Will need used CUT for many uses. Help me focus.

[colestin]

We're selling our place and moving to a large property. Though I have read lots of the posts here, no discussion has covered a situation exactly like mine. Here goes:

There will be a long driveway. One mile. some steep parts. There looks to be a base of large rock, 3 inch and larger which has been exposed and torn up a little on steep parts.

There will be snow. It's at 3500 feet. One night last year dumped 3 feet. Not always that bad, but some snow every year.

220 acres, hilly. Some pasture (maybe 10 acres), some scrubby stuff, some large timber and oak.

My main concerns are road maintenance, snow removal, some mowing, for fire prevention, and general stuff that's done with a bucket. I guess (from these discussions) that 30 HP would work. for road maintenance, I saw ads for a Grouser Belly Blade which looks really nice. I want a snow blower, too, front mounted I think. I saw a used New Holland TC30 which seemed perfect. But don't have the cash yet (waiting for property to sell). When the property does sell, I want to be ready for any used tractor that might come my way. Do you have advice, given my priorities (road work high on list)? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[phxraptor]

I will be looking for a tractor soon too. I was told for my size property to get no less than 60hp. Of course then I don't know if you will need to plow,till,plant etc. But 30hp seems small for over 200 acres. I only have 82 acres.

 

[mark777]

Wow, one mile of drive......some steep parts....3' of snow. I think I would make fast friends with property owners near by and pick their brain. I don't think one tractor with several implements will do all that you require.

I have limited experience and am confident that some one (many) will provide information pertinent to your requirements...welcome and good luck, Mark

 

[JerryG]

With that much to do, I would look into a utility such as Massey Ferguson 400 series. You would be surprised at the price compared to a compact.

 

[Bird]

For what you describe, I'd say that a 30hp tractor would be pretty small. The work can be done with a small tractor, but it's sure going to be slow. Now I have no experience at all with snow removal, so I won't address that topic, but as for that road maintenance, I'd say, at a minimum, you need a good box blade.

I really think you'll be happier with a 60 to 80hp tractor and good used ones can be found cheaper than a new 30hp tractor. A neighbor of mine who had a bit of road maintenance to do had 100hp class Deeres and an 11' pull behind box blade instead of a 3-point box blade. It had two car or pickup sized wheels and tires on the back that could be raised and lowered hydraulically, so it was easy to transport as well as to adjust up or down when in use. I think that was about as good a road maintenance rig as I've seen.

 

[SteveM]

A front mount snowblower on a 30 hp is very expensive, and will require probably three passes at about 1-2mph. So I am thinking three hours or so....too long. Instead of blowing lots of money on a little tractor with expensive attachments, I concur with others and recommend you get a 50hp or more (5000lb or more) tractor with a front loader and a clamp on snow blade. My uncle has about a 1/2 mile, in very heavy snow country, uses a 75hp diesel case with big loader and a clamp on blade. He can move along at 6-7mph throwing the snow nicely off to the side...he generally only does two passes to keep it wide enough. When the going gets really ugly, he drops the blade and uses the loader to lift and push back banks etc. He also has a used 7 ft rear snowblower for really deep drifts. this type of tractor can be bought in very nice condition for 6-7,000 with the loader, and then a couple grand for a few more used implements.

I have a 30hp diesel, and would freeze to death clearing a mile of snow.

 

[John_Mc]

I've got a situation similar to yours. 80+ Acres, mostly wooded (in negotiations for 60 more which is adjacent to us). 2000 feet of gravel driveway/road, with a steep hill in one part (hill faces east, so sun does not help much in melting ice & snow). 15+ acres of meadow/pasture, and a fairly good network of trails to maintain in the woods. Always finding more huge rocks or stumps to dig up. 3 feet of snow in one night is very rare around here, but we have seen that kind of accumulation over repeated snow storms.

Unlike the recommendations from the others, a 60HP tractor would not work for me. I need to get into some tight spots in the woods when maintaining trails. I also didn't really look forward to the significant increase in prices for implements sized appropriately for a larger tractor. I use a 6 foot box blade, a 5 foot brush hog, and a backhoe on my TC 33D (similar capabilities to the TC30 you were looking at). A rear blade or rear snowblower is in my future (neighbor with an F350 set up for snow plowing has made these a lower priority for me). Yes, there are times I wish I had a TC40 (with appropriately up-sized implements) so I could handle some jobs more quickly, but I've been able to get the job done in what I feel is a reasonable amount of time. I also can get to all of the tight spots I need to, so there are fewer jobs I end up doing by hand. The gravel road maintenance is easy. If I were building the road, My TC33D would have been too small, but for maintaining it with the box blade, it's a breeze.

Faced with your situation, I might have moved up to a 40 or 50 HP tractor, but for me, 60 or 80 HP would never have fit. I do think you are making a good choice with the front mounted snow blower. 1 mile is too darn long to spend twisted around backing up. You might want to consider a quick change system to swap from the loader to the snow blower... there may be times when you need the loader to push back snow banks on a really tough winter.

