Don't buy a bigger tractor than you need.

[jimh406]

I find this advice pretty good. But, I'm still using the same tractor.

 

[airbiscuit]

meh. Any compact tractor is a joy to use. That said, I see way more comments from people wishing they bought bigger for their first tractor, than wishing they bought smaller.

Here is my rule of thumb +

 

[GreensvilleJay]

gee, I had 4 full size, 40HP tractors and a combine(10' grain head) on my 1/3 acre. I finally downsized to one 40HP tractor and the BX23S

 

[mcfarmall]

My rule of thumb is 50hp for 2 acres. (But I use it on an additional 40)

 

[airbiscuit]

That sounds about right.

 

[McMXi]

I watch and enjoy Neil's videos but when I watched this one this morning I had to laugh. He starts out saying that it annoys him when people on forums advise buying a tractor one size bigger than you think you'll need, but then he makes some arguments in favor of that approach.

I think people forget or don't think about a few aspects of owning and running a tractor. First off, the hp rating might seem decent, but once you add a loader, liquid ballast, wheel weights, implements, etc., and then throw in some hills, add in a cab with A/C, those ponies disappear fast.

Second, with HST tractors which must be the most common on this forum, the oil used to operate the loader or rear implement is the same oil needed for the transmission. The oil in an HST is heating up way more than it is in a gear drive tractor, flow is being diverted to more systems, parasitic loss is a bigger deal, so the little tractor can struggle in a situation where a bigger tractor won't, or at least not as much.

I also feel that few buy too big of a tractor, but many buy too small a tractor. The other side of this is that until you use a bigger tractor you'll never know what you're missing. This is true of just about everything in life since it's only through comparison that you learn or understand the difference between things.

I've driven an M6 a few feet and I can honestly say that an M6 is too big for my needs, currently at least. I will say that an M7060, M4 or M5 would not be too big for my needs, even the M5-111, but the jump in performance from my modified M6060 isn't worth the huge cost required to take an M5-111 home, which is the only jump I'd be interested in given the specs on the other models mentioned.

 

[#40Fan]

I unfold my batwing mower, drive 10' forward and my front yard is mowed.

Did I go too big?

 

[jyoutz]

gee, I had 4 full size, 40HP tractors and a combine(10' grain head) on my 1/3 acre. I finally downsized to one 40HP tractor and the BX23S

What did you do with the combine on 1/3 acre?

 

[airbiscuit]

I unfold my batwing mower, drive 10' forward and my front yard is mowed.

Did I go too big?

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

I watch and enjoy Neil's videos but when I watched this one this morning I had to laugh. He starts out saying that it annoys him when people on forums advise buying a tractor one size bigger than you think you'll need, but then he makes some arguments in favor of that approach.

I think people forget or don't think about a few aspects of owning and running a tractor. First off, the hp rating might seem decent, but once you add a loader, liquid ballast, wheel weights, implements, etc., and then throw in some hills, add in a cab with A/C, those ponies disappear fast.

Second, with HST tractors which must be the most common on this forum, the oil used to operate the loader or rear implement is the same oil needed for the transmission. The oil in an HST is heating up way more than it is in a gear drive tractor, flow is being diverted to more systems, parasitic loss is a bigger deal, so the little tractor can struggle in a situation where a bigger tractor won't, or at least not as much.

I also feel that few buy too big of a tractor, but many buy too small a tractor. The other side of this is that until you use a bigger tractor you'll never know what you're missing. This is true of just about everything in life since it's only through comparison that you learn or understand the difference between things.

I've driven an M6 a few feet and I can honestly say that an M6 is too big for my needs, currently at least. I will say that an M7060, M4 or M5 would not be too big for my needs, even the M5-111, but the jump in performance from my modified M6060 isn't worth the huge cost required to take an M5-111 home, which is the only jump I'd be interested in given the specs on the other models mentioned.

1. I love messicks videos, they are great…interesting, informative and not all the babble like a lot of bloggers put in their video.

2. They are easy to buy/order order from.

3. He mentioned a couple things and generally I don’t think he is wrong…however, you sort of have to separate out what he says…makes some verbal statements and then refers to people that have 1 acre…well shit you can push mow an acre…pretty hard to buy to small there. Bigger risk to a home owner is if you have more than an acre or chores that need some weight to lift, and a first time buyer it’s hard to guess what is needed to do the work…he did not really mention tractor weight vs task. Also I noted that just past halfway in he mentions he brings MXs home…well sure if I could borrow one from where I work when I wanted, then maybe I would not buy the Mx.

Point being really is for DIYers, each machine has limited capacity and needs change over time. Personally I believe in having multiple machines as well as my time matters.

Last point I have is that who shoulders all the risk for buying the wrong size machine? Who stands to gain from selling more than one machine to same customer? Would the dealers refuse to sell a second machine a year later or refuse the dealer mark up since they already collected once? Problem for a first time buyer is understanding what size they really need and thinking the acreage determines what size someone needs as the only variable is laughable. Different people have different priorities, and a lot of times I think people sort of have sticker shock and that sort of makes it easy for people to buy to little more often than too much.

The solution is simple, get multiple sizes.

 

[airbiscuit]

I think budget drives a lot buyers to purchase a smaller tractor, When i search Tractor house for CUTs within 200 miles of me, there are more John Deere 1025s and Kubota BXs than anything else. I speculate than many of them were traded in for their larger second tractor.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

What did you do with the combine on 1/3 acre?

