Tractor for 6 acres?

[SRobison]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the site, new to country living and new to lawn tractors. Our little walk-behind is not gonna cover the 6 acres we just purchased! We're told it's a "mini-farm" or "hobby-farm" - that's new to us too!

We've looked at a used Kubota - 1998 B2100HST for $5500. Seems like a good price? No attachments. Doesn't start every time - owner doesn't know why - has new battery. Front right wheel is bent inward - a little worried about what the thing's been through.

We're in the middle of Ohio. The 6 acre flag-lot is free of trees, rocks - but not weeds! It is thoroughly covered with weeds. Fairly flat. Old farmland.

Fall is nearly here. We're considering waiting til spring to find a deal on maybe someone selling a tractor who's wanting to upgrade. Or maybe dealers would be selling old stock to bring in new models?

Would appreciate any suggestions anyone cares to give regarding when and what to purchase. Right now, we're just wanting to keep the lot mowed to keep the township happy. Don't plan to build on it for another 2 years.

Thanks much everyone!

[Gatorboy]

I suggest visiting CountryByNet's sister (or more appropriately, Mother) site -- TractorByNet. You will get more information that you can imagine.

[Pat]

SRobinson, There will be a lot more competition out looking for tractors of all varieties in the spring. As winter closes in fewer folks are actively seeking major expenses with little or no immediate appliation. Let this general lack of foresight be your friend.
You haven't said what your end use is except maybe a resedential site some time in the future. If your only crop is to be a lawn and everything is level a good riding mower is all you need. If you want to garden fairly extensively then a "garden" tractor which also meets your mowing needs is a good idea. Unless you have to have a tractor to satisfy some inner emotional need you probably realy don't need one with only 5 acres in decent shape. If a tractor is actually needed it might be just a once or twice afair which would be much more economically handled with a rental or hiring the job done and then carrying on with your garden/lawn tractor.

Again, if you aren't going to get into a large garden you need to optimize on lawn chores not farm implement capability. If $ doesn't really matter then I recommend what I have. A diesel Kubota tractor with 4wd, a cab, air conditioning, and top and tilt on the 3 point hitch plus a heavy duty front end loader. It is a lot of fun and didn't cost too much more than my wifes hybrid Toyota.

IF you think you might get a 4 wheeler then consider that DR (and others) make good pull behind implements like mowers that work well behind a 4 wheeler and the 4 wheeler would serve other purposes that are not well done by a riding mower or "lawn tractor." Just recently I saw a fenceline mower in their catalog. Looks like somethine I might want. It cuts under the botom strand of wire and trims neatly around the posts and is a pull behind tool with its own B&S engine.

As you are new to a LARGE LAWN and the tools for working it you would profit from logging into http://www.DRpower.com

They have lots of stuff that might interest you and they give free advice over the phone too. I have always found them friendly, courteous, and knowledgeable. I have been satisfied with our transactions and like the equipment I bought (18 hp trailer mounted electric start chipper.)

I saw a neat tow behind lawn mower designed to pull behind a riding mower to extend the width of your swath to 10 ft. This might or might not be overkill for 6 acres. Depends on whether you get into the ZEN of the riding mower or just want to get it over with even if the FAST equipment cost a bit. The add-on mower is $1699. The 44 inch swath brush mower to pull behind a 4 wheeler is $1299. Get both and use a 4 wheeler to cut a 10 ft swath for just under $3000 plus a 4 wheeler which is a RV when it isn't a tool.

They have reconditioned Some Reconditioned PowerWolf units at $27xx and $31xx de[emdomg pm wjetjer pr not you want the powered dump feature. The PowerWolf is an 800 lb payload miniature ride-on dump truck with hydrostatic tranny. If yu envision hauling much stuff around and it would pull the above mentioned mowers.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[SRobison]

"Inner emotion need"? My husband and I have been told by several friends and tractor salesmen that 6 acres is going to require a fairly large tractor - that a simple, small rider mower would never hold up to the rugged terrain, and would take us forever to mow the lot.

But thanks for your suggestions. Gardening is a consideration once we have the home build and are settled in. Funny - my husband has a hybrid Toyota too - loves it - and takes joy in not having to pay all the high gas prices currently gouging into the pockets of all the huge SUV and Hummer owners right now.

[Hondo]

Follow GatorBoy's advice. You'll learn more on Tractorbynet than anywhere else on the 'net, and you won't have any salesmen try to talk you into buying something you don't really need.

