Dave from GA & KY
Bronze Member
It's been a couple months since I posted here about buying a tractor and, with yall's help I ended up with a CK-35 & FEL. I've since added a Bushhog Squealer SQ160 5' cutter & a Bushhog RO600 5' rollover box blade. After using them, these implements seem to be perfectly matched to this tractor.
We also finally settled on our 227 acre farm, in Adair Co. Kentucky, about a month ago. I got the tractor & attachments up there from GA and have been "cleaning up". The farm has just been allowed to grow up for over 20 years since the owner passed away. Someone's been cutting hay off the fields (about 60 acres), it's been hunted by the heirs, but that's it. Trees growing up through the barn, house windows broken and taken over by insects & critters, roads washing out, etc.
This little tractor is a workhorse. I've been using the bushhog almost constantly while I'm there, bushhoging everything from grown up weeds to blackberries to cane (bamboo) and saplings to cut ATV trails for access to all my woodlands.
Pushing/lifting fallen trees (actually cut by beavers) out of the fields with the FEL and cutting the good ones (ash & walnut) for firewood and carrying 8' logs around without a problem. I've driven the tractor through the creek (only about a foot deep at it's deepest but usually only about 6" deep with flat rock bottom) and used the bucket to cut down the bank for ATV trails, etc.
The rollover blade is fantastic for grading and I've helped the 1/4 mile driveway a little but I think I need some professional help on that one since there's a couple of steep grades and shale rock - A D8 & professional operator is comin', it seems my kioti has it's limits
. Also used the box blade & FEL to clean out the barn of quite a bit of 20 year old cow poop and ended up with a pile of super rich soil. And I graded a spot for our travel trailer.
Tractor has been absolutely incredible, never missed a beat and it's just about ready (or even maybe a little overdue) for it's 50 hour service. It's been strong, tough, dependable, & comfortable. It's in 4wd constantly and it really helps. If I had it to do all over again and the Kioti wasn't a ton cheaper than the big 3, I'd still buy the Kioti!
Things I'd change. Bigger tool box, once I put my fence pliers in there, it's full. Ag tires, the R4's are nice, but I did a little plowing with a spring-tooth chisel plow and I couldn't take a real good bite without spinning. Sure would be nice to have both and easy to change 'em.
I'm gonna need a bigger tractor (70 hp range) at some point in time for serious plowing and haymaking, and I knew that. I'll probably go for an older tractor for that. Maybe a MF 165 or something like that. But this little CK-35 is always gonna have a job and probably be my favorite. Thanks for all your help when I was struggling with whether to buy the Kioti.
Special thanks to KiotiDave from up north, he was a lot of help to me offline when I was shopping.
I'll try to get some pictures, but camera is the last thing I think about when I'm workin'. Wife was up all week last week, guess I should have gotten her to take some but I forgot.
Dave from GA & KY
We also finally settled on our 227 acre farm, in Adair Co. Kentucky, about a month ago. I got the tractor & attachments up there from GA and have been "cleaning up". The farm has just been allowed to grow up for over 20 years since the owner passed away. Someone's been cutting hay off the fields (about 60 acres), it's been hunted by the heirs, but that's it. Trees growing up through the barn, house windows broken and taken over by insects & critters, roads washing out, etc.
This little tractor is a workhorse. I've been using the bushhog almost constantly while I'm there, bushhoging everything from grown up weeds to blackberries to cane (bamboo) and saplings to cut ATV trails for access to all my woodlands.
Pushing/lifting fallen trees (actually cut by beavers) out of the fields with the FEL and cutting the good ones (ash & walnut) for firewood and carrying 8' logs around without a problem. I've driven the tractor through the creek (only about a foot deep at it's deepest but usually only about 6" deep with flat rock bottom) and used the bucket to cut down the bank for ATV trails, etc.
The rollover blade is fantastic for grading and I've helped the 1/4 mile driveway a little but I think I need some professional help on that one since there's a couple of steep grades and shale rock - A D8 & professional operator is comin', it seems my kioti has it's limits
. Also used the box blade & FEL to clean out the barn of quite a bit of 20 year old cow poop and ended up with a pile of super rich soil. And I graded a spot for our travel trailer. Tractor has been absolutely incredible, never missed a beat and it's just about ready (or even maybe a little overdue) for it's 50 hour service. It's been strong, tough, dependable, & comfortable. It's in 4wd constantly and it really helps. If I had it to do all over again and the Kioti wasn't a ton cheaper than the big 3, I'd still buy the Kioti!
Things I'd change. Bigger tool box, once I put my fence pliers in there, it's full. Ag tires, the R4's are nice, but I did a little plowing with a spring-tooth chisel plow and I couldn't take a real good bite without spinning. Sure would be nice to have both and easy to change 'em.
I'm gonna need a bigger tractor (70 hp range) at some point in time for serious plowing and haymaking, and I knew that. I'll probably go for an older tractor for that. Maybe a MF 165 or something like that. But this little CK-35 is always gonna have a job and probably be my favorite. Thanks for all your help when I was struggling with whether to buy the Kioti.
Special thanks to KiotiDave from up north, he was a lot of help to me offline when I was shopping.
I'll try to get some pictures, but camera is the last thing I think about when I'm workin'. Wife was up all week last week, guess I should have gotten her to take some but I forgot.
Dave from GA & KY