I actually bought it for the front wheels, same as the rears for my 4 tractors. GREAT place to have morning coffee as it had a cab ! I did combine th erye from a veggie patch and a neighbours oats maybe 7 years ago, then that fall drove it over to another farmer, on highway with police escort, to drop off his 'belated birthday ' present. Sadly Ron died 3 years later. Man he had a FIRM handshake and a big heart. Still have 2 jars of oats here by computer. Crazy thing is it took the wife 8 DAYS to notice the combine was gone.....

 

[nbryan]

Lol 26HP on our 119 acres is just right for me.

 

[PaulL]

I think budget drives a lot buyers to purchase a smaller tractor, When i search Tractor house for CUTs within 200 miles of me, there are more John Deere 1025s and Kubota BXs than anything else. I speculate than many of them were traded in for their larger second tractor.

I speculate that there's lots of them for sale because lots of them are sold. BXs are the highest volume tractor sold in America, right? Stands to reason that if there's more of them sold new, there'll be more of them sold second hand - every one of those tractors will eventually end up on the used market.

I think there are a few categories of people buying BXs:

• People who actually could get by with a ride on mower, but want a tractor (this was me for my first tractor). A BX is small enough that the better half will believe it's really just a big ride on. These are homeowners with around an acre of land, and they're mainly doing some mowing and moving a bit of dirt or whatever around. These people typically sell them when they move to a smaller piece of land, move far away and don't want to take it with them, or when they die
• People who have a smallish block and don't know much about tractors. They actually need a bigger tractor, but a BX seems pretty big to them compared to what they had. Over time they work out how useful a tractor is, and start to find things their BX can't do, and they want to upgrade. I turned into this person - I started doing stuff that I never did before (on community land), and I wanted a bigger machine than my BX. They weren't things I even considered doing before I had the BX - so I never would have bought bigger for my first tractor
• People for whom it's too small when they first bought it, because they got bad advice or they skimped on spending. The BX was never big enough to do what they planned to do, and they just didn't know it. These people would benefit from advice to get a bigger tractor first up.

 

[airbiscuit]

I speculate that there's lots of them for sale because lots of them are sold. BXs are the highest volume tractor sold in America, right? Stands to reason that if there's more of them sold new, there'll be more of them sold second hand - every one of those tractors will eventually end up on the used market.

I think there are a few categories of people buying BXs:

• People who actually could get by with a ride on mower, but want a tractor (this was me for my first tractor). A BX is small enough that the better half will believe it's really just a big ride on. These are homeowners with around an acre of land, and they're mainly doing some mowing and moving a bit of dirt or whatever around. These people typically sell them when they move to a smaller piece of land, move far away and don't want to take it with them, or when they die
• People who have a smallish block and don't know much about tractors. They actually need a bigger tractor, but a BX seems pretty big to them compared to what they had. Over time they work out how useful a tractor is, and start to find things their BX can't do, and they want to upgrade. I turned into this person - I started doing stuff that I never did before (on community land), and I wanted a bigger machine than my BX. They weren't things I even considered doing before I had the BX - so I never would have bought bigger for my first tractor
• People for whom it's too small when they first bought it, because they got bad advice or they skimped on spending. The BX was never big enough to do what they planned to do, and they just didn't know it. These people would benefit from advice to get a bigger tractor first up.

I would add two other categories

• People who's budget can't afford a larger tractor than a BX
• People who just look at horsepower, and don't realize what a difference frame size, weight.larger tires, loader capacity, etc. makes.

 

[McMXi]

Lol 26HP on our 119 acres is just right for me.

Do you work on or maintain all 119 acres with your tractor or do you have a few acres carved out around your house that you take care of? I couldn't get by with the BX25 on my measly 20 acres, and other than blowing snow in the winter, it's main use was cutting a couple of acres of grass which is about all I could handle given the speed and ride.

Once I moved up to the MX6000 open station I found myself cutting 40+ acres a year, and with bigger tractors comes bigger cutters so now I can cut in 5 hours what used to take 10 hours or more.

 

[nbryan]

Do you work on or maintain all 119 acres with your tractor or do you have a spot carved out around your house that's a couple of acres?

Trail creation and mowing. Logging firewood. Digging ponds and swales. Mowing 2-3 acres around our home. Snow blowing driveway, parking, and trail system. Leveling and grading driveways. Chipping brush and firewood branches. Moving firewood crates from drying shed to house. Trenching power and data cables. Turning compost. Moving feed barrels.

No I'm not farming and do not need heavier and higher powered equipment to do substantial field work.

The goal is to build perennial polyculture plantations like nut, fruit and berry mixes with pond/swale keyline systems. Permaculture, regen ag, all a fit for descriptions.

 

[McMXi]

Trail creation and mowing. Logging firewood. Digging ponds and swales. Mowing 2-3 acres around our home. Snow blowing driveway, parking, and trail system. Leveling and grading driveways. Chipping brush and firewood branches. Moving firewood crates from drying shed to house. Trenching power and data cables. Turning compost. Moving feed barrels.

No I'm not farming and do not need heavier and higher powered equipment to do substantial field work.

The goal is to build perennial polyculture plantations like nut, fruit and berry mixes with pond/swale keyline systems. Permaculture, regen ag, all a fit for descriptions.

This is a good example of the fact that there isn't a one size fits all formula when it comes to choosing a tractor. It took me two tries before I figured out that a cabbed MX and and cabbed M work for me. But even saying that, I won't claim that I have the best tractors for my needs. I can only comment on what I've tried and what I like. I know that I wouldn't want anything smaller than the MX, but I'm confident that an M5-111 would work really well for me too. I have no desire or intention to upgrade since I'm content with what I have, but I'll make no claims along the lines of "the best", "perfect", "ideal" and such.

 

[GrassLakeRon]

There are also some of us who have had a bad experience with the BX and wouldn't buy one.