Hi All,
I've been reading these forums a lot lately and the advice has been great, but down to the wire and almost pulled the trigger yesterday. Bullet in the chamber.. had some last minute doubts.
I have about 10 acres in North Carolina, mostly layers right now but also adding a modest size garden on top of the small one we have going now. Will probably be getting a few goats and such soon as well. I have about 4 acres of fenced in grass, a pond and creek and another 3 acres of non fenced in grass that I will be fencing in and another 3 acres of woods that I plan to clear out enough to enjoy a stroll (ie make some trails) without being cut to shreds by these wonderful thorn vines that seem to grow through a good portion of it.
On top of that, the barn is old and we've got a drive of a probably 500 ft up to it i'm installing with abc i'll need to maintain, as well as a parking area of abc large enough for about 6 vehicles.
I also have some retaining walls to build, a french drain to move, and a barn that I will probably be knocking down and rebuilding at some point. (though it will be sad to do so but its just not as functional as it needs to be or large enough and its clearly the best place to have the barn, nowhere else makes sense.
On top of that I need to build a lean-to (to store the tractor implements and tractor first so i have somewhere to store my new toy,, err.. i mean equipment.
I also need to do some grading on this hill that's a bit too steep to be safe and maintain the fence, mow the 6-7 acres of grass and possibly use it to build another building on another part of the property later.
Oh, and I almost forgot. I'm trying to buy another 5 acres on the back side of our property that's all woods right now, it will need to be thinned out if I do. But not sure if/when that will happen but I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I really want that buffer, its the closest property line to the house and our barn is almost right on top of the line.
I should probably mention our soil is basically a mix of quartz and clay. Like we literally have boulders of quartz on the property as big as 10 by 10. (no, I don't plan to move those!)
Oh, and we also have a couple dead trees I need to take care of.. big ones.
So, with all that I plan to buy a tractor with a backhoe, a box blade or leveler (dealer recommends the leveler, says it will work better), post hole digger with a 9 and 12 inch bit, a grappler (torn between what type to get) and a rotary cutter. Also probably buy or rent a tiller for the garden we want to install.
I plan to use the grappler to both help clear woods as well as move building materials for my various projects, not to mention using it to clean up the old barn once I demo it.
Hoe I'll be using for digging listed above and also put a thumb on it to help hold things like 8x8 posts to help with building projects since I'll be building a lot of this stuff on my own.
So, we started out looking at subcompacts and quickly realized it wasn't going to handle everything. Started looking at 25hp compacts and think they could maybe handle things but the hydraulics and stuff on them had me concerned with the backhoe work and grappler especially. Was pretty convinced the 35 hp Kioti could do the job with its 30 hp pto and 11.7 gpm hydraulics but just before buying starting considering the advice I hear so much here being, buy a size larger than you think you need.
So, thats why I'm here. Considering the above. Would you say the CK3510se would handle everything I need it to and is going bigger probably overkill? Or, would going with a DK42 or 47, maybe an nx even, or the LS4140 be a safer bet?
I'm trying not to spend more then I need to, but I'd rather spend a little more than find out later I needed more tractor then I got.
Also, any other suggestions or advice I'm happy to hear. Thank you!
(edit to add
I should add both the Kioti dealer and LS dealer I have near me are great. The Kioti used to sell LS also but says they stopped because he had too many issues with their wiring harnesses needing to be repaired and he won't sell a tractor that has a known flaw, so until they fix it he won't sell them... (seen a few posts of people having issues with them but doesn't sound like a major issue?) And of course the LS dealer says he's never heard of any wiring harness issue, lol.
I've been reading these forums a lot lately and the advice has been great, but down to the wire and almost pulled the trigger yesterday. Bullet in the chamber.. had some last minute doubts.
I have about 10 acres in North Carolina, mostly layers right now but also adding a modest size garden on top of the small one we have going now. Will probably be getting a few goats and such soon as well. I have about 4 acres of fenced in grass, a pond and creek and another 3 acres of non fenced in grass that I will be fencing in and another 3 acres of woods that I plan to clear out enough to enjoy a stroll (ie make some trails) without being cut to shreds by these wonderful thorn vines that seem to grow through a good portion of it.
On top of that, the barn is old and we've got a drive of a probably 500 ft up to it i'm installing with abc i'll need to maintain, as well as a parking area of abc large enough for about 6 vehicles.
I also have some retaining walls to build, a french drain to move, and a barn that I will probably be knocking down and rebuilding at some point. (though it will be sad to do so but its just not as functional as it needs to be or large enough and its clearly the best place to have the barn, nowhere else makes sense.
On top of that I need to build a lean-to (to store the tractor implements and tractor first so i have somewhere to store my new toy,, err.. i mean equipment.
I also need to do some grading on this hill that's a bit too steep to be safe and maintain the fence, mow the 6-7 acres of grass and possibly use it to build another building on another part of the property later.
Oh, and I almost forgot. I'm trying to buy another 5 acres on the back side of our property that's all woods right now, it will need to be thinned out if I do. But not sure if/when that will happen but I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I really want that buffer, its the closest property line to the house and our barn is almost right on top of the line.
I should probably mention our soil is basically a mix of quartz and clay. Like we literally have boulders of quartz on the property as big as 10 by 10. (no, I don't plan to move those!)
Oh, and we also have a couple dead trees I need to take care of.. big ones.
So, with all that I plan to buy a tractor with a backhoe, a box blade or leveler (dealer recommends the leveler, says it will work better), post hole digger with a 9 and 12 inch bit, a grappler (torn between what type to get) and a rotary cutter. Also probably buy or rent a tiller for the garden we want to install.
I plan to use the grappler to both help clear woods as well as move building materials for my various projects, not to mention using it to clean up the old barn once I demo it.
Hoe I'll be using for digging listed above and also put a thumb on it to help hold things like 8x8 posts to help with building projects since I'll be building a lot of this stuff on my own.
So, we started out looking at subcompacts and quickly realized it wasn't going to handle everything. Started looking at 25hp compacts and think they could maybe handle things but the hydraulics and stuff on them had me concerned with the backhoe work and grappler especially. Was pretty convinced the 35 hp Kioti could do the job with its 30 hp pto and 11.7 gpm hydraulics but just before buying starting considering the advice I hear so much here being, buy a size larger than you think you need.
So, thats why I'm here. Considering the above. Would you say the CK3510se would handle everything I need it to and is going bigger probably overkill? Or, would going with a DK42 or 47, maybe an nx even, or the LS4140 be a safer bet?
I'm trying not to spend more then I need to, but I'd rather spend a little more than find out later I needed more tractor then I got.
Also, any other suggestions or advice I'm happy to hear. Thank you!
(edit to add
I should add both the Kioti dealer and LS dealer I have near me are great. The Kioti used to sell LS also but says they stopped because he had too many issues with their wiring harnesses needing to be repaired and he won't sell a tractor that has a known flaw, so until they fix it he won't sell them... (seen a few posts of people having issues with them but doesn't sound like a major issue?) And of course the LS dealer says he's never heard of any wiring harness issue, lol.
