Howdy,
I have now owned my place for four years (time flies) and have been waiting to buy a proper tractor. (Been saving, hiring out work and making due with two older garden tractors, one with a little front end loader). But it is time to move on!
Our place has about 8 acres that one can safely take the tractor on. We have additional wooded acres that are steeply sloped. Of the 8 acres, five are fenced gently sloping pastures with a few steeper spots with fescue grass, 2 are wetland grass/marsh that are drivable in the summer and then 1 kind of flat acre around barn/house.
I would like to purchase a tractor that would do the following:
1. Mowing as primary job, with both a rear finish mower and rotary cutter depending on need. Our front 3 acre pasture can look like a lawn some days! We have cows on the pasture areas when grass is growing, however we want to get out of cows for a while and I want to mow the pastures 1x month during Spring and a little during fall to keep them tidy. They are dormant in the summer. So, regularly mowing about 5-6 acres during growing season(s). Those pasture areas can have some bumpy and rough areas, but are grass with some broadleaf weeds mixed in. I mow with the garden tractors if it gets ahead of the cows...it is slow (too bumpy of a ride going fast...but plenty of cutting power) and I get the job done.
2. Use the bucket to turn a compost pile and move random junk around that is too heavy to lift by hand. Spread delivered wood chips around. Muck out the barn when winter is over, help collect some fallen limbs. Use it as a powered wheel barrow, or a third hand to hold something up high.
3. Pull a little 4x8 utility trailer around full of whatever happens to need moved from one place to another...usually brush and limbs and firewood as well.
4. We have an asphalt road and little to no snow here in the Pacific Northwest...so not a lot of gravel work. No plans for infrastructure or building anything...everything we need is done.
I am thinking B series would do the job (which is mostly mowing) as a "maintain" the place tractor. Yes, the old garden tractors are basically doing the job but the ride can be rough in some spots in the fields. Sometimes I pull a gas powered rotary cutter with the ATV and that is a smoother ride. That will wear the old ATV out in no time though. The bigger tires on the B-series would be nice and B-series seems like a compromise to do pasture mowing, but nimble around the house and inside the barn cleaning.
I am not much of a tractor guy, (kind of a minimalist!) but like to keep the property in check. I am drawn to Kubota because it seems like the standard go to with lots of support and interest.
The property used to be an over run brier patch and now is mostly beautiful grasses and trees. It took lots of hard work and initially hiring out tractor work (skid steers with grapples and front mowers) to get it in better shape.
I am also planting trees on the extremely sloped areas that were logged, but that is mostly hand work. The place has really transformed and I want to keep it that way with more efficiency and comfort. Strategically timed mowing seems to keep things in check so invasives don't take over, using that as the go to method.
Would I expect to pay MSRP or is there wiggle room with dealers these days? I will be paying cash and am patient and can wait until end of the season for a good deal if needed.
Thanks in advance for your input, for those that have some sort of baseline experience here. I know there always bigger machines than what I am looking at, but just trying to get a frame of reference before I go out shopping.
Thanks!
I have now owned my place for four years (time flies) and have been waiting to buy a proper tractor. (Been saving, hiring out work and making due with two older garden tractors, one with a little front end loader). But it is time to move on!
Our place has about 8 acres that one can safely take the tractor on. We have additional wooded acres that are steeply sloped. Of the 8 acres, five are fenced gently sloping pastures with a few steeper spots with fescue grass, 2 are wetland grass/marsh that are drivable in the summer and then 1 kind of flat acre around barn/house.
I would like to purchase a tractor that would do the following:
1. Mowing as primary job, with both a rear finish mower and rotary cutter depending on need. Our front 3 acre pasture can look like a lawn some days! We have cows on the pasture areas when grass is growing, however we want to get out of cows for a while and I want to mow the pastures 1x month during Spring and a little during fall to keep them tidy. They are dormant in the summer. So, regularly mowing about 5-6 acres during growing season(s). Those pasture areas can have some bumpy and rough areas, but are grass with some broadleaf weeds mixed in. I mow with the garden tractors if it gets ahead of the cows...it is slow (too bumpy of a ride going fast...but plenty of cutting power) and I get the job done.
2. Use the bucket to turn a compost pile and move random junk around that is too heavy to lift by hand. Spread delivered wood chips around. Muck out the barn when winter is over, help collect some fallen limbs. Use it as a powered wheel barrow, or a third hand to hold something up high.
3. Pull a little 4x8 utility trailer around full of whatever happens to need moved from one place to another...usually brush and limbs and firewood as well.
4. We have an asphalt road and little to no snow here in the Pacific Northwest...so not a lot of gravel work. No plans for infrastructure or building anything...everything we need is done.
I am thinking B series would do the job (which is mostly mowing) as a "maintain" the place tractor. Yes, the old garden tractors are basically doing the job but the ride can be rough in some spots in the fields. Sometimes I pull a gas powered rotary cutter with the ATV and that is a smoother ride. That will wear the old ATV out in no time though. The bigger tires on the B-series would be nice and B-series seems like a compromise to do pasture mowing, but nimble around the house and inside the barn cleaning.
I am not much of a tractor guy, (kind of a minimalist!) but like to keep the property in check. I am drawn to Kubota because it seems like the standard go to with lots of support and interest.
The property used to be an over run brier patch and now is mostly beautiful grasses and trees. It took lots of hard work and initially hiring out tractor work (skid steers with grapples and front mowers) to get it in better shape.
I am also planting trees on the extremely sloped areas that were logged, but that is mostly hand work. The place has really transformed and I want to keep it that way with more efficiency and comfort. Strategically timed mowing seems to keep things in check so invasives don't take over, using that as the go to method.
Would I expect to pay MSRP or is there wiggle room with dealers these days? I will be paying cash and am patient and can wait until end of the season for a good deal if needed.
Thanks in advance for your input, for those that have some sort of baseline experience here. I know there always bigger machines than what I am looking at, but just trying to get a frame of reference before I go out shopping.
Thanks!
