Price Check on B7500?? And what about attachments?

eosinophil · Mar 3, 2013

I've been looking around for a compact tractor to use on my 20 acre iowa farm. Basic stuff - cleaning up the horse pasture, loading the manure spreader, pulling a mower at least around the pond where my riding lawn mower gets stuck but maybe taking over more of the mowing, moving some dirt / grading here and there.

I have been back and forth between new and used, but really am more comfortable with used, especially for a first tractor. I've really narrowed it down to a Kubota - just better pricing around here (Iowa!) than the comparable JD and think the BX is a little too small.

Thoughts on this:
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=7442361

My concerns - seems a little expensive? Can I ask the dealer for financing - I really would rather finance maybe half or so?
What do I ask about or look for? What if they don't have any maintenance info? Do I walk away? Is the LA272 loader too small for what I want to do?
Where do I get attachments? I was thinking about a pull behind mower and probably a box blade to start. Maybe some sort of rake or harrow for breaking up poop in the pasture?
Thanks for the input!!!

k0ua · Mar 3, 2013

I had one just like it, (except mine had R4 tires and was gear not Hydro).. Good little tractor, You need to remove $500 from that price in my opinion, I still have a rear blade for it 5ft. I am not using. I think it would probably do what you want to do.. I cleared a lot of ground with the little loader, I have a much bigger tractor now of course, but the little Kubota did a lot, and is a very capable tractor. You can buy attachments anywhere, generally 4 foot implements. Except for the rear blade of 5ft is what you want. A rotary cutter or box blade, no larger than 4 foot., a rake would be OK with a 5 foot..

James K0UA

eosinophil · Mar 4, 2013

Thanks k0ua! Glad to hear it's a generally decent little tractor. Any other opinions??

RoyJackson · Mar 4, 2013

Those little Kubotas are pretty nice, but I suggest it's way too small to maintain a 20 acre property....5 acres would be pushing it, IMHO.
Frankly, if you do buy a B7500, I think you'll be disappointed in it's performance.
I'm not criticising the B7500...just too small.

k0ua · Mar 4, 2013

eosinophil said:
Thanks k0ua! Glad to hear it's a generally decent little tractor. Any other opinions??

it is a decent little tractor, but it is "little".. I used it for about 8 years on my place, and swapped it for an L3400HST, and swapped it for the present Kioti DK35.. both of which are way bigger than the B7500.. It was a good tractor , but it couldn't lift the size of rocks I wanted to lift.. It was a tough little mule though, I used it hard, and it never complained.

James K0UA

newbury · Mar 4, 2013

That would be a decent SMALL tractor for half that price.

For example - in April '09 I bought my '07 B7610 for 11.5K, but it had a $3,000 trailer and an '07 Woods Box blade with it, and half the hours. And I viewed it as my training tractor.

The LA272 will be good for about 500 lbs of manure, but what are you going to pull the spreader with? Will it lift high enough to dump in the spreader?
For 20 acres you are going to need 30 to 40 hp.

Check Inventory | Barlow Equipment , they deliver for a nominal fee.

Tomtint · Mar 4, 2013

My sister has a B7500 with a MMM and a grass collection system. It is nice...I had a BX before my L3700 I have now. If I were to choose between the BX and B7500. I would take the BX unless you were stomping through the woods on a regular basis. The BX mows far better and does not Matt down the grass. The 7500 has much larger rear tires and I found it to be hard on the lawn. But all in all they are both nice machines.

eosinophil · Mar 4, 2013

Thanks everybody for the advice!! I have really been torn about the size tractor to get and I really appreciate your input.

My indecision (and my husband!) have kept me tractor-less for the five years we've been here so far. Maybe a little more detail on what i'm looking to do would help.

