Tractor Sizing Tractor for small hobby farm

[Beeenvenue]

Resale. Typically resale favors kubota because of “name brand”. Part of it is that USUALLY kubota starts higher, so they resale for more - that doesn’t always mean they keep a higher PERCENTAGE of original price.

You don’t find many of that size for resale so hard to say. But a smaller tractor will typically retain less of its original as a percentage than a larger; the larger frames just last longer.

 

[DaBear3428]

I have 14 acres of pure pasture with a home. I do just fine with my ck3510. I pull a 1000# 72” flail, and the loader does whatever I want. Power is not an issue at 35hp. I also till; in heavy clay soil I can struggle to pull a 5’ 8” depth tiller (either go slow or two passes at partial depth).

I was a lifetime surburbanite snd this is my first tractor. I bought value and features for the $, not “the dealer”. I’ve only been back three times - once with the tractor early for a hydraulic leak, once for them to do my 50 hour service, and once to pick up parts he ordered when a part of my 3-point broke. I did my 200 hour service myself. I disagree with those who say dealer is most important - I don’t “need” my tractor to make a living, so as I said I bought value and $; after 4 years and 350 hours I have zero regrets

One final note. I can pull my whole tractor loader and flail with a 7000# trailer at max capacity behind my 2005 f150. Had I gone bigger I would have needed a bigger trailer and bigger/new truck. So if I had gone to the kioti dk series I would have not only spent an extra 3-5k for bigger frame but 3-5k more for trailer and 20-50k more for a truck. It has to stop somewhere….

you make good points but i have to disagree about the good dealer being important, in your case no problem but if a new tractor owner has a few breakdowns he will be missing a good dealer.

 

[DaBear3428]

Really greatful for all the good tips and information in your responses. A couple of things I should clarify.

I do not currently need to maintain 'the hay field' which makes up about 7acres of the 15acres. We have a very experienced rancher next door who cuts and bales this field each year for us, and takes 90% of the hay for payment. I chose to include the full acreage because I can't predict the future. This arrangement could come to an end, or we may decide on a new use for this space.

Our budget is 30k or less. I plan to purhcase some used additional impliments when they pop up. For now it would likely be just a rear blade and a small tiller.

I think everyone who's responded so far has suggested I go with the larger L2501 or CK2610. I feel most comfortable with these options but my only issue with these is that they're pretty wide for tilling our small garden rows. I'm thinking maybe we could run a narrow tiller (3 feet?) that fit between the rear wheels and run the wheels in the paths. Is this method common?

Those two tractors I mentioned are very similarly priced locally, but any addons like rear remotes and implements are 1/3rd the price from Kioti (can't figure out why that would be...). I'm wondering about quality and resale value. Anyone have any comments on differences between Kubota and Kioti?

Thanks again for all the thoughts. I get the feeling I'll be asking more questions here in the years to come...

baling on a 90% split? i'm use to a 50% split but ok.

 

[two_bit_score]

baling on a 90% split? i'm use to a 50% split but ok.

Maybe they are just trying to maintain their AG exemption?

 

[2manyrocks]

Really greatful for all the good tips and information in your responses. A couple of things I should clarify.

I do not currently need to maintain 'the hay field' which makes up about 7acres of the 15acres. We have a very experienced rancher next door who cuts and bales this field each year for us, and takes 90% of the hay for payment. I chose to include the full acreage because I can't predict the future. This arrangement could come to an end, or we may decide on a new use for this space.

Our budget is 30k or less. I plan to purhcase some used additional impliments when they pop up. For now it would likely be just a rear blade and a small tiller.

I think everyone who's responded so far has suggested I go with the larger L2501 or CK2610. I feel most comfortable with these options but my only issue with these is that they're pretty wide for tilling our small garden rows. I'm thinking maybe we could run a narrow tiller (3 feet?) that fit between the rear wheels and run the wheels in the paths. Is this method common?

Those two tractors I mentioned are very similarly priced locally, but any addons like rear remotes and implements are 1/3rd the price from Kioti (can't figure out why that would be...). I'm wondering about quality and resale value. Anyone have any comments on differences between Kubota and Kioti?

Thanks again for all the thoughts. I get the feeling I'll be asking more questions here in the years to come...

