Advice on new tractor purchase - MX6000, M7060, M5?

[chromatica]

Hi, I’m looking to purchase my first tractor and could use a sanity check and advice.

I have about 50 acres in Central Texas; 40 of which is fairly flat pasture, 10 of which is forested and rolls down to a substantial creek. In addition, I need to maintain 2500ft x 24ft of highway frontage on the county side of my property line. The ultimate goal for the property is a mixture of homestead/agriculture/agri-tourism. We’ll have a mixture of livestock/grazing, hay, and vegetable crop. Other planned uses for the tractor are:

• cut/grade/maintain 1/2 mile of dirt/gravel driveway plus parking areas, smaller access paths
• clear/clean up/maintain a few acres of the forested land for access to the creek
• Lots of tree/log work; there’s 50 or so 100+ year old trees that need help just along the edge of the forested area and dotting the pasture. Broken/dead limbs, some of the trees are likely entirely dead and need to be pulled down. I’m hoping to use the wood for a mixture of firewood, building hugelkulturs (burying it), and potentially milling any of the wood of quality. There’s hundreds more of various states of quality within the forest.
• Dirt moving; creating and planting some raised beds, other things directly into the ground on 4 acres
• Mowing/haying 30 acres, 2500x24ft frontage (thinking offset flail mower)
• Digging; swales for water capture, trenches for infrastructure, hugelkultur beds
• Lifting/moving heavy things; hay bales, heavy equipment in shop, large rocks, gravel, earth
• Clearing out a huge trash ditch; decades of garbage thrown into what should be a water flow to the creek (I’m hoping I can use the backhoe w/ thumb to grab the heavy stuff and pull it out)
• Ripping out existing fencing and putting in new fencing
• Wood chipper; making mulch

My local dealer steered me towards an MX6000 to start, until haying was mentioned then moved towards an M7060. Reading forums and watching videos led me to the M4D, which my dealer confirmed can not accept a backhoe, so then I looked at the M5.

Time is important to me — I work full-time outside of the farm. At the same time, I don’t want to over-purchase too much machine on “what-ifs”. Dependability and warranty are keeping my focus on buying a machine new for the long-haul vs taking a chance on a used machine.

My back is in fairly rough, but manageable, shape. The operator comforts on the M4D/M5 look attractive if I’m feeling selfish, the instructor seat would be a nice plus to get my kid (safely) involved, the A/C and dust/bug protection from a cab seem like something every one that has one would never go back from. I can’t help feel a bit of impostor syndrome though when I see videos of people making it happen with a 60 year old tractor. On the flip side, if my body is unnecessarily aching because I didn’t spend a bit more to take care of myself, my wife will kill me.

Implements I’m looking at including in the initial purchase (to wrap it up in the 0% financing)

• FEL w/ QA 72" bucket
• Backhoe w/ 16" bucket and either mechanical or hydraulic thumb
• 72" offset flail mower
• 6' box blade w/ scarifiers
• Pallet forks
• Root grapple

I planned to get the 3rd function up front for the grapple and 2 remotes in the back at purchase since every recommendation I can find says to do it at purchase. Between the use cases above and all the other fun things I’m sure I’ll figure out in the future, that makes sense to invest that cost up front.

All that said — any advice is appreciated. This is a lot of money I’m considering and if I really could get by with a L4701 or Grand L4760, I’m certainly open to it. I keep reading that “tractors hold their value”, but at the same time somewhere else I read 90% of tractor sales are to new buyers, and new buyers are steered towards new purchases for the safety of a warranty. I’d hate to assume a machine as expensive as an M5 will hold its value if there’s no buyers. My plan is this is a lifelong purchase, but you know how life can throw a curveball.

 

[Goz63]

Wished I could advise on the tractor model but for implements I would add a fertilizer spreader. I have the Land Pride FSP1000. For roughly $1000 it is a cheap addition that will help you with pasture/hay field maintenance. As for the rear remotes, I wished I would have done that upfront. Then add top and tilt. Makes your box blade so much easier and more useful. Good luck on your hunt.