[egon]

If you are not building for several years have you consider on how the tractor will be stored or moved ?

Egon

[Pat]

SRobinson, I'm sorry I thought when you said, "The 6 acre flag-lot is free of trees, rocks - but not weeds! It is thoroughly covered with weeds. Fairly flat. Old farmland." that it might be like the farmland I recall from living in rural NW Ohio (east of Lima) and not be as you most recently said, " rugged terrain" but you're there and I'm not. There are just lots and lots of folks living closer in to towns around than me who use "simple" riding mowers on 5 acre (more frequent size around here than 6 acre) building lots. We have many residential developments that are composed of 5 acre building lots. They aren't putting greens and there are frequently steep slopes involved, especially along the highway frontage.

By all means if you want a larger tractor buy as big as it takes to make you happy. No one ever complains about having a tractor that is too powerful or gets the work done too fast. My complaint is that my little 40 horse Kubota doesn't have beverage holders or a convenient place to carry a cooler.

My contention remains that unless you have very non-typical conditions a riding lawnmower plus pull behind accessories that will serve you well can be had for the price of a small tractor by itself. After you buy the tractor you need accessories to do useful work and when you add it up be prepared for sticker shock.

I further suggest that a Kubota that doesn't start reliably could be a real bad way to get started unless at least one of you is a mechanical wizard with time on their hands.

And in closing, don't get defensive regarding a reference to an inner emotional need. Most of us have them (see the tool collection syndrome thread where we bared our souls regarding the perceived need to collect the maximum number of tools.) Many of us have some sort of truck fetish. Bigger more brutish preferably diesel and fairly loud are typical attirbutes that we rationalize as perfectly normal REQUIREMENTS.

For what it may be worth, I don't own a lawn mower and haven't for years but I can remember what they are and do. If I can't mow it with a 6 ft wide brush hog it doesn't NEED to be mowed.

I have no way of knowing what your friends think a large mowing job is or how long a long time is or what you mean when you say a "simple" riding mower. Around here most riding mowers are at least but usually larger than a 36 inch swath. A 42 inch Husky with a 20HP Kohler is $1600 and that is a zero clearance turn a circle without moving forward cuting demon.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[5030tinkerer]

When I first moved into the country from a city lot and didn't know what I didn't know, I purchased a 38" Murray riding mower. HUGE mistake. It took like 14 hours to mow everything. Needless to say, that didn't last long - we ended up mowing only the 1 acre around the house and let the rest go except for once a year. A few years later, we upgraded to a 52" garden tractor rider. Better, but still insufficient. We now live elsewhere, on two acres, and still have that 52" rider. It does the job, but we love the Kubota GL3830 that we purchased (38hp diesel). Man, what that machine can do. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] That said, I just made the decision to upgrade to a 5030, given that we will be purchasing 25 acres in a couple months. I'm not sure that I needed to upgrade, but the deal was just too good. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I'd suggest purchasing a tractor and using nothing less than a 5' mowing deck. Skip the riding mower or garden tractor - you won't regret it. I tend to think that my 3830 would be too big for you, but maybe not. It really all depends on what you want to do with it. My wife and I always seem to be doing some sort of landscaping or earth moving outside. If that's you, bigger is better. The Kubota BX series might be a good intermediate step. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about the 3830, though. I have a loader and a 72" mid mount mower with it.

[Adron]

When we moved to 40 acres in the country, I told my wife she could have as much lawn as I could mow in an hour using our 46" rider. With all the flowers, gardens, kennels, driveways etc., it is now 1½ hrs, but still manageble.

The rest gets mowed by the horses, cows, goats and touched up a couple of times a year by a 5' Brush Hog on a 30 HP tractor.

Worked out about right.

[sneaky_pete]

Ditto on visiting TBN, but the short story is: buy as much tractor as you can afford, you won't regret it. I currently live (and have my tractor) on 5 acres, and only half of that is pasture that needs mowing. I bought a 16 hp Kubota B7400HSD and it is adequate but it only pulls a 4' rotary cutter so it takes a little patience to mow. Hydrostatic transmission and a front end loader are highly recommended, buy them if you possibly can. If I was going to be mowing six acres, I'd definitely be looking for 25-30 hp and a bigger rotary cutter. You will not be happy mowing that much with a riding mower or garden tractor for sure.