New Purchase

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

They aren’t the only ones making good tractors. For some reason I like the look of Kioti. (Pronounced coyote). I’ve never ran one but have looked at them. They always looked like quality machines to me.

Dodge man I demoed one the other day and I was impressed! I detailed out my experience and how it compares to other brands here: Warning About Dealers And Their Pricing

 

[Williy]

If you have a LS blue tractor dealer nearby
check them out after you look at a Kubota
You should test drive them so you can get
the feel if you want to operate it as some
controls are not really handy and also check
whats standard and not an option as options
can really jack up the price! Best to ya!

willy

 

[2manyrocks]

Having a dealer 10 minutes from your house would be super convenient as time goes by or if you need some kind of warranty service or if you simply want the dealer to handle your maintenance to save you time.

Unit volume sales have a major impact on parts availability over time. You can still get parts for 1980s Chevrolet and Ford trucks because they sold so many of them and there's enough demand to make it profitable to continue to make and sell those parts. Not to mention that they used the same parts for many years running. Even a tractor that is well built today but that doesn't sell well in unit volume might not have parts availability 15 years from now especially in the era of global mergers. (Look at what happened to appliance manufacturers)

I wouldn't trust my life to an on line guestimator of slope.

 

[rScotty]

Ok, so our gates are surprisingly non-standardized considering they're all commercial panels, but the smallest is 86" post to post. The largest wheelbase (out of the B, LX, L) is the LX at 65.6" so that shouldn't be a big deal for anything I'm looking at and I don't plan to buy any huge implements that are much wider than the tractor.

Tractors aren't stable on slopes. We live in the mountains and have had many different tractors. Any weight in the front bucket makes it worse, because no tractor has front brakes and weight in the bucket lightens the rear wheels - which do have brakes. When going downhill you MUST keep it in 4wd so that the front wheels are connected to the rear wheel axle brakes.

I cannot overemphasize the dangers of using a tractor on a slope and how steep the learning curve is.... probably 90% of the people on this forum have experienced a downhill runaway tractor.

If you must use a tractor on that much slope, go straight up and straight down. No cross slope driving.
I would personally get the widest tires that I could for the back, and add wheel extenders. 2" extenders for sure, and 4" if they will fit.

Or buy a specialized tractor type machine like the Bobcat Tool Cat - which has a FEL and 3pt hitch. Tool Cats are more stable than a tractor on slopes. Much stronger, too. Or one of the Kubota TLBs made in the last 10 years or so. There I'm thinking of the B26 & L39 in particular - or one of the previous smaller B series TLBs. They are more powerful than a similar size tractor, heavier, short, and slightly more stable if they have industrial tires. Both variations have other advantages over a traditional tractor if you have horse property. Downside is more costly, upside is they hold their value.

rScotty

 

[pokey1416]

I am in the BH “yes” group. I’ve got mechanical thumb and QA bucket. 18” bucket w/teeth and 16” (soon to be) flat face. For my uses BH stays on 5-6 months of the year. Removing and installing is easy (on level ground). Removing and installing 3 PH is a PITA.

I work a lot with larger boulders and placing with BH is wonderful.

 

[RedLeaf]

Ok, tried to address all of the above comments. I appreciate the feedback.

Location is Saint Helens Oregon. Elevation is around 350' but we get some wind coming up the valley from the coast so snow is more than normal for Western Oregon. Still, even with that, It'll likely be less than a foot at any one time. I need a small capability just to clear the steep gravel driveway enough so our 4WD vehicles can make up and down safely. Not sure if that means a snow blower or just a blade.

Money is flexible. I can afford whatever I decide on, but it's only six acres, no need to go crazy. I'd prefer to finance rather than pay cash for such a large purchase. My day job is incredibly busy so I'm planning to buy all new. I don't have a lot of time to spend wrenching on something used, at least not right away.

So far I think I need for sure an FEL, a mid-mount mower and a grader. I think a backhoe would be very useful, but not mandatory. PHD can probably wait. Given the amount of work I plan for what is essentially a hobby farm I think I can do without the cab and just get a canopy, rain being the most common weather issue. Not sure if I need a front blade, back blade or both.

