Tractor to work rocky 2 acres?

[PhatBoy]

I have 15 acres in eastern Mass. and having been hogging 8 of them with a '57 International 350 Utility. That tractor has 40 PTO but is getting tired and I have the money to buy something newer with 4WD.

The land was for dairy cows but never had hay taken off it. I am interested in working two of the acres that are flat and dry into a garden. There is not a lot of topsoil and right now it is growing rocks everywhere. The rest of it will be managed for horses for now.

Is it reasonable to think that I can scrape with a box blade, pick rocks with a loader, and till myself up a garden?
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I looked at the Kubota L3130HST and was also noticing the L5030HST at the local lot. Will be looking at other colors next week. How much/which tractor should I be looking at?

Thank You for your time.

 

[jimg]

Yes. If the topsoil is thin I wouldnt bother scraping. I would set the rippers on the box all the way down and troll for rocks though. You can pick them out then plow or till...but you'll you wont get all the rocks by ripping. I usually pick rocks by hand but for 2acres thats not doable. Maybe youll want to get a rock picker or rake (to collect them in easily moved piles)...over the next couple or 3 yrs youll get plenty of use from it.

 

[PhatBoy]

Also...

I have considered the reasonable option of having someone else come in an do the initial work. At this time I am wondering if there is an option for me doing the work myself.

Thanks again.

 

[NAAsty]

Either of the 2 new tractors will work, or your old beater will. The 4.5 acres my house is on was part of a farm that was originally sold off because it was too rocky to farm without killing the equipment. When we had new lateral lines put in you would not believe the rocks hauled out. In about a half acre area, there were 4 dump truck loads taken out. It was a garden area until this work was done to bring all that rock to the surface. I borrowed dads JD 850 (25hp?), box blade and dropped the scarifers and went at it. It worked. Wasn't terribly fast or pretty, but it got done. I effectively removed rocks that were close to the size of the rear tires. I just pushed them to a pile.

As always, how much time do you have, is it worth it, can you afford a machine that will make it easier/faster. The only thing I had at the time was time!

I think either of the new machines will do what you want. Good luck.

 

[fishman]

I think the 3130 would be enough tractor for what you want to do. The 5030 would work great as well, but probably more tractor than you need, based on what others who have that size tractor are doing with them.

 

[tdenny]

Phat Boy,

I have been working a few acres of nothing but glacial till. What this means is that I have no topsoil and everything is rocks and more rocks. The box blade will work very well at regrading your 2 acres as well as moving rocks to a particular area. Unfortunately I didn't have any luck with "picking" up rocks with the loader. I too have had to pick them up by hand and then throw them into the loader and then move them to another area. Not much fun but much cheaper than purchasing a rock picker. The good news is that you should be able to scrape and till otherwise. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif