Reality check for this newbie. What do I really need? 15 acres, but no livestock.

[2LabsTX]

Hello all, what a great resource this is!

So as the title states, I've never owned a tractor before, just your standard lawn mower and zero turns. We currently live on a city lot 1/2 acre in a small rural town, and we're buying 15 acres to build our new house on. Of that 15 acres, approximately 5 are wooded, and the rest is meadow/pasture with some sporadic cedars or elms around.

Our plans are to keep a yard around the house that will sit on the crest of a very gentle hill, and then just keep the rest of the property as natural as possible. We don't have any interest in any livestock now. The meadow is in pretty good shape aside from some wild blackberry brambles that have gotten out of control in a few spots. I plan on having a mulching company destroy those for me (followed up with some herbicide by me). Otherwise, looks like mexia grass with some native grasses.

The woods have some absolutely majestic 150 year old oaks, along with some troublesome black locusts, etc. Right now, we're cleaning up some underbrush.

Once we get everything cleaned up, I would imagine we'll only cut the meadow twice a year? I assume I can get someone local to cut/bale it for me. As far as the woods, we'll keep it cleaned up around some of the large oaks on the interior of the land, but plan on keeping it fairly thick around the perimeter for privacy. I can see the need for dealing with trees/brush piles, some shredding. We're in the south, so no snow clearing to deal with. I don't plan on having a high maintenance property to deal with, but of course reality may slap me sideways.

I'm trying to be realistic with myself, and I don't see a need for a huge 60hp with a backhoe. But I also don't want to be stuck with something too small that won't handle unforeseen needs.

Sorry I'm a little vague, just needing to think this out with some pros. Thanks!

 

[AllByteNoBark]

:welcome: from South Texas! You will get a lot of good info here. Sounds like you have a nice property. We have 20 acres and the Huisache and Mesquite looks like will be an ongoing battle. I just got a Kubota L3560 recently and it seems to be the perfect size for what I need to do. I'm sure several will jump in with recommendations.

 

[atsah]

A 30-40HP tractor with a loader and a grapple for brush would be my thoughts.. I wouldn't go any smaller in the frame size with 15 acres..

 

[Roadworthy]

Hello, and welcome to TBN. With what you plan to do to the property your current lawn mower should fill your needs for awhile. I see mowing your new lawn as the only ongoing task. If you feel you MUST get a tractor and it's a new one I would not get one over 25 horsepower. Larger tractors are subject to strict emission requirements and have expensive (and nuisance) ways of meeting them. If you can tinker or are on a budget an older tractor may be just the ticket. Be aware that besides horsepower ratings tractors come in different physical sizes and weights. A heavier tractor of the same horsepower can usually do more than a lighter tractor of that horsepower. You would do well to visit local dealerships. If you buy a tractor and don't plan to work on it you may have to take it to the dealer or pay for a service call. A near call is less expensive than a long distance call as they charge by time or distance. If you elect to save money with a grey market tractor be advised - finding parts can sometimes (frequently) be a challenge. They are generally well made but not well supported.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have 11 acres with pasture and a few trees. I find that after initial cleanup with my 70 HP moving some very large boulders, I can now do all my maintenance with my B26 TLB. I am amazed at what I can push and lift with it and I use the backhoe all the time for trenching in new water lines, repairing leaking lines and burying the occasional dead critter. You may not see a need for a backhoe, but for what you plan to do now, I think the B series Kubota (or equivalent) would do you fine. With a good chainsaw, you can reduce scrap trees to a size it can handle and a 5 foot bush hog will work fine with it as long as you dont let the weeds and grass get waist high before cutting.

 

[jeff9366]

The fundamental importance of TRACTOR WEIGHT eludes many tractor shoppers.

The most efficient way to shop for tractors is to first identify potential tractor applications, then, through consulataton, establish bare tractor weight necessary to safely accomplish your applications. Tractor dealers, experienced tractor owners and TractorByNet.com are sources for weight recommendations.

Sufficient tractor weight is more important for most tractor applications than increased tractor horsepower. Bare tractor weight is a tractor specification easily found in sales brochures and web sites, readily comparable across tractor brands and tractor models, new and used.

Shop your weight range within tractor brands. Budget will eliminate some choices. Collect a dealer brochure for each tractor model in your weight range. I spreadsheet tractor and implement specs, often a revealing exercise. I have a column for cost per pound.

Most tractors under 3,000 pounds bare weight operate in residential or hobby farm applications on one to ten flat acres.

