New to Kubota

[5thhorseman]

Newly joined member here. We've just recently bought a 3 acre property and there seem to be a lot of things that could get done a lot easier with a tractor. There's about 2 acres of pasture to mow. I'd like to till a chunk of that into garden. Some pasture will need to be fenced off so there's post holes to be dug. At some point I will tackle the wilder parts of the property, which would involve clearing brush, levelling land, and removing a few trees.

It's not a full-time pursuit, what most would call a hobby farm, so really a used tractor, ideally $4K or less would make sense financially. Being quite new to this I sure could use some advice on what tractor is appropriate and, as some of the members of this forum seem to be from my area, where's a good place to find a used one. I've seen quite a few B and BX series on Buy/Sell, but most of these come with a backhoe which I'm not interested in at all and by some accounts is more useful as ballast. I'm drawn toward L series which seem more capable but don't cost that much more.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[cabu]

Hello,

if you want to mow the gras, think about that the equipment should be able to collect the gras. Otherwise the gras will get a lot of "spots" from the old cut gras. For cleaning the wild, the bushes and so maybe you try a rotary-mulcher. That thing is really effektiv. I also use it to cut my gras, but sometimes I have to collect the gras by hand. For the poles of a fence I have bought an auger operated by hand. My fence is ~400 yards and the auger is also quite helpfull for planting trees, because you can loosen the soil with it very easy.

And when you have bought your little friend, you will find a lot of things he can also do. Some make sence, some don't, but a lot of fun!

carl

 

[traildust]

Three acres is most likely too much for a BX and you are probably in the zone where a B would be good and L maybe too much.

 

[kevindsingleton]

We have about 25 acres, mostly wooded, and we use a B2920 with a 5 foot finish mower, a little 42 inch John Deere mower, and a push mower to cut the grass. We mow about 3 acres, and about three fourths of a mile of trails.

I have a FEL, but no backhoe, on the B2920. I'm not really trying to do much digging, but I do move gravel and mulch around, and generally just push through the underbrush to extend the trails.

The B2920 is good for what I do, and would probably work for you, as well, if you can find one without a backhoe. I use the finish mower, a back blade, and a shop-made ballast/sprayer/clay bird thrower mount on the 3-point, and the Kubota bucket and a manure fork that was on my 8N on the FEL.

There are belly mowers available for the B series, which would free up your 3PH for other uses. I already had the finish mower, so I didn't need it.

 

[stuart]

Most likely you will find that one machine will not perform well for all the little jobs. A finish mower, mid mount or 3-point is nice, but you need turf tires for that. The low clearance of the bx, with the smaller tires, is good for that. I didn't go that route because I have a 48" John Deere (predates my Kubota days) and a husqvarna sweeper for the grass. Also, the finish mower itself costs about the same as the JD mower complete.
I have 2 acres of rough pasture, so my next project is a 3-point brush cutter. I have the big lug rice paddy tires on mine, and they are fine for the pasture but would make a mess of the lawn. Those tires with the high ground clearance is nice in the dirt and mud when roto-tilling or working around the pond.
The 4' back blade is nice for the driveway, and for clearing blackberry bushes.
I would not be without the loader - it gets used for so many things including lifting up the back end of the lawn tractor for maintenance work (yes I use jack stands).
I think something under 20hp will serve you well. I don't know the model numbers. These smaller units will run out of traction well before they run out of power.

 

[kevindsingleton]

These smaller units will run out of traction well before they run out of power.

This is very true. If there's one thing I miss about my 8N it's the mass.

Where do you get wheel weights for a B2920?

 

[Joe]

I have the same situation as you do. Bought a used B7610 which IMHO is just right for the job. I do have an old Sears garden tractor for mowing around the house which is difficult with the B because of the tires and maneuverability.

You will not regret getting a Kubota tractor, I pinch myself every time I use mine to make sure I am not dreaming about how much easier the work is with the tractor. Then I kick myself for not getting it sooner.

Seems to me that $4K is too low considering the implements that you will need.

 

[Bulldog]

Seems to me that $4K is too low considering the implements that you will need.

You said a mouth full with that one. I gave $12,000 for my L 3000 and I have over $20K in implements just for it and the real expensive stuff I bought used. Getting the tractor is nothing compaired to the equipment to go with it.

I see tractors listed in the market bulletin all the time with all the equipment to go with it. Even though the price may be a little more that may be a good option to look at doing.

 

[5thhorseman]

Well thanks to everyone for their thoughts. Looks like I've stumbled on to a good group on this forum.

I already have a ride-on mower for the lawn around the house; the tractor would be for everything else. In terms of implements I think an FEL with a bucket, a brush cutter, and some combination of rototiller/plow/disc (cue next debate) is what I would really like to start with. A finish mower is not really necessary. An auger would also be nice to help with fencing and tree planting, but I could acquire that later on.

From the sounds of it I'll keep an eye out for B series. I've seen too many comments from people wishing they had bought larger rather than smaller.

Any thoughts about what my price range should be given the above equipment?

Thanks!

 

[bikerdib]

BD, I had a B7100 and 48" shredder that I used to mow about 4 of the 12 acre weekend place I owned. The rest of the property I left in thick woods with trails cut through to hike and ride dirtbikes. That included mowing around the 1 acre pond so the 4X4 came in handy more than once. I also had a 48" box blade and a 3pt scoop bucket. I used the box blade to clean out the silt from sections of the pond that dried up during a drought and the scoop bucket to do dirtbike trail maintenance. I could tackle just about anything I wanted with that setup (BTW, BD stands for "before divorce").

5 years after the divorce I realized I screwed up selling the property (and the B7100) and found a 7.5 acre place located in the same section of woods. I only keep about 1.5 acre of the 7.5 cleared, the rest is left in heavy woods with trails.

Now I have a small camphouse I just built on the place and a B7300 with another 48" shredder, a FEL, a 48" grader blade (I bought a 60", cut 1 foot off each end and used those pieces to make wings that bolt on the blade to make a sort of box blade when needed), a subsoiler/middlebuster, home made brush forks for the FEL, and the old 3pt scoop bucket. I'm pulling down trees in about a .75 acre section of an old stream where I plan on making a pond. I use the subsoiler to go around the trees cutting the roots then a LONG chain attached about 10-12 feet above the ground. I've pulled over trees with up to 8" diameter trunks. Luckily, I have sandy topsoil.

The point of my long story, I found the B series is more than capable of doing everything I need it to do and I like the small size for being able to maneuver between trees on the heavily wooded sections of land. IMO, an L would have been too much tractor for the 12 acres and certainly too much for my 7.5 acres.

Only suggestion I'd make; if you go with either a BX or B series, get 4X4. The lightness of these tractors is their downfall. They can do more work than 2X4 traction would allow; as proven by the trees I'm pulling down.

 

[bo3200]

We have 50 acres, most of it in hay but we do mow around 7 or 8 acres.
We recently bought a B3200 with a 60" belly mower and FEL. It is an awesome little machine. It's maneuverable in and out of trees, and with 4X4 it hasn't been stuck yet. It's easy on the fuel and it will work all day long moving dirt with the loader and/or the box scrape. Our M4030su is great for heavy bush hogging but this little tractor is just what we needed to fill the gap.