Buying Advice Tractor for a little slice of Vermont

[sadbox]

Hey Folks,

My wife and I are about to close on a 113 acre property up in central VT, and we're trying to figure out exactly what we want for maintaining it.

Currently there are approximately 30 acres of open pasture, 4 acres we've set aside for the home site + gardening, and the rest is forest. It is relatively hilly, as is most of VT.

The pasture right now is being used by a neighboring dairy operation, we plan to migrate over to a small grass-fed beef operation over the course of a few years.

Budget is very flexible. This isn't an operation that necessarily has to justify its expenses.

Tasks that need tractoring:

• Dealing with the Cows
  • We're planning on a deep-pack bedding system, so daily bedding spreading.
  • Bale loading / unloading / winter feeding
  • Maybe cleaning the pack in the spring, but it's likely this would be worth renting a proper excavator for
  • Compost / manure spreading across the pasture
  • Occasionally renting a no-till drill for re-seeding the paddocks
  • Aerating the bed
• Mowing the fields until cows are doing it for us
• Snow blowing, it's a 1500ft driveway up a hill
• Maintenance of the gravel driveway
• Maintaining / building trails in the wooded areas
• A couple small projects, I'd like to build a small private shooting range
• Normal house/barn/property maintenance.

Currently we're leaning towards a Kubota L6060, the front blower + cab would make snow clearing much, much more pleasant. It's FEL is a little borderline for the barn work, but I expect that we'd be more likely to add a track loader than try to deal with a much larger or non-HST tractor for working in the barn. A backhoe might be nice as well, especially when digging out the pack in the spring.

Any thoughts are welcome, we're open to also looking at separating out our problems to multiple machines.

 

[sea2summit]

I think you can get a lot of that done with one tractor depending on the woods. A cabbed tractor (and I’m not sure the L60 is gonna be enough) takes a lot of room through the woods. My M4 through the woods requires me to maintain the trails with a pole saw with an extension to get high enough.

Unloading honestly sounds like one of the things you really need to think about. Unloading rounds stacked two high, especially on a semi trailer, you’re talking about up 600-1200# that’s 10-12’ off the ground. That’s really dangerous if you don’t have enough weight. Skid steer wouldn’t blink.

Next is hills…tractors don’t like hills. Most especially going down them with a load, or across the slope, or up the slope, or if there are any bumps when doing any of the above you’ll be choking on your seat because you’ll suck it right up your…you know.

Mucking is obviously doable by the a tractor but a skid steer will do much better.

And since I’m already strongly leaning toward a skid steer for your tasks they have benefits when it comes to snow like being able to use a plow vs blower. But it can also use a blower. Gonna cost more for a hydro blower but I think you’d be more satisfied with a properly sized skid and blower than a mid mount blower you can’t really see let alone maneuver in front of a tractor. Also if your feeding cows on the same day you need to blow that’s about 20 minutes+ of switching from fel to blower and back on a tractor vs seconds for the skid.

Definitely recommend spending some time getting to know the place and zero in on the stuff you need to do before spending money as you’ve either got a huge investment to make in a tractor or a huge investment to make in a smaller tractor and a skid.

 

[jeff9366]

We need a tractor capable of moving large hay bales (rounds 1,200-1,700 lbs)

The fundamental importance of TRACTOR WEIGHT eludes many tractor shoppers. Tractor capability is more closely correlated to tractor weight than any other single (1) specification.

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.

In my area of Florida, which is hay country, round bales seldom weigh over 1,200 pounds.

An open station tractor with a bare weight of 3,700 to 4,000 pounds can lift and move 1,200 pound round bales using a bale spear on the Front End Loader and stack bales two high. However, the tractor will feel very tippy to a new operator unloading bales from a trailer or lifting bales to stack.

An open station tractor weighing 3,700 to 4,000 pounds can transport 1,200+ pound round bales safely with a Three Point Hitch mounted (rear) bale spear but can only lift bales a few inches. Transport but no stacking. The tractor is stable because the bale weight is low and bale weight is carried on the large, rear tractor tires, which do not pivot/steer.

A tractor with a bare weight of 3,700 to 4,000 pounds is suitable for actually working 10 to 25 acres of farm acreage. Working acres, not total acres.

For safety most recommend a 5,000 pound bare weight tractor for regularly moving and lifting bales heavier than 1,200 pounds using a bale spear on the Front End Loader and for safely moving/stacking 1,200 pound bales by inexperienced tractor operators using a front bale spear. A 5,000 pound bare weight tractor can stack round bales three high.

A tractor with a bare weight of 5,000 pounds is suitable for actually working 20 to 40 acres of farm acreage. Working acres, not total acres.

BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR.


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[jeff9366]

My wife and I are about to close on a 113 acre property in central VT.

Currently there are approximately 30 acres of open pasture, 4 acres we've set aside for the home site + gardening, and the rest is forest. It is relatively hilly, as is most of VT.

Tractors are inherently unstable operating on sloped ground. Tractor rear wheel/tire spread, sometimes adjustable, is a critical factor increasing compact tractor stability working sloped or uneven ground. A 6" to 10" increase in rear axle width substantially decreases tractor rollover potential. Tractor width is an approximation of rear axle width.

The rear wheels on Kubota Grand L tractors are adjustable for width/stability with both R1/ag tires and R4/industrial tires.


When considering a tractor purchase bare tractor weight first, tractor horsepower second, rear axle width third, rear wheel/tire ballast fourth.

I expect that we'd be more likely to add a track loader than try to deal with a much larger or non-HST tractor for working in the barn.

While expensive, a small track loader would be ideal for work in your barn. Most who own a compact track loader (CTL) would use the CTL for farm excavation work, in preference to a compact tractor equipped with an optional tractor backhoe, which must be removed before the Three Point Hitch is available to mount implements.

 

[Hoss710]

I'm not familiar with the Kubota line like I once was . but with a tractor with enough loader capability the round bails shouldn't be a problem. rear ballast is mandatory. I'd also get rear wheel weights and a ballast box unless you have a heavy attachment hanging off the 3 point hitch. also once you have lifted the bail off the truck, bring that loader down to close to the ground as possible, i have seen too many people want to drive with the bail up high, and thats the easiest way to flip a tractor always carry your loads close to the ground when moving. as far as snow removal you can't go wrong with a snow blower. it's the best tool for the job. Pushing a driveway that long isn't a good option. I would recommend R1 tires over R4s on a farm that size. because the land is hilly I'd want the widest stance set for the wheels. driving anything with a cab in the woods can be challenging. as branches can damage the cab if you don't take the time to cut limbs , and remove opsticals .back to the snow blower a front mount is way more friendly on your neck than a rear mount ( ask me how i know, I have a 925 ft driveway to clear). Skid steers are nice. but don't always have the ground clearance needed on a farm especially in the woods. but for barn work they do very well.

 

[jeff9366]

We're leaning towards a Kubota L6060, the front blower + cab would make snow clearing much, much more pleasant.

The L6060 FEL is a little borderline for the barn work....

A compact tractor equipped with an FEL is a much longer, cumbersome proposition relative to a CTL.

 

[Hoss710]

The MX is available with the hydrostatic transmission and a cab . maybe worth pricing 1 of those ?

 

[Tractorable]

If budget is a non-issue, separate machines would be ideal. Do what Mike Morgan does and get a cabbed compact tractor, CTL, and mini-ex.

 

[sadbox]

I think y'all are right, the more I look back through my post I'm most selling myself on the idea of getting a CTL. Some thoughts there:

I still would likely need a not-fully-compact tractor for running the no-till drill, some of the smaller compact drills are suitable for smallish tractors is my understanding. It would be a bear to use that for the whole property, but likely we'd only be seeding a couple paddocks with warm season grasses for the year, etc.

The MX is available with the hydrostatic transmission and a cab . maybe worth pricing 1 of those ?

My only reservation here is that with the elevation and such I'd really like the stall-guard and fancy features from the grand L. The other weird little bit of the lineup is that the Cabbed MX can't have a backhoe attached, and doesn't have a mid-pto for running a front snowblower.

Track loaders sketch me out a little bit for snow removal, they can move across the snow w/o issue but the low ground pressure and lack of easy application of chains make them super slippy once you get down to the ice. Price is not even really the issue here... the front-mounted blowers on the Grand Ls are similarly expensive.

So how about this for a plan:

• Grand L6060,
  • load the tires, get wheel weights, total weight would be somewhere north of 5k lbs
  • No issues with leaving the front-mounted blower on most of the winter
    • I had a dealer demo this, it is slightly annoying but didn't seem too bad if it needed to be done on occasion
  • Buy a lane shark for doing some taller trail maintenance to keep the cab safe
  • BH92 Backhoe
    • I don't have enough jobs to really justify owning a machine, and my implement work is not daily
• CTL of some variety, handles most of the barn work better, tracks help it in the mud
  • Also would be really nice if I want to rent or buy a mulcher

Maybe push out the CTL for a couple years until the cattle operation is fully underway, we're looking at a bare piece of land so we still need to get the barn built, etc.

 

[hornett22]

City folks sure are entertaining.