My inlaws recently purchased 20 acres outside of Waco this past fall and are looking to get a tractor to do work around the property.

What size/brand/etc. would you recommend for the following:
Terrain-70% flat pasture/30% wooded
Work- shredding, moving dirt around, small food plots, general hobby farming, maintaining the pond
New/Used-?
Packaged deal-?

Currently looking at the Kubota L3301and the Branson 3015R. Any thoughts on these 2 tractors? Something else they should look at?

Based on my limited research people to say buy something a little bigger than what you think you need and buy the dealer network (dealer in area able to provide you assistance throughout ownership).

Thanks for any help.

I would go bigger than the L3301. I'd go with the L4701 if you're going with a Kubota. I have two Kubota tractors and they have been great. I'm sure other brands would be good. I just don't have any experience other than a Mahindra I owned and I would not recommend that route. You'd be surprised how long it would take to mow that much property with a 6 foot shredder. I would think a 5 foot shredder would be the appropriate fit for the 3301. Also I would get a 4 wheel drive tractor whatever brand you go with.

Kubota---
4WD---
Front-end loader----
Shuttle-shift transmission (or hydrostatic, if you want to spend the $$$)


For 20 acres, anything from 28-40 HP should be just fine.

Quote:

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Based on my limited research people to say buy something a little bigger than what you think you need and buy the dealer network (dealer in area able to provide you assistance throughout ownership).

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Absolutely, you'll never wish you had less horsepower and if you buy a particular brand and their closest dealership is an hour+ away, it will certainly be more frustrating than if you have a different company that is a heck of a lot closer. Even with good maintenance, something is going to break sooner or later.

Kubota makes excellent utility tractors in the range you are looking for. I drove one while a student worker at A&M for the soil & crop science dept and it was an excellent machine. Also know several people with them who like it for projects around their land.

As for new or used? Just depends on what used deals are around. Maybe lean more used if you are more mechanically inclined and can fix a lot of the minor stuff yourself.

Having used a tractor for exactly what you are doing, my advice is that 4wd is mandatory and I would not go smaller than a CUT of less that 50hp.

Deere, kubota, NH, Case....doesn't matter...dealer proximity and quality does.

Petro,

Like just about anything else in life, it comes down to the question -- How much do you want to spend?

I've got 50 HP on a 57-year old Ford diesel with a 6' shredder and wish I had at least 85 HP and an 8' shredder. I've been maintaining about 20 acres in Central Texas for several years now and while I enjoy my time on the tractor, it's not a 2-hour job I'm afraid.

My buddy's got a 125 HP tractor and a 15' batwing shredder and if I could justify the cost, that's what I'd have.

Believe me, after the spring rains and the grass gets tall and thick, you'll appreciate PTO HP.

If you're mechanical at all, don't shy away from at least considering older iron. Much of it is bulletproof and you'll never have to worry about replacing some high $$$ electronic module or circuit board.

My old rig does the job and I'll bet I couldn't get $3,500 for it if I tried to sell it. Take that same $3,500 to a new tractor dealer today and they'll direct to the Coke machine.

Good luck, and enjoy your time on whatever tractor you get. It's very therapeutic.

I'll admit that I don't have much experience with compact tractors, i deal with larger hp machines. But if clearance isn't an issue, i.e., going through wooded trails, I would recommend going for an older tractor. 4000 series deeres from the 70s-80s are pretty much bulletproof machines, and you can get a 100+hp tractor with cab a/c and loader for half of what you can buy a new 40 hp CUT for.

In addition, if you get a 4230-4240 Deere, you won't have to worry as much about getting MFWD, because the tractor size and hp difference should make getting your tasks done pretty easily in 2wd

I'll second what others have said about going larger if possible. Shredding even 20 acres with a 5 or 6 foot shredder will seem like it takes forever. Just knocking down the worst of the growth a couple of times a year isn't so bad, but if you want a well manicured pasture that is going to get old quick.

You need to consider your trees too, if you have any. Mowing an open field is completely different than mowing a wooded pasture. I have about 8 acres in wildlife management and it gets mowed twice a year. Its EASILY a two weekend proposition, maybe one, depending on how nice I want it to look when I'm done. It requires picking up all the trees and branches that fell over the year before mowing.

So....I like 60hp minimum on a tractor frame NO LARGER than 6' wide. If you can't get between trees, it's just going to take that much longer. There is a very fine balance and time spent KNOWING what you are going to do and getting the right machine for the job is worthwhile. As for older machines....that's up to you. For me, I don't like fixing old crap because I need to be using it, not fixing it. When I go used, I want no more than 400 hours and the machine needs to have been clearly and obviously barn kept for most or all of it's life with no signs of abuse, leaking seals, etc. Just like cars, if it looks like **** on the outside, it's a reasonable indicator or how its been cared for on the inside.