 

[PaulL]

Those machines are out of my size league. I will say that there's a lot of money in a machine that big, and it sounds like haying is the real driver. But haying needs a lot of implements beyond a mower (and I'm pretty sure you can't make hay with a flail - it'll chop your grass into small pieces). You need a tedder and a bailer etc etc. You can buy a lot of that second hand if you really want the experience, but if you're just making hay so as to keep the pasture under control, much better to get a contractor to come and do it for you.

If you weren't doing hay, then an MX or smaller M seems a reasonable size.

On resale - a big machine like that will still hold its value. I think the reason people mostly buy them new is because you can't get them second hand other than with a few thousand hours on them. They're mostly sold to people who use them all day every day - because that's an expensive machine. If you run a machine 8 hours a day for 100 days of the year, you're putting 800 hours a year on it - a 5 year old machine will have 4,000 hours. Some guys would run it 200 days a year.

You sound like you'll have a lot of ongoing digging to do. You may want to consider a dedicated excavator. You could get an MX or M (I think the MX doesn't come with a cab), plus a mid-size older excavator, for about what the M5 with backhoe would cost.

 

[PaulL]

I make an M5 w/ backhoe, loader, cab and a couple hydraulic valves about $90K (Kubota build site).

And MX5400 w/ cab and loader plus a couple of hydraulic valves is about $50K (also Kubota build site). No backhoe available on that model (might be the cab).

That leaves $40K for an excavator.

For about $30K you could get this: https://www.equipmentfacts.com/list...ment/auctions/online/207456487/kubota-kx161-3, which looks more powerful or at least similar to the backhoe on the M5. For what you describe, digging holes and burying logs, I'd say a dedicated excavator to dig the holes while the tractor brings the logs would be a much better process.

Actually, I just googled hugelkultur and it looks to me like you could just about dig those holes with the FEL if you had a tooth bar. They're shallow and long trenches, and they don't look too fussy on shape. That'd be 100 times faster than messing with a backhoe or an excavator.

 

[chromatica]

I make an M5 w/ backhoe, loader, cab and a couple hydraulic valves about $90K (Kubota build site).

And MX5400 w/ cab and loader plus a couple of hydraulic valves is about $50K (also Kubota build site). No backhoe available on that model (might be the cab).

That leaves $40K for an excavator.

For about $30K you could get this: https://www.equipmentfacts.com/list...ment/auctions/online/207456487/kubota-kx161-3, which looks more powerful or at least similar to the backhoe on the M5. For what you describe, digging holes and burying logs, I'd say a dedicated excavator to dig the holes while the tractor brings the logs would be a much better process.

Actually, I just googled hugelkultur and it looks to me like you could just about dig those holes with the FEL if you had a tooth bar. They're shallow and long trenches, and they don't look too fussy on shape. That'd be 100 times faster than messing with a backhoe or an excavator.

Thanks for the info and thought. That makes a lot of sense on the two-machine approach.

I haven’t looked into digging with the FEL, thanks for the thread to pull on. Time to read more!

 

[chromatica]

Those machines are out of my size league. I will say that there's a lot of money in a machine that big, and it sounds like haying is the real driver. But haying needs a lot of implements beyond a mower (and I'm pretty sure you can't make hay with a flail - it'll chop your grass into small pieces). You need a tedder and a bailer etc etc. You can buy a lot of that second hand if you really want the experience, but if you're just making hay so as to keep the pasture under control, much better to get a contractor to come and do it for you.

If you weren't doing hay, then an MX or smaller M seems a reasonable size.

Good point on the flail not being able to make hay.

The current state of the pasture (overgrown w/ wooly croton on top of bluegrass) is such that my plan is (probably) to shred it all and work it back into the soil for the year, which is why I was thinking flail over rotary. Then pick up the rotary, tedder and bailer next year if haying makes sense. It’s one of the biggest reasons I’m on the fence about the bigger machine — perhaps I should leave the idea of haying to the side for now and save $30k going to a smaller machine that can do the rest of it.

