We are looking at purchasing a small tractor for the business with all the beds we have to make, moving material, etc. Thoughts? We have 10 acres to work with and we are only utilizing 1 of them thus far ... with the business expanding, I will need all the help I can get... For those that don't know, we have a nursery (plants)
Tony, I have a Kubota 30 HP, 3 cylinder, 4 wheel drive diesel that does everything I need out of a tractor. I have a 6' disc and a 6' brush hog. It might depend on what you need it for, but I wouldn't have a tractor without a bucket. And if you have a bucket, you have to have 4 x 4. Trust me on this one. I plant 5 acres of food plots and mow another 3 acres. I don't think I'd go smaller on my place. PM me if you want to talk on the phone about it. I know Christine has a smaller John Deere for her gardening. Make sure you talk to her
Right now the Kubota is where I am leaning ... the BX25 is tempting me ... I need a bucket, back hoe, tiller, I want a post hole digger.... How much research did you do, John before buying the Kubota?
We have the 24hp JD. We have a tiller, belly mower, bucket, auger, box scraper and maybe some other toys for it. Don't let the small size fool you. It will run circles around older, bigger tractors. It will lift 800lbs in the bucket. (it would lift more but it starts lifting the rear end off the ground... lol.) We haven't had any problems using the auger as deep as we can get it. But we have pretty nice dirt, in rocky ground or in hard clay it might be different.. but what happens is the shear pins break... so that's really not a tractor issue I guess. We broke our shear pins getting the auger tangled up in an underground pipe. I also once screwed the tractor right to the ground with the auger. (don't just let the auger go straight down with out pulling it up a couple times... my bad) The downside to this small of a tractor is definitely ground clearance. On the other hand, it's about as big as you'd want to go and still mow the lawn with it. If I had the money, I would buy a slightly larger tractor and then a dedicated mower. We're mowing about 3/4 of an acre and 'gardening' about three acres. I think you'd be fine with this size tractor. If you were doing a lot of tilling, get a bigger one. Because you can pull bigger attachments and be done sooner. Either way, check on the availability of the attachments you want to use first. We use the auger to drill holes to bury carp. Tomatoes and other nitrogen loving plants get planted over the carp. K and I with our migrant worker. (AKA my mom) You'll never realize how much you needed a tractor until you get one. :D
Sweet rigs Christine and jmbh! Most folks around us run deeres, but kubotas are catching on fast. I read great reviews on both! If y'all don't mind my asking what did you give for your tractors? Were they new or used when you purchased? Feel free to PM me if you don't wanna out the dollar amount in a public forum.
With the bucket, quick detach/disconnect doodad, belly mower, ballast box and the tiller it was right at $15,000.00 new. Put $5k down and financed the rest with 0% interest for uh... 36 months? It was about 250.00 per month. (too lazy to do that math) So, not cheap.. but we absolutely need it. This is me when I first got it. (sorry for the blinding white skin) It was the best new toy ever. LOL This is before we attached the quick connect three point thing. Once we took that ballast box off, we never put it back on.
Picked mine up used for $11,000 with the disc and brush hog. Pretty much just talked to my cousin who farms 2000 acres. He has JD, Case IH and Kubota. He told me for my weekend farming and the size I needed Kubota was hard to beat for the price. Then just shopped around for slightly used equipment. A guy traded this one in on a 50HP tractor. Didn't hurt to have a Kubota dealer in town.
Yep, picking up bugs, playing in the soft dirt. They just like to follow us around too. They seem to think that whatever we are doing, we must be doing it for their entertainment.
I might have gone the Kubota way too but there are no dealers nearby vs. there are two JD places within 15 miles.
Thanks guys! Very good info ... Which one is mostly made in America? I had heard the Deere is made everywhere BUT America .. just assembled here? I wish Ford still had tractors .. I could get the X Plan..... So much to think about ... I have a rider, so I don't need a belly mower.... Another thought ... a plow and discs vs. a tiller ....thoughts?
http://www.compacttractorreview.com/articles/Compact-Tractor-Companies.aspx Both the Kubota and small Deeres are made from Japanese parts. Which, if you're going to have foreign parts.. might as well have the best. Most are assembled in the USA.
Don't get a toy tractor. Get one big enough to do your jobs and then some. I started off with a 45 hp tractor and now hope to move into a 60+ hp in the future. This is what I use for snow.... works great.
JD1027E w/bucket 4x4 blade and tiller. JD does annual 0% financing deals and well worth the money. Not only that, the tire chains (which are notoriously $$$$ for tractors) were $100 for the set from the dealer.
Greg, I understand where you are coming from..... I suppose if the business grows even bigger, I all jump up to a big tractor...
Its better to have too much tractor than not enough. Im a fan of the Kubotas. **side note PT, is that a Chocolate Lab pup in your avatar?