John Mc

 

[Soundguy]

Power steering.. 4wd.. and minimum of 50 hp so you can use a 10' mower.. perhaps more hp so you can use 12 or 15' depending on what you have to mow.

I'd guess anything 50-100 hp would not be in the overkill area.

Might go for a heated cab at that altitude / temp.

Soundguy

 

[John_Mc]

Judging from th eother replies, maybe I've underestimated your needs. You mention 220 acres, with 10 acres in pasture. I assumed you were mowing/brush hogging the 10 acres, plus some miscellaneous mowing on trails, roads, or other random open spaces. The road maintenance would not scare me at all with a smaller tractor that what others are recommending, once you get an new layer of gravel delivered to cover over the larger base stones which are showing through. I guess the real question is what are you doing with the other 210 acres?

John Mc

 

[frank_f15]

not to be redundant , but to do what you want i do beleive you might be happier with a larger tractor. There are some nice older well maintained utility tractors out there, depending on where u live will often determine how many and what price the will sell for.

 

[PineRidge]

Sounds like a perfect place for a TN75 cabbed new Holland with heat and air conditioning. It would be home, home on the range. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Have you considered doing the snow plowing with a good truck (which I'm thinking you need anyway) and then sizing your tractor and implements for everything else? Just a thought.

Cliff

 

[colestin]

My, you guys can rally to a guy's aid! Thanks for all the help.

Cliff_John, I did consider a blade for the deisel 4X4, but this is a hilly place. A plow would just create a channel for the snow melt, and then you have 2-foot deep ruts down the road. A blower helps avoid this. So I hear from the natives. Pine's TN75 would truly be nicer than the house... and cause marital problems!

Most of you say to go for more power. I would, and will, go with more HP if it comes available, but like John_Mc says, I need to go between trees. It may be 220 acres, but I'll mow less than 5. I'll plow none at all. I'll move firewood in the bucket, and don't mind making two passes at a snowy road (will my story change once I'm experienced?).

We got an offer on our current place today, so I'm looking serious, now! There's a NH TC30 with less than 300 hours on it in Medford. It's expensive. But it's available now, when I may have money. I just don't see the older, larger, tractors for sale here. I'll look harder! Scared of Chinese machines, I'm looking for used Blue, Green, Red, or Orange.

 

[colestin]

Man, you folks have got me thinking now. I will use the TC30 as a starting point and call or go to all the local dealers to see what they have. The Kubota dealer tells me that used machines are rare around here. Local Nickle ads coroborate this. Besides Kubota, there are dealers for NH, JD, Janmar, Kioti, in the local area (within 150 miles). Within 50 miles, it's just JD, NH, Kubota, and Janmar.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

I would go for a Utility Tractor. Something like a JD 5105.

 

[ByronBob]

I do 625 feet of driveway with a loader and it can take a few hours. With 3 feet of snow I would have to park at the road. I'm building a pulloff area at the end of the driveway now because of that very issue.

A 30hp will do it although time will be the issue. It could take you all day to do that much with a smaller machine so the bigger the better of course. Do you own a snowmobile /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
A bulldozer might even be better for the snowcovered driveway issues and buy the tractor later to mow with

 

[colestin]

Hmmm... lots of suggestions to chew on here.

I did more homework. The New Holland TC30 already sold. In it's place was a TC33. I had drool problems. Very nice. Almost no hours, almost list price.

So I went to the Orange dealer. He said "Oh, the TC33 is 33 horses with 3 cylinders. Our B78 is 30 horses with 4 cylinders", as though I should be impressed. He then claimed that his sales numbers needed to be higher before some dealer convention and offered to sell me the B78 with a Woods FEL for 16K.

I drove toward home. Passing by the Green tractor store I noticed a veritable sea of green, identicle tractors, so I pulled off to gawk. A voice behind me drawled "You want one, or all fourty?". He explained that the Factory had made the mistake of putting two different brands of tires, front and back, on a whole bunch of these tractors (the model had a 79 in it, I think). Because of the tire mis-match, these 27-horse, manual tranny, Tonka look-alikes were heavily discounted and could be had with FEL for $13,900.00.

I am not sure what to think about Tractor sales guys at this point. But I sure like the looks of NH tractors (haven't driven a single one yet).

 

[riptides]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( But I sure like the looks of NH tractors (haven't driven a single one yet). )</font>

Then compare brands of similar tractors to the NH and go get some dealer seat time. You may like the looks, but it may just feel wrong for you sitting in it. A lot of us were swayed to one brand or another just by ergonomics alone. Get seat time!

-Best of luck!
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Rch]

colestin, if hilly and snow, an agriculture set-up so the wheels can be widened for stability may be important. Some tractors that come with R4's have only a fixed width altho I've seen R4s on ag set-up on the dealers lot. I get along in snow with 4WD ag ( R1) tires without chains. On some set-ups, especially fixed width, there is no clearance for chains. Chains may be necessary with the amount of snow your talking about but they are a pain in the gluteal cleft. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[John_Mc]

Excuse me if I missed it in an earlier post, but in what part of the country are you living? People might be able to tailor their responses to your area, and/or recommend dealers for you to visit. If you fill out your user profile, this will help.

John Mc