Selling a used tractor is easy. Selling multiple light implements in order to buy heavier, wider implements for a new, heavier tractor requires a lot of time. Depreciation on implements is worse than depreciation on a tractor.

A quality dealer, reasonably close, available for coaching, is important for tractor neophytes. Most new tractors are delivered with a glitch or two requiring correction. My kubota dealer is six miles away. I feel my local dealer continues to add value to my equipment after seven years. Dealer proximity is less important for those experienced with tractors and qualified to perform their own maintenance.


If you can restrain yourself after firing up your own tractor (few do) you could be will served by an < 25.4794 horsepower / 100 cubic inch, 2,700 pound bare weight tractor with 4-WD and a three (3) range HST transmission. Tractors < 25.4794 horsepower are exempt (for now) from strict Tier IV emission standards and the associated ameliorating paraphernalia.

Due to the requirement that new tractors over 25.479 horsepower meet stringent Tier IV emission rules, which requires two stages of emission upgrades over older models, new tractors jump from 25-horsepower to about 33-horsepower with very few, if any, new tractors around 30-horsepower. 33-37 horsepower tractors weigh 2,700 pounds to 3,700 pounds bare tractor weight.

Heavier tractors have larger diameter, greater breadth wheels/tires, creating larger tire tread "patch" in contact with the soil. Rear tires are often ballasted internally with liquid, placing weight directly over the tire tread. Larger wheels and tires and a longer wheelbase permit heavier tractors to bridge holes, burrows, ruts and tree debris, increasing tractor traction and reducing operator perturbation. Therefore, heavier tractors with large diameter wheels/tires have more tractive power pulling ground contact implements and tree trunks, pushing a loader bucket into dirt and pushing snow. Larger wheels and tires increase ground clearance, lengthening the period which row crops may be implement cultivated.

Heavier tractors have FEL lift and Three Point Hitch lift in proportion to weight.

BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR.​

 

[dodge man]

I'd probably recommend you look at 25 to 35 hp tractors. If you have a decent zero turn keep it to mow with if you can, other wise you can get a finish mower with your tractor. In John Deere, I'd look at a 2 or a 3 series tractor. In Kubota, a B or L series. I'd get a end loader and a brush hog. The more horsepower you get the bigger brush hog you can get. I live on 3 acres and mow with my tractor but also have some snow removal on a 600 foot long driveway, and I will say you will surprise yourself on how often you use a tractor. You didn't mention your driveway either, what will it be and how long? You might also want a rear blade and/or a box blade. There are endless attachments you can get.

 

[nards444]

A lot of acres doesnt mean a lot of tractor, just all depends on what you are doing. yeah lots and lots of grass may mean more power for bigger mower to mow faster, etc. I would think anything in the 25-35 range would work, would probably stay away from the 1 series type tractors for that much , the JD 1025 and Kubota BX series etc, good tractors but not be enough for that much land

 

[nyone]

Zero turn what you can and lease out the hay field. You get what you want, clean field and some money on top of it with labor on your end.

As for cleaning up the woods...there woods trees and branches are natural.

This may sound odd but im voting for you dont need a tractor.

 

[3Ts]

If you're going to have someone come in to turn your field into hay, then you can get an agreement that they'll take care of it, they get the hay, and you get a little bit of money. Then I'll agree with nyone, you may not need a tractor. My neighbor with 25 acres got away with just a riding mower and leased out part of his property for haying and the woodlot was left to fend for itself. Sounds very similar to what you want to do.

 

[aaronrkelly]

I have 3 acres and zero livestock. Even with my small amount of land, my personal opinion is "regular" mowing (not brush hogging) with a tractor is a waste of time. Ive pulled a fairly good sized finish mower behind my John Deere tractor and Ive also mowed with zero turn mower with a 61" deck. The zero turn will just tear the tractor up time wise and cut quality. If your just mowing - no need for a tractor. The mower you have will likely do it just as good, if not better.

.....but absence of live stock or needing to hay doesnt mean you wouldnt use a tractor. I have neither need and use my tractor almost daily. If your the "do it yourself" type guy, you will wonder how you ever existed without a tractor.

This week Ive used my tractor to:

move a 8x8 shed across my yard to a new location
level a high spot in my yard
spread 4 ton of gravel to patch holes and fill low spots in my driveway
drag/place a telephone pole I had across the ditch on my 3 acres (was there to keep people from driving thru it)
take a brush pile to the brush dump (its in town)
unload heavy items out of the back of a semi (my new toolboxes)
fix a few pieces of fence (used the backhoe to pull the old post out/used it to push the post back in place)

Ive owned my tractor for maybe a month, already have about 20 hours on it....not sure how I lived without it. Alot of these things WOULD have been done with manual labor or my truck and a chain....but the tractor does them easier with less effort on my part and usually in a safer way then how I was "getting by" in the past.

