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What Tractor for 85 acres

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kens
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2000-08-28          19202


I am new to the board, this may have been answered before. I just bought 85 acres in No. Idaho, about 2/3 dense woods logged about every 10 years, 1/3 meadow, hay harvested by a big farmer. Neighbor has a ~50 HP Landini and likes it a lot. I will have to use the tractor to maintain my main road (~2,000 ft) and all to forest roads on the property, maintain/clear the woody areas, accasional plow, and whatever. The one thing my neighbor does is pull the stumps with the tractor and a choke chain. This may require a stronger tractor. I would like to do the same to convert some woody areas to meadow for horses. Trees are on average 8-10 inch diameter. I am sure there will be a lot of work around building house, barn, fences. What tractor, what attachments, what options?



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What Tractor for 85 acres

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Roger L.
Join Date: Jun 1999
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2000-08-28          19211


Congratulations on your land! You have just stepped out of the range of a compact tractor - which might be to your advantage as the small "utility type" farm tractors are much more heavily built and used ones cost less than used compacts. I'd look at older JD's, Masseys, and the full size Kubotas. A tractor often overlooked that I have always favored is the Zetor. These small farm tractors will do everything a compact will, except be handy for mowing around the rosebushes in the front yard. I have one to augment my compact, and it is remarkable how much more powerful it is. ....


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What Tractor for 85 acres

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kens
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2000-08-28          19213


I am excited that somebody responded; I was afraid that everybody is tired of this kind of questions by now. Interesting, you mention Zetor. I grew up in Brno, Czech Republic, where Zetors are built and I was familiar with Zetors. These tractors used to be the best export article of the country and were one of the top in Europe. Of course with the communism all the products went downhill especially the quality. So I would be very cautious with Zetor unless someone has some good experience with it. What do you think about the stump pulling? How much HP do you need for that, >50? About the attachements, or is it implements, are they interchangeable? Can they be rented? Are there any 'fence post drill' attachments, I heard about augers? ....


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What Tractor for 85 acres

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Roger L.
Join Date: Jun 1999
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2000-08-29          19277


Kens, how could anyone be tired of tractor talk!! I have never tried to pull a lot of stumps, it isn't necessary in a pine forest....Well, I have pulled a few, but the way I do it is to put a chain on them and get a pull going with the front end loader or the three point hitch, and then attack the roots with my chain saw with a scrap "dirt bar and chain" on it. Even so it is a hard job. The guys who do it a lot get a backhoe. That works best, but a small one (like my small three point backhoe) is very slow at stumps. I have seen guys who jerk them out with a larger farm tractor...50+ HP and 8000+ lbs, but it sure is hard on the tractor and the tires.
For work like that, I always recommend that you hire it done. Even a small tracked machine will do this job without much effort. Then you can use your tractor for the enjoyable work. Don't worry, there will be plenty.
Fascinating about your having grown up in the Czech Republic... I won't preach on the virtues of Zetors to you then. But if I was looking to buy a farm utility tractor today I would start by looking at the JD 3010/3020 or 4010/4020 and then look at the imported Zetors from the last 20 years.
Any implement built since about the mid 1950s will interchange on any tractor. The mounting system (the three point or 3pt) is standard everywhere, and -with some rare exceptions- so is the PTO connection. Post hole diggers with an auger are just as universal as the rest of the stuff and run from a low of about $400+ dollars up to close to a thousand. Even 3pt backhoes interchange freely. It helps to think of the tractor as your mobile tool platform, and the implements as the tools. The most useful single tool is probably the front end loader.

....


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