New member needing advice

[awimberley]

I'm a new member and am purchasing five acres. I posted part of this in the introduction section but thought I would also post it here as well as I need assistance.

Five acres. The location is slightly sloped but is fully cleared and perfectly clean. Owner used it only for growing, baling hay. Has a beautiful mountaintop view. Developing it for our retirement homestead. Trees around the perimeter but only two trees on the acreage itself.

So, I need a tractor. Five acres with mostly light work involved.

I know nothing. Grew up on a farm but have been a lifelong educator so my knowledge of tractors isn't just limited.....it's nonexistent.

I plan to use it to grade a long driveway, cut 4 acres of hay annually, store the hay. Maybe even do some terrace work and build a small tank (pond)? Build a fence around the property. Basically, light work. So, attachments for cutting, grading, maybe a trailer, shovel(?), hydraulic.

So, I'm going to be researching and trying to gain whatever I can from the advice I find here. I'll post but not even sure what to post since I'm starting at zero.

My first and most important question is - what size, what models, what attachments, etc? Sorry for my ignorance but I'm a fast learner, hard worker and good researcher. So, I appreciate being able to interact and look forward to learning all I need to know on here. Believe me, I'll take any advice I can get.

 

[dave1949]

Welcome and congrats on your property.

I think it depends on your budget for tractor and equipment. It also depends on having some specific targets about how you want to do things.

If you want to spend more, there are machines that will do the terraces and pond/tank if their size and scope is within reason. If you want to spend less, then a smaller machine will do everything but the heavy dirt moving jobs. The size tractor needed for hay depends on what size bales you want to have. Big bales need a big tractor. But, there are small bale choices out there that would keep your equipment size needs down. Check out the Haying forum, last one under General.

It's usually a better choice in the long run to hire out the one-time big jobs like terracing and tanks. Your tractor will still be useful in the clean-up and finishing of those sorts of things.

 

[MESSMAKER]

Five acres is not going to produce enough hay to pay for your equipment. Just cut it and buy the hay you need. Buy the small tractor and use the money you save to rent some big stuff when you need it for dirt work.

 

[sdef]

Oh boy, you will most likely receive a lot of responses in the next few days as folks are trying to get more information to help you narrow down your options. I have never hayed but have read a lot of posts on TBN and it seems haying equipment moves one up a notch or two on the tractor capability scale. I will start out the conversation by disregarding the haying issue as I have no experience in that and address your basic tractor item.

- Your land does not need clearing of trees or large rocks so your front end loader (FEL) capacity may not need to be in the range of a mid - upper compact utility tractor (CUT), which would be in the 2000# - 3000# capacity area.
- You would probably be in the range of a 25 HP tractor, either a sub-compact (SCUT) or small CUT. For the best bang for the buck, check out LS and Kioti. There are a bunch of fine tractors out there and others will provide more direction as these posts accumulate.
- New or used equipment? Lots of advantages to each. I went all new for my equipment as I was not able to find anything used in the exact equipment I wanted in my area. And the equipment I selected are working out perfectly for my very difficult land needs- which are much heavier than yours.
- Hydrostatic (HST) or geared transmission? Geared is a bit more efficient, a bit less expensive and may be a better choice in open areas. But for a lot of direction changes in confined areas- such as FEL work, HST would be far better.
- 4WD? Absolutely
- Backhoe? Probably not for you.
- FEL? Absolutely

Just remember, for the most part a tractor's weight works to your advantage with more being better- usually, especially when using ground engaging equipment. And a heavier weight tractor with some lower HP may be a more efficient choice than a higher HP tractor that is lighter in weight and will spin its tires more and not be able to use the additional HP when using ground engaging equipment.

 

[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Wisconsin

 

[flusher]

Welcome to TBN. Join the fun:thumbsup:

I'd look in the 30-40 hp (pto) range. Hydrostatic transmission. Power steering. Dual rear hydraulic remotes.

Front end loader (FEL) with 5-ft wide bucket and skid steer quick attach (SSQA) option.

All the major brands have models with these specs. Price new: $15-20K.

Mower: 5-ft wide rotary mower (aka brush hog, bush hog, slasher, shredder). $800-1000

This will get you started.

Good luck.

 

[txdon]

Your big projects - haying and pond building will really increase your needed tractor size. Try to contract these jobs out especially the pond building. A bulldozer working a few days will do as much as you can on a tractor in a month and will not tear up a smaller tractor. The FEL is a Front End Loader not a pond digger. Of course you could use it to dig if you get some teeth for the front lip and have the right soil and don't mind wear and tear on your new tractor and need a lot of seat time and an unlimited supply of diesel is good too.

You mentioned a hill top, might want to get a county agent involved in the placement of the pond to catch the rainfall and to see if the soil will hold water.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

other post are correct in saying 5 acres is not even close enough to own hay equipment. much cheaper to buy hay. you need a tractor it's a must but it mostly comes with a disease that is uncureable you can keep it in check by purchasing equipment but don't jump in to quickly and buy something your not happy with as this will cause the disease to go active again. Take your time shop around talk to everbody you can and be happy happy happy

 

[Gary Fowler]

I agree with all who posted about haying. 5 acres or 50 acres isn't enough to justify spending $40 K on baler, cutter and rake not to mention a 70+ HP tractor to pull it with. You may find used for half that cost but the baler may need 10K in repairs shortly. Best skip the haying or hire someone to cut it (if you can find someone that will cut that small of a pasture. I would just mow it a few times a year to keep the weeds and grass manageable. Might be OK to put a couple or three cows on it to keep the grass down and provide some calves for sale or meat.
For just mowing 5 acres, a 25 HP tractor with 5 foot mower will get the job done, wont cost you an arm and a leg to buy even if new and with a FEL it has enough power to lift small loads of dirt. Maybe even use the tractor to dig a pond if you get some rippers to loosen up the dirt. One TBN member built a pretty nice sized pond with a 25 HP Kioti if I recall correctly, at any rate it was a smaller sized CUT, so it can be done if you have the time to spend on it. The kicker is to have some soft soil to dig in or use rippers to loosen it up. Trying to dig hard dirt with a FEL is hard on both the FEL and the tractor. I prefer to use the ripper rather than tooth bar to dig. Loose dirt loads much easier. I just bought a 5 shank ripper for $300 that I pull with my 70 HP tractor, your needs should be less, maybe 3-4 shank max.

 

[roadhunter]

Welcome to TBN. Join the fun:thumbsup:

I'd look in the 30-40 hp (pto) range. Hydrostatic transmission. Power steering. Dual rear hydraulic remotes.

Front end loader (FEL) with 5-ft wide bucket and skid steer quick attach (SSQA) option.

All the major brands have models with these specs. Price new: $15-20K.

Mower: 5-ft wide rotary mower (aka brush hog, bush hog, slasher, shredder). $800-1000

This will get you started.

Good luck.

You must have some really good deals in your region if 60+ hp major brand tractors with dual remotes and FEL are 15-20k new.