 

[PaulL]

perhaps I should leave the idea of haying to the side for now and save $30k going to a smaller machine that can do the rest of it.

I would. Most people say haying on a small farm isn't economic. The equipment costs kill you. Buying it is cost prohibitive new, doable with old small stuff second hand, but then you have to fix it all the time.

If you like haying and want to have fun, then by all means. If it's a job that needs doing, most guys are saying that's the one you hire out, because then all your machinery gets cheaper. My understanding is that you can basically contract a guy to do it, and the returns on the hay pay for the guy with maybe a small profit, but then you're a legit farm and can get tax deductible things.

I'd focus on your other priorities - they sound like more fun, and more like the kind of thing you'd want to do personally. Hay is just hay.

On the "work it back into the soil" do you mean just cut it and leave it? Most people try to avoid working the soil if they can - non till farming is the ecologically friendly thing to do. And working the soil is a big job again. Most people would just cut with the flail once a month for a year, and then work out what to do next. Generally things that you mow eventually turn into grass.

 

[Jchonline]

Hi, I’m looking to purchase my first tractor and could use a sanity check and advice.

I have about 50 acres in Central Texas; 40 of which is fairly flat pasture, 10 of which is forested and rolls down to a substantial creek. In addition, I need to maintain 2500ft x 24ft of highway frontage on the county side of my property line. The ultimate goal for the property is a mixture of homestead/agriculture/agri-tourism. We’ll have a mixture of livestock/grazing, hay, and vegetable crop. Other planned uses for the tractor are:

• cut/grade/maintain 1/2 mile of dirt/gravel driveway plus parking areas, smaller access paths
• clear/clean up/maintain a few acres of the forested land for access to the creek
• Lots of tree/log work; there’s 50 or so 100+ year old trees that need help just along the edge of the forested area and dotting the pasture. Broken/dead limbs, some of the trees are likely entirely dead and need to be pulled down. I’m hoping to use the wood for a mixture of firewood, building hugelkulturs (burying it), and potentially milling any of the wood of quality. There’s hundreds more of various states of quality within the forest.
• Dirt moving; creating and planting some raised beds, other things directly into the ground on 4 acres
• Mowing/haying 30 acres, 2500x24ft frontage (thinking offset flail mower)
• Digging; swales for water capture, trenches for infrastructure, hugelkultur beds
• Lifting/moving heavy things; hay bales, heavy equipment in shop, large rocks, gravel, earth
• Clearing out a huge trash ditch; decades of garbage thrown into what should be a water flow to the creek (I’m hoping I can use the backhoe w/ thumb to grab the heavy stuff and pull it out)
• Ripping out existing fencing and putting in new fencing
• Wood chipper; making mulch

My local dealer steered me towards an MX6000 to start, until haying was mentioned then moved towards an M7060. Reading forums and watching videos led me to the M4D, which my dealer confirmed can not accept a backhoe, so then I looked at the M5.

Time is important to me — I work full-time outside of the farm. At the same time, I don’t want to over-purchase too much machine on “what-ifs”. Dependability and warranty are keeping my focus on buying a machine new for the long-haul vs taking a chance on a used machine.

My back is in fairly rough, but manageable, shape. The operator comforts on the M4D/M5 look attractive if I’m feeling selfish, the instructor seat would be a nice plus to get my kid (safely) involved, the A/C and dust/bug protection from a cab seem like something every one that has one would never go back from. I can’t help feel a bit of impostor syndrome though when I see videos of people making it happen with a 60 year old tractor. On the flip side, if my body is unnecessarily aching because I didn’t spend a bit more to take care of myself, my wife will kill me.

