Newbie and 45 acres

[tradosaurus]

The title is a bit misleading except for the newbie part. This is obviously my first post.

I am in the process of purchasing a house with 45 acres of mostly dense pine trees. There is about 3 acres to be mowed around the house itself, however the ground isn't the smoothest. No hills or ditches but I'm leaning toward buy a compact utility tractor with a front end loader and bush hog instead of a zero turn mower.

I have never mowed with anything other than a push mower so looking at tractors and zero turns is new for me.

I'm leaning toward the CUT because of the versatility of being able to landscape around the house, hauling limbs, working around the pond etc. I understand that using a bush hog or finishing mower attachment would be slower than a zero turn but I'm wondering if that will matter with 3 acres?

I would love to hear feedback from the experienced users.

Regards.

 

[jeff9366]

An excellent first post.

Seems you have been researching and are already well informed.

"I understand that using a bush hog or finishing mower attachment would be slower than a zero turn but I'm wondering if that will matter with 3 acres?"

That depends on how you value your time and how pleasurable you find operating a tractor in mowing mode.

Allowing for 6" overlap, a 48" mower cuts a 42" swathe. Very slow mowing.

Allowing for 6" overlap, a 60" mower cuts a 54" swathe. ~~~Etc., etc.

You need about 25-PTO horsepower to power a 60" Bush Hog in tall grass or light brush.

You need about 35-PTO horsepower to power a heavy duty 60" Bush Hog that can cut grass and brush up to 1-1/2" in diameter, occasionally cut 2" brush in small bites. If you will mow in your Pine acreage, buy heavy duty and enough tractor.

Finish mowers are for smooth turf only. Small wheels, Rubber V-belt drive to the blades.


IMPLEMENTS: http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonl...45263BDD8/11557/pub2917tractorimplements1.pdf

 

[boggen]

google your place, then click on "earth" to show greenry" and post a picture (remove name of roads of course)
and/or post some pictures of property of what you will be dealing with. "helps others better grasp" your situation.

make a todo list. current needs priority, and then add on future wants/needs. and post it to the forum. does not have be critical. just what needs to be done.

TractorHouse.com | Used Tractors For Sale: John Deere, Case IH, New Holland, Kubota. = used and new tractors. to get an idea of things.
www.machinerytrader.com = industrial equipment. your up there in acres and might be something
Tractor Attachments And Skid Steer Attachments For Any Tractor Or Skid Steer = good spot for newbies to look at various 3pt hitch and FEL (front end loader) attachments for tractors, videos and text to go along with hooking them up and using it all.

 

[newbury]

The title is a bit misleading except for the newbie part. This is obviously my first post.

I am in the process of purchasing a house with 45 acres of mostly dense pine trees. There is about 3 acres to be mowed around the house itself, however the ground isn't the smoothest. No hills or ditches but I'm leaning toward buy a compact utility tractor with a front end loader and bush hog instead of a zero turn mower.

42 acres of dense pine in Texarkana? How big are the pine? What are your plans for them?

I have never mowed with anything other than a push mower so looking at tractors and zero turns is new for me.

I'm leaning toward the CUT because of the versatility of being able to landscape around the house, hauling limbs, working around the pond etc. I understand that using a bush hog or finishing mower attachment would be slower than a zero turn but I'm wondering if that will matter with 3 acres?

I would love to hear feedback from the experienced users.

Regards.

Push mowers are good for mowing. I'm sitting on about 70 acres, mostly planted with dense pine, about 1 acre of pavement, shops and house with a lawn of about 4,000 sq. ft. or less. I'm thinking of moving up to a self-propelled push mower BUT.

I tried mowing it with my 5' bush hog and 50HP tractor but I spent more time turning than going in a straight line. I've got several other acres I bush hog.

If your dead set on keeping 3 acres of lawn a zero turn would come in handy. But if you are going to make trails, move dirt, haul logs, etc. a ZT won't help.