I'm sure I could sign up for one or more horse associations in order to get the discount, not sure if that's the right approach or not given that it seems to impact the financing and warranty. Still, online reports seem to suggest a possible savings of 5%-10% over standard dealer incentive.

If I had a bigger place I'd probably get an L series, but I do need mower capability and it seems silly to go with a rotary cutter just for my 2 acres worth that aren't horse pature. I'm not sure I really need something that large. Frankly, if I didn't need to move a ton of gravel and grade the road I might try and get by with just a riding lawn mower, even though all the other tractor features will be handy for sure.

The local Kubota dealer is in town, so just down the road 10min or so. There are other dealers 45min-1hour away but it doesn't seem like it's worth that drive unless it turns out I don't like the dealer.

No need to work with roll hay, honestly I wasn't even aware they had any horse grade hay that came in rolls, the only roll hay I've seen is for cattle. We work exclusively with bales, preferably the 60lb granny bales so my Wife can move them around. We get about 350 bales a year for our two warmbloods, but will get more than that this year as we're going to be doing boarding for one other horse. Still, that's usually delivered and sitting in the barn, not a huge need to move it around much. That said, with the driveway we may not be able to get delivery as easily as both and may need to transport it here on a flatbed ourselves. I don't think I'll be buying anything big enough to move fully stacked pallets.

Local dealer apparently has some B2601s and an LX2610 in stock so I'm going to be looking at those likely this weekend to see if either would meet my needs. I suspect the bx23s is probably too small given the hilly terrain and the L series is likely more tractor than I need though I'll look at it while I'm there if he has any. Originally I was thinking an LX3310 might be a good choice but I'm sure if I need that or not.

With just two horses and one border, stick to small square bales. The only real work is stacking them in the early summer. You can monitor the quantity that the horses eat. In the winter, we'll place big squares (700 lbs) out in the paddocks, but the horses get pretty fat by the time spring rolls along (much like I do!).

I think getting a smaller tractor with a mid-mount mower and FEL is sensible. When cutting your hills, it will be good that the centre of gravity is low as possible. Make sure whatever you buy (in case of used) that you have a ROP. The FEL attachment will come in handy, and you'll also find a pallet fork handy to move stuff.

I wouldn't bother with a backhoe attachment. I have one and I hardly ever use it. Also, it is also a bit of a pain to move the tractor, dig a small section, rinse and repeat. I dug a 200' trench (4' deep) for water hydrants and it took forever. When I had to install more hydrants, I simply rented a mini-ex that got the job done in 1/4 of the time!

I have a 500' driveway and a large stable yard (live in Ontario, Canada), and I find that a simple back blade deals with plowing the snow. If the banks gets too high on the driveway, I will use the FEL to move the mounds. In 20 years, there is only one time that I wish I had a snowblower attachment.

By the way, I have a JD 4700 and a Kubota MX 5800, both compact tractors. For cutting grass around the paddocks and buildings, I have a 72" zero-turn Kubota. For the inside the paddocks and the trails, I have a 72" MX 6 (like a bush hog). I also have other toys like a chipper and stump grinder. My property has lots of trees and over the years, I have lost many ash trees to the Emerald Ash Borer.

 

[Jofang]

I have a BX Kubota and it's truly a bulletproof machine. Mine gets lots of abuse but is maintained well but many is the time I wish it was heavier to prevent wheel spin. It cuts grass easily with a 4 foot flail or 3 point mower deck, it does plowing, hole boring, saws logs with ease. However, for the list of chores you've mentioned I'd go for a bigger, heavier machine. The BX is also quite narrow and can be prone to tipping over.

 

[RedLeaf]

Tractors aren't stable on slopes. We live in the mountains and have had many different tractors. Any weight in the front bucket makes it worse, because no tractor has front brakes and weight in the bucket lightens the rear wheels - which do have brakes. When going downhill you MUST keep it in 4wd so that the front wheels are connected to the rear wheel axle brakes.

I cannot overemphasize the dangers of using a tractor on a slope and how steep the learning curve is.... probably 90% of the people on this forum have experienced a downhill runaway tractor.