Implements I’m looking at including in the initial purchase (to wrap it up in the 0% financing)

• FEL w/ QA 72" bucket
• Backhoe w/ 16" bucket and either mechanical or hydraulic thumb
• 72" offset flail mower
• 6' box blade w/ scarifiers
• Pallet forks
• Root grapple

I planned to get the 3rd function up front for the grapple and 2 remotes in the back at purchase since every recommendation I can find says to do it at purchase. Between the use cases above and all the other fun things I’m sure I’ll figure out in the future, that makes sense to invest that cost up front.

All that said — any advice is appreciated. This is a lot of money I’m considering and if I really could get by with a L4701 or Grand L4760, I’m certainly open to it. I keep reading that “tractors hold their value”, but at the same time somewhere else I read 90% of tractor sales are to new buyers, and new buyers are steered towards new purchases for the safety of a warranty. I’d hate to assume a machine as expensive as an M5 will hold its value if there’s no buyers. My plan is this is a lifelong purchase, but you know how life can throw a curveball.

Probably first and foremost, haying on 30 acres (if you are buying all equipment and doing it yourself) is a Cost center. You are going to loose far more money and time over the next 20 years than you will save. My recommendation is to have someone bail it for you if you can find it. It sounds like this will be a small place with a few cows/houses/sheep etc. Keep it sprayed, fertilized and let someone else deal with the rest. Unless you have $$$ to throw at it, then do whatever you want! Bailers are a pain, and they are dangerous to work around (Because its hard to get to everything). We have 100 acres and we still dont bail our own in TX These days. We did 50 years ago. We are West of Athens. BTW the Kubota dealer in Athens is great!



If you are set on a backhoe you can forget about a machine that will hay and take a backhoe. You technically can put a backhoe on a M7060 but with Ag tires you loose 3 feet of reach…it it is almost worthless to have one. BH on the MX6000 should be fine, but again these are only 9ft reach. You aren’t going to easily go fishing stuff out of a gulley with it. Of note a 16” bucket is a baby, dont plan on digging large holes with it…will take forever. Good for trenching (although a bit wide) and getting things that are buried (some roots, rocks, etc). Based on what you have provided as tasks I dont really see a need for a BH from a cost perspective. Now if you have 10 trenches to dig, etc it might make more sense. It is a back saver to pick things up with the BH, but you can also accomplish this with a FEL grapple in most cases.

Personally I would scrap the BH and the idea of doing your own hay. Get a large excavator (Rent or pay contractor) to clean up that gulley. M7060 is an awesome machine for everything else. You can move up if you want, but it would not be necessary. Definitely get a cab in Central TX.

 

[chromatica]

On the "work it back into the soil" do you mean just cut it and leave it? Most people try to avoid working the soil if they can - non till farming is the ecologically friendly thing to do. And working the soil is a big job again. Most people would just cut with the flail once a month for a year, and then work out what to do next. Generally things that you mow eventually turn into grass.

Yes, poor choice of words on my part. I meant cut it and leave it, and stay on top of it so that the weeds stay down and the grass takes over. My plan was to avoid disturbing the topsoil as much as possible.

 

[chromatica]

Probably first and foremost, haying on 30 acres (if you are buying all equipment and doing it yourself) is a Cost center. You are going to loose far more money and time over the next 20 years than you will save. My recommendation is to have someone bail it for you if you can find it. It sounds like this will be a small place with a few cows/houses/sheep etc. Keep it sprayed, fertilized and let someone else deal with the rest. Unless you have $$$ to throw at it, then do whatever you want! Bailers are a pain, and they are dangerous to work around (Because its hard to get to everything). We have 100 acres and we still dont bail our own in TX These days. We did 50 years ago. We are West of Athens. BTW the Kubota dealer in Athens is great!

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Sounds like the smart move is to ditch any plans of doing hay myself. Glad to hear the Kubota dealer in Athens is top notch. The Kubota website only shows Ewald as the dealer around the Austin area (where I am); my experience with them so far has been positive, but fairly limited.

