Hi,
I need advice about a first tractor. Here is my situation:
I have recently taken over management of my family's 455 acre farm in South Central Indiana. My father farmed this land until his death last summer. Since then I've been spending most of my time there trying to manage the place/get it cleaned up. The original plan was for my mother to sell the place and move, so my father sold all his cattle and large equipment before he died... but somewhere in the past 9 months or so she decided she didn't want to leave the place, and I fell in love with it and decided I'd like to farm as much of it as possible.
The farm consists of about 65 acres of good creek bottom, 40 acres of low pasture, 55 acres of buckshot high ground with a hardpan problem that is sometimes cropped but more often pastured, the rest in timber and buildings. Right now we have a share arrangement worked out with a neighbor on the creek bottom crops (that was in place before my father died). Low pasture/barn/concrete pad is rented out to feeder operation. This summer a few of the higher buckshot acres will be planted in corn, but most will be let out for grazing.
I believe it is possible to turn a slight profit on the place by continuing to share out all the farming, but I would like to do some of it myself. Right now, I can't even bush-hog, because I have no tractor at all. I don't think it would be practical for me to try to do all the farming myself, because right now I own no equipment. I am also a small woman in my forties, so my upper body strength is limited. I'd like to purchase a tractor that would be fairly easy for me to use and have serviced that would let me do *some* of the farming. I know very little about real farming and next to nothing about equipment, but I'm not afraid of hard work and love being outside in all kinds of weather. My hunch is that the most practical thing to do would be to continue to share out the bottom lands and set my sights on the high ground.
At the very least I need something I can bush-hog with. Some of the areas that need this are fairly hilly. I'd also like to be able to plow us out when it snows. I'd also like to try to run a small cow/calf operation on the top ground by myself, if I am able. I am guessing the most challenging part of this would be winter feeding. I'd need to be able to make hay. The road up to the top ground is very steep, and can be dangerous in icy weather. The tractor would need to be easy to steer and shift, because I don't have a lot of arm strength. (I can't pull-start a chainsaw, among other things... but I still cut a lot of wood. I'd rather take twice as long to do something as a much stronger person than not do it at all.
I'm guessing 9/10 of the people who have read this far are thinking I'm completely nuts. I probably am, but would still appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. So far I'm enjoying the business end of running the farm, general building maintenance and light cleanup work, but would really like to be able to do more of the real work.
I need advice about a first tractor. Here is my situation:
I have recently taken over management of my family's 455 acre farm in South Central Indiana. My father farmed this land until his death last summer. Since then I've been spending most of my time there trying to manage the place/get it cleaned up. The original plan was for my mother to sell the place and move, so my father sold all his cattle and large equipment before he died... but somewhere in the past 9 months or so she decided she didn't want to leave the place, and I fell in love with it and decided I'd like to farm as much of it as possible.
The farm consists of about 65 acres of good creek bottom, 40 acres of low pasture, 55 acres of buckshot high ground with a hardpan problem that is sometimes cropped but more often pastured, the rest in timber and buildings. Right now we have a share arrangement worked out with a neighbor on the creek bottom crops (that was in place before my father died). Low pasture/barn/concrete pad is rented out to feeder operation. This summer a few of the higher buckshot acres will be planted in corn, but most will be let out for grazing.
I believe it is possible to turn a slight profit on the place by continuing to share out all the farming, but I would like to do some of it myself. Right now, I can't even bush-hog, because I have no tractor at all. I don't think it would be practical for me to try to do all the farming myself, because right now I own no equipment. I am also a small woman in my forties, so my upper body strength is limited. I'd like to purchase a tractor that would be fairly easy for me to use and have serviced that would let me do *some* of the farming. I know very little about real farming and next to nothing about equipment, but I'm not afraid of hard work and love being outside in all kinds of weather. My hunch is that the most practical thing to do would be to continue to share out the bottom lands and set my sights on the high ground.
At the very least I need something I can bush-hog with. Some of the areas that need this are fairly hilly. I'd also like to be able to plow us out when it snows. I'd also like to try to run a small cow/calf operation on the top ground by myself, if I am able. I am guessing the most challenging part of this would be winter feeding. I'd need to be able to make hay. The road up to the top ground is very steep, and can be dangerous in icy weather. The tractor would need to be easy to steer and shift, because I don't have a lot of arm strength. (I can't pull-start a chainsaw, among other things... but I still cut a lot of wood. I'd rather take twice as long to do something as a much stronger person than not do it at all.
I'm guessing 9/10 of the people who have read this far are thinking I'm completely nuts. I probably am, but would still appreciate any advice anyone has to offer. So far I'm enjoying the business end of running the farm, general building maintenance and light cleanup work, but would really like to be able to do more of the real work.