If your just gonna live there, mow and call people when stuff isnt to your liking to fix it - probably dont need a tractor.

Me, Id rather do stuff myself.....and usually that means I own alot of crap to get it done. Not saying one or the other is the right way.

 

[nards444]

I have 3 acres and zero livestock. Even with my small amount of land, my personal opinion is "regular" mowing (not brush hogging) with a tractor is a waste of time. Ive pulled a fairly good sized finish mower behind my John Deere tractor and Ive also mowed with zero turn mower with a 61" deck. The zero turn will just tear the tractor up time wise and cut quality. If your just mowing - no need for a tractor. The mower you have will likely do it just as good, if not better.

.....but absence of live stock or needing to hay doesnt mean you wouldnt use a tractor. I have neither need and use my tractor almost daily. If your the "do it yourself" type guy, you will wonder how you ever existed without a tractor.

This week Ive used my tractor to:

move a 8x8 shed across my yard to a new location
level a high spot in my yard
spread 4 ton of gravel to patch holes and fill low spots in my driveway
drag/place a telephone pole I had across the ditch on my 3 acres (was there to keep people from driving thru it)
take a brush pile to the brush dump (its in town)
unload heavy items out of the back of a semi (my new toolboxes)
fix a few pieces of fence (used the backhoe to pull the old post out/used it to push the post back in place)

Ive owned my tractor for maybe a month, already have about 20 hours on it....not sure how I lived without it. Alot of these things WOULD have been done with manual labor or my truck and a chain....but the tractor does them easier with less effort on my part and usually in a safer way then how I was "getting by" in the past.

If your just gonna live there, mow and call people when stuff isnt to your liking to fix it - probably dont need a tractor.

Me, Id rather do stuff myself.....and usually that means I own alot of crap to get it done. Not saying one or the other is the right way.

Well said and some good points. One Caveat to all of this and as I get older the cost benefit analysis has come into light and there also is things that just aren't worth my time. Im still young but when I was younger doing it myself was it, thought I saved money etc. And yeah something to be said about doing it yourself, do the way you want, and done right. But over the years I have figured out that sometimes doing it my self actually cost me more money or didnt save me any money. Example I bought a 10k zero turn at one point, although my lawn could have been mowed for right around 100 bucks a whack. I would have to mow that lawn for 10 years to break even on that machine, probably more by the time I figure in gas, oil, and maint.

Just something to think about

 

[nyone]

A $10k zero turn is going to be a large 60/70in model and may even be diesel. Why do you need to mow that much area when it could be turned into hay/leased section/money. Zero turns cut so fast that inless time is money i dont see a real benifit of a 72in cut mower. They also scalp more than a smaller deck. I would aldo never buy a commercialy owned mower and you will be hard pressed to find a homeowner owned 60in mower.

 

[nards444]

A $10k zero turn is going to be a large 60/70in model and may even be diesel. Why do you need to mow that much area when it could be turned into hay/leased section/money. Zero turns cut so fast that inless time is money i dont see a real benifit of a 72in cut mower. They also scalp more than a smaller deck. I would aldo never buy a commercialy owned mower and you will be hard pressed to find a homeowner owned 60in mower.

Think mine was on sale for something like 7 plus tax and tag. I did that with a small tile job once. Bought the tile saw, other tools etc. Could have had that small job done for cheaper or the same price as I bought all the crap for that now just sits. MY point was doing stuff yourself is not always cheaper.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Lots of pros and cons to ownership of tools and material in order to do it yourself rather than contracting it all out. As for myself, I prefer to do most things myself if possible. Yes I have some tools that I likely will never use again like my tile saw that I bought when I put tile in to replace linoleum flooring in my previous house. The tile was free so the tile saw and some grouting tools were my only expenses other than the grout. I wouldn't do that today due to my bad knees.

One thing that folks that are retired should consider is your health benefit from the exercise gained from doing work yourself. If you are retired and dont keep busy doing "something" then you likely wont live long after retirement. I know personally of a few incidents and hear of lots more where the guy retires, becomes a couch potato and dies just a few short years after retirement.
I try to do a little something everyday in order to get outside and get some exercise. So far 10 years into retirement and all is still pretty good.

Lastly, you get the satisfaction of doing the job yourself. Not much satisfaction in hiring something done that you can do yourself.

Now as for a tractor or not, that is up to the OP as to whether he wants to do everything by hand OR use a tractor with FEL to lift, drag, dig, mow things(plus many other items that come up). Yes for sure a zero turn, or other lawn mower type, can mow your pasture if you do it regularly, but one may not want to mow a 5-10 acre pasture every 2 weeks when a tractor with bush hog will work just doing it twice a year. Letting it grow up for 4-6 months is good for the wildlife. Taking hay off regularly depletes the soil if you dont add back some fertilizer whereas leaving the clippings to rot keeps the soil fertile.

 

[3gunr]

Buy the tractor and enjoy using it. You will be amazed at how many projects you will find.

 

[hks003]

Buy the tractor and enjoy using it. You will be amazed at how many projects you will find.

This. You may not absolutely have to have a tractor, but if you do, you'll find plenty of uses, from maintaining a driveway, to moving brush, to using it for a skinning rack!

 

[2LabsTX]

Lots of great info and insight here! Some have confirmed some of my suspicions about whether I'll need one or not. I'm not the most DIYer, but I also don't mind hard work either. I'd rather go out and clean up a dead tree myself than find someone to come do it for me.

I guess I could go out there and for the first year or so, hire out someone to cut the hay, get a feel for the land and jobs that it may require, and then meander to the tractor purchasing world.

Keep the good stuff coming, I love it!

 

[jeff9366]

If you can restrain yourself after firing up your own tractor (few do) you could be will served by an < 25.4794 horsepower / 100 cubic inch, 2,700 pound bare weight tractor with 4-WD and a three (3) range HST transmission. Tractors < 25.4794 horsepower are exempt (for now) from strict Tier IV emission standards and the associated ameliorating paraphernalia.

33-37 horsepower tractors weigh 2,700 pounds to 3,700 pounds bare tractor weight.

BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR.​

Here are two Kubota model lines to consider:

KUBOTA STANDARD "L": https://www.kubotausa.com/docs/default-source/brochure-sheets/l2501.pdf?sfvrsn=34e9b1d_8

KUBOTA GRAND L3560: https://www.kubotausa.com/docs/default-source/brochure-sheets/l60.pdf?sfvrsn=bad1e991_6

 

[jjp8182]

Lots of good advice here already - most of which I'd agree with though personally I'd say the first thing to consider is how much time you want to spend doing the tasks you want/need to do, and if there are any hard limits as both will drive the sizing. For example: are there any spaces that would limit the overall machine width (or height)? Are there any loads you'll need to lift that can't be made smaller? Are there any minimum heights that you'll need to reach with a loader?

The thing that I've noticed is compact tractors tend fall into one of two buckets; the first is the "deluxe" models which tend to be larger framed & heavier for their horsepower (and have features which seem like "luxuries" but can actually greatly increase productivity). The second is "economy" compacts which tend to be lighter and have higher horsepower (essentially a PTO on wheels). Both have their uses, and it's worth considering which best fits your needs.

Subcompacts can be very useful, but they are small -- and that can be both an asset and problem. While they can do many of the same tasks as a larger tractor it's going to take longer and may require more work. For example a fallen limb may need to be cut into smaller pieces for a sub-compact, where a larger tractor might have been able to pick up that same limb without any cutting involved. However, that larger tractor may require it's own storage solution as it may not fit through a standard garage door. Granted the other thing to consider is that the capability for dollar value also tends to favor larger tractors (i.e. generally more bang for the buck the larger the tractor), but (like most mechanical things) letting them sit unused can result in problems (usually at the worst possible time).

As for the thought of not getting a tractor it's worth a consideration (it may even be worth looking at other options like Bobcat's Toolcats, compact telehandlers, or skidsteers - or renting equipment if/when needed).

However, I'd say that with the three acres (2/3rds of which is fenced in pasture) I own, and having used riding mowers, and zero-turns to maintain the only the lawn portion of my property buying a compact tractor made the most sense (both financially and capability-wise) for my situation ...which includes mowing my entire property, handling the pruning, removal, and storm clean up with several large trees on my property. The smallest oak on my property was >21" in diameter when I removed it last year and it had to go as it was dying from being over shadowed by two larger oaks (the top 1/3 of that "small" tree was dead & rotting).

So I'd say it's really worth looking at your situation and what you want (and may need) to do long term -- and sometimes backing up to look at other options can be of help to ensure that you're not getting fixated on a solution in search of a problem. ...and perusing this site to see how others have used their equipment can definitely help identify things you may eventually want/need to do.