If you are set on a backhoe you can forget about a machine that will hay and take a backhoe. You technically can put a backhoe on a M7060 but with Ag tires you loose 3 feet of reach…it it is almost worthless to have one. BH on the MX6000 should be fine, but again these are only 9ft reach. You aren’t going to easily go fishing stuff out of a gulley with it. Of note a 16” bucket is a baby, dont plan on digging large holes with it…will take forever. Good for trenching (although a bit wide) and getting things that are buried (some roots, rocks, etc). Based on what you have provided as tasks I dont really see a need for a BH from a cost perspective. Now if you have 10 trenches to dig, etc it might make more sense. It is a back saver to pick things up with the BH, but you can also accomplish this with a FEL grapple in most cases.

Personally I would scrap the BH and the idea of doing your own hay. Get a large excavator (Rent or pay contractor) to clean up that gulley. M7060 is an awesome machine for everything else. You can move up if you want, but it would not be necessary. Definitely get a cab in Central TX.

Makes sense. I haven't seen much about the effective reach of the backhoe on particular models — this is the first I've heard about losing 3 feet of reach on an M7060 for example.

If I'm skipping the backhoe and haying, the M7060 sounds great, but the M4D sounds like an alternative to consider as well. It seems like it has newer design, nicer operator features, etc. I'm wondering if the M4D is worth the couple thousand more.

 

[mcmxi]

@chromatica, this is a good thread with lots of good information and I wish you all the best in choosing the right tractor for you, your property and your needs. It seems to me that you're doing the research and asking all the right questions. I should have done more of that back in February when I made an error by purchasing an MX6000 open station model which is a great tractor, but after doing massively more grass cutting this year than I've ever done before, I realized that an MX6000 cab model would be better so I ordered one. The MX line is the perfect tractor model for me and my needs, but as pleased as I am with mine it does sound like you'd be better off in a bigger/heavier model.

Before ordering the MX6000 with cab I test drove a Kioti RX7320 with the shuttle shift which is very similar to the M7060 and ultimately decided against a shuttle shift model. I was concerned about leaks on the Kioti that only had 600 hours on it, and the lack of refinement of the motor and transmission gave me more doubts. A friend has an M7060 which he's been very pleased with. It sounds like your property and uses is more suited to a shuttle shift over HST. The M7060 is a great tractor but getting a bit long in the tooth compared to the M4 and M5 models. The MX6000 cab is very basic and utilitarian with a simple layout and basic controls compared to the M7060, M4 or M5 models.

I have pallet forks, a 60" root/rake grapple, a 7ft (84") box blade, an 84" rotary cutter, and more, and the MX handles them all exceptionally well, but the added weight and power of a bigger tractor would have no downside unless you're trying to move around in an area with lots of obstacles.

I ordered the 3rd function, three rear remotes and top-n-tilt when I bought the first MX and did the same when I ordered the second MX so I certainly recommend going that route. The factory installation is clean and affordable even compared to aftermarket kits that aren't as nice.

There's an M5-111 outside the local dealership and it's a beast! I'd love a tractor like that but couldn't come close to justifying it for my property and current uses. I've driven an even bigger beast in the form of an M6-141, another tractor I'd love to own but it falls into the same category of being way too much.

This is the M5-111 with a Land Pride rotary cutter .. simply amazing!!

 

[PaulL]

I think I recall the Kioti having a larger cab, and a jump seat for the children.....I mean instructor seat. That may be material. The M4 is definitely a newer machine with more features.

 

[mcmxi]

I think I recall the Kioti having a larger cab, and a jump seat for the children.....I mean instructor seat. That may be material. The M4 is definitely a newer machine with more features.

If I were in @chromatica's shoes I'd be looking at an M4 over an M7060, and if money allowed, an M5 over an M4. As much as I like the MX series it's still a compact entry level utility tractor that seems big to many, particularly if moving up from the BX and B tractors, but ultimately doesn't compare to the M series.