I have pretty hard ground. I break my garden with the tractor using a garden plow in the spring, level it, and layoff rows with a hiller attachment. After the plants come up, I till the ground between rows with a rear tire garden tiller. If I plant potatos, I plow them up with the tractor later on. But mostly, I use the tractor to get to the planting stage.

 

[mo1]

Really greatful for all the good tips and information in your responses. A couple of things I should clarify.

I do not currently need to maintain 'the hay field' which makes up about 7acres of the 15acres. We have a very experienced rancher next door who cuts and bales this field each year for us, and takes 90% of the hay for payment. I chose to include the full acreage because I can't predict the future. This arrangement could come to an end, or we may decide on a new use for this space.

Our budget is 30k or less. I plan to purhcase some used additional impliments when they pop up. For now it would likely be just a rear blade and a small tiller.

I think everyone who's responded so far has suggested I go with the larger L2501 or CK2610. I feel most comfortable with these options but my only issue with these is that they're pretty wide for tilling our small garden rows. I'm thinking maybe we could run a narrow tiller (3 feet?) that fit between the rear wheels and run the wheels in the paths. Is this method common?

Those two tractors I mentioned are very similarly priced locally, but any addons like rear remotes and implements are 1/3rd the price from Kioti (can't figure out why that would be...). I'm wondering about quality and resale value. Anyone have any comments on differences between Kubota and Kioti?

Thanks again for all the thoughts. I get the feeling I'll be asking more questions here in the years to come...

If you want to make hay someday, you will want a noticeably larger tractor than any of the ones you listed. However, unless you get some very used/abused and inexpensive old hay equipment and fix it up, you will spend a fortune on equipment to hay only 7 acres. A small square baler doesn't take that much power to run (25-30 PTO HP or so) but you need a tractor that weighs more than the baler does (3000-4000 pounds) so the baler won't push you around or shake you to death. Round balers take more power, usually a tractor to run a normal-sized round baler starts at 75 engine HP and goes up from there.

Generally tractor cultivation is done by straddling rows and using a shank/shovel/sweep type cultivator rather than spacing the rows so widely that you drive between them and use a rototiller. Traditionally, you straddled two rows and your left tires ran to the left of the left row you straddled, and your right tires ran to the right of the right row you were straddling, and wheel centerlines were half the distance of the row spacing (e.g. 60" centerlines for 30" row spacings.) If you had a narrower tractor or wanted very wide row spacings, you would straddle one row and your row spacing was your wheel centerline spacing, you would put your right wheels right of the row and your left wheels left of the row you were straddling.

However, you will want a tractor with quite a bit of ground clearance to cultivate as you are driving over the top of your plants. You also need to make sure that the wheel spacings available on the tractor you intend to get, your row spacing you intend to use, and what row spacings your cultivator can handle are all compatible. A modern compact may give some difficulty here as the front wheel spacing may not be adjustable and the front axle clearance may or may not be sufficient to straddle the rows without knocking over your plants too badly. A smaller old ag tractor would be a lot better than a modern compact of roughly the same HP for cultivating, due to the much higher ground clearance. I do successfully use a tractor to cultivate my 1/3 acre garden but it's a full sized utility tractor with over a foot and a half of ground clearance and has a lot of adjustment in front and rear axle wheel spacing. I use it with an old two-row 3 point mount row crop cultivator with a toolbar and trailing mounting rigs so the shanks are offset in the front-to-back direction relative to each other, so they don't plug up like they do on the type of cultivator Jeff9366 posted. The angle-iron cultivator with a piece of angle iron across the rear (not like the one posted which does not) is better, you can drill holes there to mount shanks as well.

The other tasks you mention can be done with about any size of tractor as you can size a blade or bucketful of material to the size of the tractor you get. You can drive a very heavy tractor on soft ground just fine without rutting, you would just need to use wide flotation tires with nonaggressive tread to do so. However, those tires also give less traction than narrower, more aggressive tires, so it's a tradeoff.

 

[jeff9366]

A modern compact may give some difficulty here as the front wheel spacing may not be adjustable and the front axle clearance may or may not be sufficient to straddle the rows without knocking over your plants too badly. A smaller old ag tractor would be a lot better than a modern compact of roughly the same HP for cultivating, due to the much higher ground clearance.

