kmanvt
Bronze Member
Wohoo my first post! I’m been debating on getting a tractor and what size I should get. I’ve read numerous posts here for a couple of months about what brand, size, weight, HP, etc. that people recommend. I started off thinking a bigger CUT would work, but when I take into account what I want to do in the future it made me decide on a utility tractor. I know this forum is more for CUT, but I’ve seen several post about bigger utility tractors so I hope this post will be okay. Also I’ll go ahead and apologize for a big post (just wanted to make sure all the facts were presented).
This year I took over as the operator on my mom’s farm (around 80acres). The farm is broken into roughly 65% wooded, 25% fields, & 10% pasture. The fields are flat to rolling with just a steeper spots. Around half of the fields are bottoms that get flooded about every 10 years. We currently have a ~30 year old Ford 3600 with a FEL. My plans for this farm over the next 2-3 years is to put out ~5 ac of berries & ~2ac of corn, get 2-3 horses & maybe 5-10 head of cattle. The bottoms will more than likely be put into square bales for the horses and cattle and sell any remaining. Also I’ll be building on an acre of land.
That’s that, BUT here is where the wishful thinking/future comes in! There is a neighboring “farm” across the river that I’d like to purchase. I use the term “farm” very loosely. It hasn’t been a farm in about 50-80 years. As you can imagine, it is extremely grow up with a little bit of everything. Also the only way to get to this land is through the river (no roads). Now before you call me crazy /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif, this land has over a mile of river frontage, will probably be about 80 acres with 50-60 being fields and another 10-15 being pasture. Also most of this land was cleared at one time(if that really matters now). I'm hoping to get the land reasonably priced because of the access and condition. The only thing the land is being used for is hunting by 2-3 people a few times a year, which I'd continue to let them hunt if they wanted.
Now that you know what I’ll be doing and what I might be doing, let’s talk about tractors. The top three that I narrowed it down to is 1) NH TN75A 2)JD 5320 3) Kubota M6800 (all with 4wd). The prices I’ve got included a FEL with QA setup, at least a 72” bucket, canopy, block heater, grill guard, & two rear hydraulic ports. The reason the TN75 tops the list is I like the layout, weight, good PTO HP, and the lift capacities of the 3pt hitch and loader. The JD5320 is nice, but the HP isn’t as good as the NH (I also can’t afford the 5420 in case you ask). I really liked the Kubota (lowest price), but the loader capacity was about 1000lb less than the TN75. As you can tell the lift capacity of the loader and 3pt is very important since I’ll be using it a lot to clear the land. Also I plan to round bale the hay that will come off this land.
Is the TN75A the best choice? Is there something else out there that will meet my specs? Any opinions or recommendation are more than welcomed!!!
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
This year I took over as the operator on my mom’s farm (around 80acres). The farm is broken into roughly 65% wooded, 25% fields, & 10% pasture. The fields are flat to rolling with just a steeper spots. Around half of the fields are bottoms that get flooded about every 10 years. We currently have a ~30 year old Ford 3600 with a FEL. My plans for this farm over the next 2-3 years is to put out ~5 ac of berries & ~2ac of corn, get 2-3 horses & maybe 5-10 head of cattle. The bottoms will more than likely be put into square bales for the horses and cattle and sell any remaining. Also I’ll be building on an acre of land.
That’s that, BUT here is where the wishful thinking/future comes in! There is a neighboring “farm” across the river that I’d like to purchase. I use the term “farm” very loosely. It hasn’t been a farm in about 50-80 years. As you can imagine, it is extremely grow up with a little bit of everything. Also the only way to get to this land is through the river (no roads). Now before you call me crazy /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif, this land has over a mile of river frontage, will probably be about 80 acres with 50-60 being fields and another 10-15 being pasture. Also most of this land was cleared at one time(if that really matters now). I'm hoping to get the land reasonably priced because of the access and condition. The only thing the land is being used for is hunting by 2-3 people a few times a year, which I'd continue to let them hunt if they wanted.
Now that you know what I’ll be doing and what I might be doing, let’s talk about tractors. The top three that I narrowed it down to is 1) NH TN75A 2)JD 5320 3) Kubota M6800 (all with 4wd). The prices I’ve got included a FEL with QA setup, at least a 72” bucket, canopy, block heater, grill guard, & two rear hydraulic ports. The reason the TN75 tops the list is I like the layout, weight, good PTO HP, and the lift capacities of the 3pt hitch and loader. The JD5320 is nice, but the HP isn’t as good as the NH (I also can’t afford the 5420 in case you ask). I really liked the Kubota (lowest price), but the loader capacity was about 1000lb less than the TN75. As you can tell the lift capacity of the loader and 3pt is very important since I’ll be using it a lot to clear the land. Also I plan to round bale the hay that will come off this land.
Is the TN75A the best choice? Is there something else out there that will meet my specs? Any opinions or recommendation are more than welcomed!!!
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
