New Property

[crashz]

We are buying a new house in New Hampshire with 2.5 acres of lawn, a good sized driveway and woods on the perimeter.

So my needs have changed a bit. I'm thinking of selling the Bobcat and trading my JD 770 in on a new tractor. Uses will be:
Mowing
Planting Christmas trees
Snow removal
Stump removal
stone wall repair

I'm thinking I need a smaller tractor, maybe a 2 series JD or a B series Kubota with loader, mid mount mower, and maybe a backhoe? I'm open to any suggestions and brands.Just wondering if the TBN folks have some recommendations.
Thanks, Leo

 

[audsp98]

Sounds like you're looking in the right size range. Might get a little more tractor if you look at Mahindra, LS, Kioti, etc. and stay away from big green and big orange.

 

[airbiscuit]

Do whatever stump removal you have to do with the equipment you have now, then buy a new tractor. No use pounding a new piece of equipment.

 

[MossRoad]

For 2.5 acres, I'd skip the backhoe and rent a tracked loader for $250 weekend rate a couple times a year. They work better and faster than a tractor mounted backhoe, and it will save you a ton of cash in the long run. Do the math and see if it makes sense for you. I don't know how many backhoe jobs you have to do. But it may free up some cash for other implements that will be more useful to you on a more regular basis.

 

[airbiscuit]

For 2.5 acres, I'd skip the backhoe and rent a tracked loader for $250 weekend rate a couple times a year. They work better and faster than a tractor mounted backhoe, and it will save you a ton of cash in the long run. Do the math and see if it makes sense for you. I don't know how many backhoe jobs you have to do. But it may free up some cash for other implements that will be more useful to you on a more regular basis.

Times 2. Trying to remove stumps with a tractor is just asking for trouble. It can be done, but you are very likely to damage things.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

We are buying a new house in New Hampshire with 2.5 acres of lawn, a good sized driveway and woods on the perimeter.

So my needs have changed a bit. I'm thinking of selling the Bobcat and trading my JD 770 in on a new tractor. Uses will be:
Mowing
Planting Christmas trees
Snow removal
Stump removal
stone wall repair

I'm thinking I need a smaller tractor, maybe a 2 series JD or a B series Kubota with loader, mid mount mower, and maybe a backhoe? I'm open to any suggestions and brands.Just wondering if the TBN folks have some recommendations.
Thanks, Leo

Zero turn on the lawn.

Really.

Keep the Bobcat unless it is clapped out.

 

[jeff9366]

Are Christmas trees a business? How many acres?

If Christmas trees will be a business, a Backhoe is probably worthwhile. A tractor Backhoe should handle Christmas tree stump removal OK as Christmas trees are usually 3" at the base.

I have never grown Christmas trees but the most efficient technique to plant a goodly number MAY be by ripping earth with a Subsoiler, first in a long line, then across. After soil has been ripped in two directions, perhaps a couple bites with a manual post hole digger. Ripping + manual PHD is how we plant blueberries in a small commercial Blueberry field, however we do not have a Backhoe on the BX.

I suggest you consider 2,500 pound (bare tractor) Kubota L2501/HST with backhoe.

LINK: http://www.kubota.com/product/lseries/l2501.aspx

 

[Thomas]

I am impress w/Kubota B series, I had 1995 B7100HST and still miss it.
If backhoe go sub frame and thumb.
Not sure what type of land but NH famous for growing rocks and BIG one

 

[Grandad4]

Stump removal can mean different things. If you're clearing a whole area of many stumps, using heavy equipment gets it done quickly. If there's an occasional stump, the backhoe is slower but makes less of a mess. Grubbing stumps with the front bucket of any equipment - even a track loader - can lead to some pretty large craters and a lot of local devastation. It's also hard on the equipment, as even a skid steer works pretty hard at it. At our place the backhoe isn't used constantly, but it is indispensable when we need it.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I have a BX25D, and I have found that stump removal is a very slow process. When I bought it (for trenching) I had big visions of ripping stumps out with my backhoe. Then I tried it.


Took more than half a day to get a cedar stump out that was about 10" across at the cut, and left a crater that was 5 feet across. Of course that was easy to fill, but it did leave a mess. I'm not even going to try with my bigger oak and sycamore stumps that have to come out. I'll rent a grinder. Think about that. I own the backhoe, but I'm going to rent a stump grinder.


Look at how many stumps you have, and think long and hard about it. If you need the backhoe for other things, that's another story, but I would not buy one for stump removal.