Normally for 45 acres of non-mountainous property I'd suggest a 30 plus HP tractor. If you want to keep a nice finished lawn to play croquet on you'll need a finish or flail mower.

A lot depends on your budget, if you are comfortable buying used, and any future plans. I "needed" my M4700 Kubota to put 10' to 16' logs on my sawmill. If I was JUST growing trees and having loggers clear cut I easily could have gotten by with a smaller tractor.

 

[flusher]

Before you plunk down thousands of $$$ for a tractor, you need to develop your 5-year plan for that large 45-acre spread. Start prioritizing the jobs you want a tractor to do for you. Then determine which implements you'll need to handle these jobs. The implement requiring the most horsepower will determine the size of your tractor. Then you can visit local dealers and kick the tires on likely candidates. You need to drive them enough to get the feel of a tractor.

Good luck

 

[void777]

Welcome to TBN and congrats on your land

 

[ericm979]

"hauling limbs and working around the pond". Your tractor needs depend on how big the limbs are or how many there are. I still have part of a fir tree limb on the lawn. The butt was wedged in the tree it fell out of and I had to use my Branson to pull it out. The Kubota B7100 I had before couldn't do it. But the "limb" is 3' across at the butt. I have a bunch of other good sized trees. With the larger tractor I can do more. To carry much in the way of limbs or brush I'm going to need a grapple. The bucket's just not that big. I can put as much in the bed of the UTV.

A larger heavier tractor doesn't do so well on wet ground like you might find around a pond. I had to hold off doing stuff for a while this winter as the ground was just too wet. Our soil drains well and we're on the side of a mountain so it's never boggy but we had so much rain this winter that it just didn't have time to percolate through the soil.

 

[tradosaurus]

The land marked in white is the area that I would be buying, including the house. As you can see most of its trees.

My plan is to get a timber management plan from the local forest service, thin out the older pines and plant new pines to fill out the gaps on the north and west sides of the house.

 

[boggen]

nice place!

--SCUT (sub compact tractor) = riding lawn mower on steroids. to small for you.
--CUT (compact utility tractor) = generally get away from riding lawn mower frame and to a larger heavier frame, more ground clearance, more weight, and additional "operator" controls such as split rear brakes.
--Utility class tractor = most likely to big for you. simple put never being able to get around within the trees you might drive through them but backing up turning around will most likely stop you dead in your tracks. utility class tractors are more "field tractors" or actual farmer live stock tractors for cattle / horses and like. folks still get them just for the FEL (front end loader) lifting capacity, or needing HP at the PTO to drive some larger machinery the pull behind the tractor.

something in the 30HP +/- a handful of HP. puts you in the CUT range.

hopefully it will not be to heavy to deal with mowing the lawn, and hopefully not to big to mow the lawn as in turning around and like mowing. you simply stay off grass if it is wet/damp, until it has a chance to dry out.

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TLB (tractor loader backhoe) might be nice for you if you plan to actually cut down trees, and then use backhoe to dig out the root balls.

some folks "rent" a mini excavator or larger excavator. and just save up jobs. some need a backhoe. simple put backhoes are expensive. and some folks will rent to get a large backhoe than what they can toss on a smaller tractor.

tractor, FEL, cab, backhoe = 4 big ticket items generally for a tractor, and tend to be more specialized per each tractor. if you get them on same sales receipt, more of a chance to get a larger discount.

i doubt i would recommend a cab. just due to nailing cab with a tree limb and wrecking the cab. also possibility of getting in/out of cab when you are trapped between a couple trees.
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[NC419N]

Really nice place you got there. To answer you question for needs the answer is both machines!! You can get by with a tractor and a finishing mower like a land pride but the finish result may not be what you want in the way of looks and time spent mowing and trimming etc. I know from experience But when you start out you have to use what you have and add when funds allow. Like previous posters and mentioned get you a 3 to 5 year plan and go from there. Good luck on your projects