We have 20 acres, but about half - maybe less, since I converted a little into extra horse pasture -is hay field that a guy cuts for us on shares. We've got a few (five maybe?) acres of woods. The rest is the house, barn, horse pasture. The area here in Iowa where we are is full of small but very steep hills, and my pond is at the bottom of one of those slopes. And I regularly end up stuck in the mud at the edge with my riding lawn mower.
I do have 2 horses and 2 donkeys at home with the associated output, if you know what I mean! I have a ground driven manure spreader that I pull around the hay fields with my truck. Since my horses are almost always out in pretty good sized fields, I don't really have too much manure to spread, maybe do it once a year when I rent a tractor. But having horses means areas around the gates and waterers gets eroded away and I'd like to spread some stone around there, maybe scrape out and spread stone in their turnout, too. And I'd like to harrow their fields a time or two a year, maybe cut the weeds down a couple times, too. We've also got some areas of yard that always need to be re-graded. OF course, there's always the possibility of cutting trails into the woods and grading the driveway and all kinds of stuff, but that seems a bit optimistic.

Part of the problem is neither my husband nor I have ever had a tractor, so the idea of dropping 20K or whatever on one seems crazy - we aren't farmers, after all! That's why I thought maybe a "beginner" tractor for less than 10k would be a good place to start - if I like using one and need something bigger, fine, I'll move up with my husband's approval. Maybe if i didn't buy stuff all the time I didn't need, he'd be more agreeable!:laughing:

Newbury -can you give me an example of what you mean by a "small" tractor?

Thanks everyone!

eosinophil · Mar 4, 2013

oh, Tom, you posted while I was writing the above novel. I don't think a MMM is for me, as I really just need to cut fields and rough cut stuff. I hit LOTS of stumps and things, so think a bush hog type rough cut would be better. I think trying to edge the pond with a MMM i'd end up in the pond nearly as much as I do now!
I have a riding lawn mower I'd keep for the lawn and just use the tractor for the farm side of things. The slopes around the pond make me think I should stay away from turf tires, too.

k0ua · Mar 4, 2013

eosinophil said:
Thanks everybody for the advice!! I have really been torn about the size tractor to get and I really appreciate your input.

My indecision (and my husband!) have kept me tractor-less for the five years we've been here so far. Maybe a little more detail on what i'm looking to do would help.

We have 20 acres, but about half - maybe less, since I converted a little into extra horse pasture -is hay field that a guy cuts for us on shares. We've got a few (five maybe?) acres of woods. The rest is the house, barn, horse pasture. The area here in Iowa where we are is full of small but very steep hills, and my pond is at the bottom of one of those slopes. And I regularly end up stuck in the mud at the edge with my riding lawn mower.
I do have 2 horses and 2 donkeys at home with the associated output, if you know what I mean! I have a ground driven manure spreader that I pull around the hay fields with my truck. Since my horses are almost always out in pretty good sized fields, I don't really have too much manure to spread, maybe do it once a year when I rent a tractor. But having horses means areas around the gates and waterers gets eroded away and I'd like to spread some stone around there, maybe scrape out and spread stone in their turnout, too. And I'd like to harrow their fields a time or two a year, maybe cut the weeds down a couple times, too. We've also got some areas of yard that always need to be re-graded. OF course, there's always the possibility of cutting trails into the woods and grading the driveway and all kinds of stuff, but that seems a bit optimistic.

Part of the problem is neither my husband nor I have ever had a tractor, so the idea of dropping 20K or whatever on one seems crazy - we aren't farmers, after all! That's why I thought maybe a "beginner" tractor for less than 10k would be a good place to start - if I like using one and need something bigger, fine, I'll move up with my husband's approval. Maybe if i didn't buy stuff all the time I didn't need, he'd be more agreeable!:laughing:

Newbury -can you give me an example of what you mean by a "small" tractor?

Thanks everyone!

Well I think it will probably do what you want it to do. The thing about tractors is they can seem pretty big at first, and then after you start using them you get greedy and want more.. and more.. and more.. I know..been there, done that.. In a lot of tasks, the little tractor just takes longer to do the same things. Some tasks you just cant do with a certain sized tractor. For instance if you want to lift a 1000 lb rock and your tractor's FEL will only lift 500 lbs.. well you are not going to lift that rock.. But you can probably drag it!

You might be able to flip it over and roll it! Sometimes you just have to work smarter and longer to get some jobs done. Do I like my Kioti DK35se better than the B7500 I had? sure, it is bigger, more powerful and has a Hydrostatic transmission and is more fun and easier to operate for long periods of time (less tiring). But did I get a lot of good out of my B7500,? you bet I did. Be well, and good luck with what ever you decide on.

James K0UA