Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

I like blue too, but what I like best is a really good deal that saves me $$!

I have a green Deere, her name is Lizzy. We bought her new as I couldn't turn down free 0% financing. Just paid her off in April and she is mine...all mine. No problems at all in 5 years. But then I don't mow or brush hog with her either. We have a backhoe, a rototiller, augers, box scraper, rock rake, disc, and front loader. She is easy to use, auto transmission and power steering. She was built for ME.

I also have a newly acquired walk behind bobcat. Really cool little machine.

All I can say is congratulations on something's

I will write more tomorrow
I am tired and going to bed. Once my 5 siblings are in bed.

When you buy a tractor, make sure it's big enough to pick up a round bale. Our's is a 23 horse Kubota and it won't pick up round bales. Fortunately our hay guy lives right around the corner, stores our hay in his barn and brings them to us one at a time. But we got a sweet deal on it with front end, trailer, box blade, bush hog, forks, and disc. Her name is Marigold and I love my tractor!!!

Amen @Baymule - that's the main reason we have a tractor. Once I switched to round bales my life got so much easier!

Round bales are not common in CA and most people feed square ones that weigh about 100-120 lbs. I have been feeding 1400 lb bales as I save some serious money and I don't have to stack them. I go and buy one a week but I do wish my tractor could pick them up. I bring them home in a dump trailer and unload them into a hay shelter and there they stay. Would be so nice to be able to carry one out to the field. But I looked at how big of a tractor I would need to do that and it would be a horse. I'll stick to Lizzy but I think about a bigger tractor every now and then...more now than then.

We have some tight spots on our land, sheds by trees, garage by a fence, etc, and sometimes that is the only access to another part of our land. So Lizzy is a little less the 5' wide with just her front loader and she can get into those tight spots, another reason to keep her.

Latestarter said:

Sounds to me like you basically got the property for the land value... There's going to need to be a pretty substantial additional investment of funds to get it back to an ideal living situation... If I were 20 years younger, I'd have considered something like that, though with the home in that shape and a single wide, I don't think I could have found decent financing. Wish you the best of success with it though!

Click to expand...

Yeah, it is for land value, and the land is all I need, I don't live there and have no immediate plans to. So, the buildings, rough as they are, are a bonus as if I need to stay out there all night in the dead of winter with a sick horse, I can, there are wood stoves and running water, no indoor plumbing since the bathroom fell in, but I could take the chill off the air and catch a nap near the wood stove if I need to. Also, doing chores in winter, it would be nice to have somewhere to keep a change of dry clothes so when I get wet messing with water tubs or in the snow I don't have to wear cold wet clothes the rest of the day.

Excellent points all! That works out about perfect for you then

I've been looking at nothing less than about 35 Horse Power... From what I've been reading the general consensus is the tractor should be 1.5-2HP per acre being worked. It's not really the HP that limits the weight you can lift... it's the weight of the tractor itself... It has to be heavy enough to stay on the ground when you lift weight on the other side of the fulcrum point. Of course the hydraulic pressure has to be sufficient and metal strength of the lifting arms as well. Also, the weight differs if you measure it in the bucket or at the lynch pin. Anyway, out here in CO they have the round bales and they also have 2500+ pound square bales. I'm looking at tractors with 3000+ pound lifting capability. I also want the higher HP for the PTO(s) (would like rear & side PTO's but having that side one costs). Been looking at the package deals for new ones and it seems the limiting factor is the back hoe... If you get a back hoe, you get none of the other attachments, or you get 4-5 other attachments and no back hoe. With that stream on the property, I really want/need the back hoe for bridge building. It will also come in handy for some of the other stuff I want to do. Right now, the "included" implements I know I'd use almost immediately are the brush hog, box blade & post hole digger

Awww who am I kidding... I just "want it all!" I also have to consider weight as my present truck is really only rated to 500# tongue weight and 5000# trailer load. I know I can pull more than that for short/reasonable distances, and there's a built in safety margin so I could probably go to 6500-7000# before I'd be pushing it, really taking chances. Most of the tractors I've been considering weigh in at ~4000-4500 pounds with bucket and back hoe. Add another 1000 for trailer, and I should be fine pulling it.

I've been thinking about trading this truck (2005 K1500 extd cab) in on a newer 2012+ K2500HD extd cab diesel. But wow... 20-30K for a new(er) truck and another 20-30K for tractor and attachments... I also need a trailer to pull it all on. Most of the package deals include a 20-22 foot trailer, but they are vehicle width trailers, meaning I couldn't carry a car or truck on it... too narrow. If I'm going to get a trailer, it needs to be multi functional/capable. It needs to be wide enough that If I want to pull a full sized pickup truck on it, I'll be able to. So add some more "cost" to the purchase.

That's gonna seriously deplete my "hoping to have" bank account... I also have to pay attention to monthly costs as that's the predominant reason I'm moving... to lower my monthly cost of living. I find it very easy to spend way more than I take in... I also have a number of capitol improvements planned for the house and property... as well as new appliances to buy. Some of that stuff is highest priority and can't wait or be put off. They all need funding too. Dreams can be very expensive...

Babs, sounds like you need a new bigger tractor; add to your collection... Kinda like goat sizes... Maybe a new infliction is developing? Tractor math!!

Belarus Tractors are actually cheap but made really well and are workhorses.

Massey Ferguson's are hard to kill.. DH old boss has 3 of them and he only keeps them fixed enough to run and not in good condition and he has been doing that for over 20yrs and they do still run lol. Two them are MF 408's almost 40yrs old and going strong.

The old David Brown's are good too but the parts can be a little finicky.

Zetor also makes good tractors....Zetor is nice because it is only recomended to be serviced every 500hrs (NH, Kubota, etc suggest every 300hrs)..speed wise for the hydro models you will get more speed out of a NH most hydro models for NH top out at 40km/hr, zetor tops out at 30km/hr. Tractors in the 80hp range a brand new Zetor is 10k less then NH and 12k less then Kubota, 20k less then Deere and no that isnt because it uses junk parts.

Deere will cost you mega bucks to replace any parts...they are super proud of that green paint. Honestly...they break more often then the other older or non-main brand tractors.

I dont exspect your going to need something like a Kubota M7060 or a Zetor 80 but there is still a fairly large price difference in smaller tractors as well. We want a 80HP to till and such and a 40hp later for garden work, moving round bales etc.

@babsbag
0 down 0% finacing for 5yrs is pretty common...atm Kubota is running that deal at most dealerships. We are either putting a tractor in with our farm loan or doing one of those deals.

@Latestarter
You stuck a post in there before i got mine finished lol.