 

[hedgerow]

I would give a HST MX-6000 a good look. I bought one back in June open station as it gets used a lot on the farm for spot spraying in the summer. I have been using a seven foot rotary mower on it a lot the last couple weeks mowing places I can't get into with my big cabbed tractor and the bat wing mower. The heat index has been around 100 plus but it hasn't been bad with the open station. I would forget about haying and just rent it out for haying. I would forget the backhoe also and rent or hire a excavator to clean that area up. I have had a couple three point backhoes over the years and when someone thought they were worth more than I had in them I sold them. I would go HST and forget about a shuttle shift.

 

[Jchonline]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Sounds like the smart move is to ditch any plans of doing hay myself. Glad to hear the Kubota dealer in Athens is top notch. The Kubota website only shows Ewald as the dealer around the Austin area (where I am); my experience with them so far has been positive, but fairly limited.



Makes sense. I haven't seen much about the effective reach of the backhoe on particular models — this is the first I've heard about losing 3 feet of reach on an M7060 for example.

If I'm skipping the backhoe and haying, the M7060 sounds great, but the M4D sounds like an alternative to consider as well. It seems like it has newer design, nicer operator features, etc. I'm wondering if the M4D is worth the couple thousand more.

I Am sure the M4D is a great machine. Looks nice. 73HP is a bit light for serious haying but 30 acres isn’t much. The issue wont be the machine it will be the other equipment you have to deal with. For moving bales, plowing, spraying, mowing the M4 will be great.

 

[Jchonline]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. Sounds like the smart move is to ditch any plans of doing hay myself. Glad to hear the Kubota dealer in Athens is top notch. The Kubota website only shows Ewald as the dealer around the Austin area (where I am); my experience with them so far has been positive, but fairly limited.



Makes sense. I haven't seen much about the effective reach of the backhoe on particular models — this is the first I've heard about losing 3 feet of reach on an M7060 for example.

If I'm skipping the backhoe and haying, the M7060 sounds great, but the M4D sounds like an alternative to consider as well. It seems like it has newer design, nicer operator features, etc. I'm wondering if the M4D is worth the couple thousand more.

Of course it is worth a few thousand more if you get a buddy in the cab! However with no backhoe and possibly no haying you need to justify the size and expense to yourself. We dont really matter. The M4 will be great at field work including plowing, mowing, moving bales around, spraying, even tedding/raking/cutting if you want to coordinate that part of Haying. I would just think really hard about buying a baler. Most hay farmers probably want to do it all their way, but you always have the option if it presents itself.

 

[chromatica]

Right now, I'm leaning towards the M4D; the creature comforts (especially being able to safely get my kid into the cab with me!) and bit of extra functionality/power are worth the ~$2000 difference.

Haying is out of the question, I appreciate everyone's advice on that.

I'll follow up with pictures once I take possession of the unit.

 

[NCL4701]

Don’t have much to add other than you mention having some back issues so take a hard look at the seat. It’s the only real suspension cushion you have between you and the ground. There’s a HUGE difference between an air ride seat and a spine slammer like I have on my L. Air rides aren’t cheap but neither are doctors.

 

[chromatica]

Don’t have much to add other than you mention having some back issues so take a hard look at the seat. It’s the only real suspension cushion you have between you and the ground. There’s a HUGE difference between an air ride seat and a spine slammer like I have on my L. Air rides aren’t cheap but neither are doctors.

Excellent point — I’ve got the air-ride seat on the quote.

 

[mcmxi]

Don’t have much to add other than you mention having some back issues so take a hard look at the seat. It’s the only real suspension cushion you have between you and the ground. There’s a HUGE difference between an air ride seat and a spine slammer like I have on my L. Air rides aren’t cheap but neither are doctors.

Yeah. I ordered the air ride seat upgrade for the MX6000 cab model. The BX seat was fairly brutal running around my property, the MX6000 seat was a definite upgrade, but I'm really looking forward to the air ride seat on the new MX when it gets here.