The 2-WD Kubota MX series and 2-WD 'Grand L' series both have adjustable front wheel stances.

I do not know about the 2-WD Kubota 'L' series, though I doubt it as they are economy tractors.

In the considerable number of years I have been posting on T-B-N there have only be one or two threads on 2-WD Kubota compact tractors with adjustable front axles/wheel/tire spread.

When any tractor front axle is set wide, turning radius increases proportionally.



Do the two wheel drive versions of MX tractors front axles permit fairly easy adjustment of front wheel spread like the 2-WD Ford 8N-2N-9N models from the 1940/50s and 2-WD Ferguson tractors?

Does the MX front end need to be elevated to change wheel spread?

With a hydraulic jack to lift, you're done in 20-30 minutes or less. The MX in 2WD, for the right purpose, is a great tractor.

 

[mo1]

A modern compact may give some difficulty here as the front wheel spacing may not be adjustable and the front axle clearance may or may not be sufficient to straddle the rows without knocking over your plants too badly. A smaller old ag tractor would be a lot better than a modern compact of roughly the same HP for cultivating, due to the much higher ground clearance.

The 2-WD Kubota MX series and 2-WD 'Grand L' series both have adjustable front wheel stances.

I do not know about the 2-WD Kubota 'L' series, though I doubt it as they are economy tractors.

In the considerable number of years I have been posting on T-B-N there have only be one or two threads on 2-WD Kubota compact tractors with adjustable front axles/wheel/tire spread. When the front axle is set wide, turning radius increases proportionally.



Do the two wheel drive versions of MX tractors front axles permit fairly easy adjustment of front wheel spread like the 2-WD Ford 8N-2N-9N models from the 1940s and Ferguson tractors?
Does the MX front end need to be elevated to change wheel spread?

With a hydraulic jack to lift, you're done in 20-30 minutes or less. The MX in 2WD, for the right purpose, is a great tractor.

Almost all of the compacts today are MFWD with non-adjustable axles, the Kubotas you mentioned are the few exceptions that are still available in 2WD. Usually you have to get a full-sized utility tractor for 2WD to be an option. Any adjustment in an MFWD front wheel spacing is due to being able to dish in/dish out a one-piece wheel or adjust the rim/flange orientiation and rim dish on a two-piece (8 position) wheel. Most of the compacts use one-piece wheels so it's only a dish in/dish out adjustment, if it is even possible to run the wheels "dish in" due to clearance issues.

Most wide front end 2WD tractors are pretty easy to change the front axle spacing, just loosen the bolts holding the axle ends to the main tube or casting, lift the front end off the ground, remove bolts, move the axle ends, put the bolts back in, lower tractor, tighten bolts. It's closer to a 10 minute job if you don't have to hunt around for tools. If the tractor has a loader, you can lift the front end off the ground with it, just use jack stands once the front end is off the ground.

Particularly with full-sized tractors, 2WD units usually have much better ground clearance as they use dropped wheel spindles while the MFWD units use a planetary axle where the axle centerline is the hub centerline. The ones with the best clearance were the old tricycle row crop tractors, which were invented specifically for cultivation. The front wheels went right between the two rows being straddled so front axle clearance was a non-issue, the rear axle was what had to drive over the crops. They also used some pretty tall, narrow tires so they sat way up off the ground.

 

[Beeenvenue]

By the time you move from a nice 25 hp non emissions tractor like a kioti ck2610 (or higher hp brother ck3510/4010, same tractor with newer engine and regen for emissions controls) you have started to add $. To go to a kubota grand series - cream of the CUT crop in my opinion - you’ve doubled the cost of a 2610. Plus heavier trailer. And bigger truck. Nice if you have the $, but I didn’t.

15 acres isn’t enough to hay for any profit or even cover your costs. Haying equipment is much more involved and costly than a tractor to pull it with; you’ll never recoup your investment. Sure if you do your neighbors places too you MIGHT - but you indicated a hobby farm, not a hay business.

Best to find someone local to do the haying for you and keep your machine much more modest. Unless you really intend to go much beyond a hobby farm…..

 

[scaredychicken]

Determine what you need and what the ideal tractor for you is - features, weight, hp, implements etc and then ... buy something that is one step bigger.