If you must use a tractor on that much slope, go straight up and straight down. No cross slope driving.
I would personally get the widest tires that I could for the back, and add wheel extenders. 2" extenders for sure, and 4" if they will fit.

Or buy a specialized tractor type machine like the Bobcat Tool Cat - which has a FEL and 3pt hitch. Tool Cats are more stable than a tractor on slopes. Much stronger, too. Or one of the Kubota TLBs made in the last 10 years or so. There I'm thinking of the B26 & L39 in particular - or one of the previous smaller B series TLBs. They are more powerful than a similar size tractor, heavier, short, and slightly more stable if they have industrial tires. Both variations have other advantages over a traditional tractor if you have horse property. Downside is more costly, upside is they hold their value.

rScotty

Good point on working on slopes. I rotated my JD 4700 rims so that the back tires were as wide a possible, so the chance of a rollover is lessened.

200' elavation change over 6 acres is wild! The horses will be incredibly fit just walking up and down the paddocks. So will the humans!

 

[marksmand]

I've recently purchased a six acre horse property. Previously we were at boarding facilities but now with our own land I'm going to need equipment in order to take care of the numerous other property maintenance tasks. Definitely not something I want to try and handle with a push mower, wheelbarrow and a shovel, heh. The property is on a hillside with about a 200' elevation change from bottom to top, so there is some slope to work with though it's nothing too serious. Rough guess and an online calculator says 17 Degrees but I'm not sure it's actually quite that bad, that's likely worst case. I'm a first time tractor buyer and it looks like the only close tractor dealer is Kubota. I've done some preliminary research online as well as talking to the contractor who put in our perimeter fence about what kind of equipment to buy but I'd like to get opinions from you folks. Deciding between a BX, B, LX or L series tractor isn't an easy choice. I've tried to lay out everything in terms of capabilities:

NEEDS
1. Mowing all the non-pasture areas, maybe 2 Acres worth. Possibly also some pasture mowing if they sit too long unused.
2. Moving gravel. We have decent drainage since we're on a hill but it's Western Oregon and we get a lot of rain. Add in big horses and you get mud.
3. Maintaining the steep gravel driveway. Need to smooth out ruts and keep it drivable.
4. Some ability to deal with snow so we can get in and out of here in the winter. We don't get a ton of it, but it's enough I need at least some capability.

WANTS
5. Ability to level areas and maintain walkways for the horses.
6. Some digging capability would be nice for drainage work, planting trees, etc.
7. Ability to deal with stumps or large rocks

OPTIONAL
8. Ability to drag the Outdoor Arena
9. Likely need to be able to drag a horse shelter to a new spot, though we could rent / pay someone as that is an infrequent task.
10. No woodlot but we do have fruit trees so there are maintenance tasks in terms of planting, pruning, etc.
11. Digging post holes for fencing. Our current setup is good and I could hire this out, but it would be handy.
12. A wood chipper to deal with tree limbs and other wood waste.

Hopefully that's enough info to get the conversation started.

I would seriously consider a landscape rake for the driveway. I use a 6 ft one on the back of my l3301 and it's been great on my 1/2 mile gravel driveway here in the Catskills

 

[TheMan419]

We bought our 18 acre horse farm about 6 years ago. I was a total newbie in the tractor world at the time as well. We ended up with a New Holland Boomer 25. That is not enough horse power. I wish I had more. I can get done what I need to get done, but often times things take longer than I wish they did.

Mowing - do yourself a favor and get a zero turn.

If possible get a detachable font bucket that allows you to use Skid Steer attachments. That way you can get forks and other fun things down the road.

Learn from my mistake. LOAD THE REAR TIRES. There is a product called Rim Guard. It is basically beet juice. Does not freeze to -40. Is environmentally friendly in the event you puncture the tire and it leaks out. You will gain amazing stability on the tractor. Less likely to roll over. Do you want to see the CT scan of my spine from when I rolled it or just load the tires?

Draging the arena - any tractor will do that. We use a drag harrow and it does a pretty good job. I wish I had a specific tool for it like a Drag-n-Fly or TR3 rake, but that is not in the current budget.

Feel free to reach out if you want more horse related thoughts, but those are the quickies off the top of my head.