currently leased out , but will be mine to work fully in the future , only working about 1 acrea for house veggies and a small cash crop of pumpkins (100- 200lb'ers ). The current leaser does my tractor work for pay , but I would like to start on my own . Am looking at the 4700 JD or maybe a L3010 ? or should I be looking at bigger ? smaller ? would like the option of using a roto-tiller , FEL, back hoe , bush hog , and back blade at the very least . Ok what is my best bet from all you who are the real farmers and know what's what ..... One
last thing , the place can be wet in the spring ,I have seen back in the 70's when I was a kid JD'S biggest ? over 100 hp plus with dual wheels all around and four wheel drive go to their axels and have to have a craweler to get them out .
Thank you all for the help

ejb · Oct 25, 2001

It sounds like with the light farming that you will do, a 4700 or smaller would be fine. By all means get the 4700 (or orange equivalent) if budget allows, you could probably get by with a smaller tractor, but if you can afford it, no reason not to go with the 4700.

With JD, and with your needs, I wouldn't go any bigger. Especially if you want to add a rototiller. Once you get into the 5000 series JD tractors, attachments like rototillers get really big and really expensive. I have a JD5410, and I love it, but a tiller for my machine would come in close to $4K because a cheaper one would be destroyed by all the HP the tractor has (i.e. if I hit a rock or something) at least thats what the dealers tell me.With a tractor in the 5000 series or bigger chances are you'll end up also needing a smaller one for smaller tasks (like I do), but it sounds like in your case the JD 4xxx series would be a good compromise unless you want to buy two.

-EJB

cowboydoc · Oct 25, 2001

If all you are going to use is what you said in your post then the 4700 will do fine. If you plan on doing some real farming then I would consider a utility tractor. You can get by with a small plow and disc on the 4700 but it's going to be harder to find planters, etc. to fit that tractor. Really need a little more info on what you plan on doing with the 20 acres.

BWa · Oct 25, 2001

Thank You All ...... My posting was from work and did not have a chance to get the log in code , after reading more or the others " First Tractor / What do I need....." posts this kind of makes my qusetion a bit silly .........There are few farmers in the area that I could talk to , the first advised getting nothing less than 60 hp ????????? I feel that it is to big to start out with , for my current need , the current use for the farm is growing corn (for whole sale / retail sales , leased out ) and my house veggies , and a small piece that is to wet to plant in early spring but dry ? enough some years to get a crop of pumpkins out of . It is about a half acrea and this year after a wet start and lossing 25% to the water , I got 11,000 lbs production that I sold at wholesale ...... The farm operation that I currently have doing my tillage , has each year gone up in cost for the work being done but has not increased or has dropped the buying price of my small crop , I need him , more than he needs me , (we both know this , ) He and I both know that to find any one to do my small piece is and would be hard to find , being to far away and would have to traveto far to get herel or , just not have the time to mess so small a piece or large a piece for their eqiuipment .......Up until of late my mom was against me getting in to farming , or having equipment back on the place , dad sold off the last equipment when was a kid .....and most of the land, all but what was out back ....Mom has at last agreed that the Wannabe farmer in me can't be crashed out , so has of late agreed to help me get equipment back on the farm . As for the future ...well I enjoy growing the pumpkins , and they do real good each year at sweet corn , they say it is their best ground they lease . I may like to try potatos, who knows , I just enjoy the work out in the fields .

Robert_in_NY · Oct 25, 2001

My neighbor runs a 20 acre fruit and vegetable farm with a NH 1920. He uses a 2 bottom plow and a five foot disc and also pulls his sprayers with it. A JD 4700 is plenty big enough for you needs. A 60 hp tractor would be good if you were running large equipment or haying but is quite expensive. Most small vegetable farms run compact tractors because they are lighter than utility tractors and easier to store. Good luck and let us know what you decide as it may help others decide also.

Robert Turk Jr.
Whitetail Splendor Deer Farms
Silver Creek, NY