How much gas does your utility tractor use?

[HungarianHippo]

In the market for a 30-ish HP utility tractor, our first tractor. Which has me thinking about the logistics of fuel supply. We currently keep about 8 gal of gasoline in the shop, for the ATV, lawn mowers, etc. Curious how much we’ll need to keep on hand to fill the tractor? Do most of you have a barrel in a stand? Or just use plastic gas jugs?

How often do you fill er’ up, and how many gallons do they take? (I know gasoline usage will be dependant on tasks- so let’s assume mowing with a bush hog.)

[Simkie]

We have a slightly smaller tractor than you’re taking about–a 24 hp John Deere 2320–but it lasts several weeks of regular use on the 6 gallon tank. We do have a diesel barrel on a stand, but because it came with the house…I don’t think it would be a deal killer to keep 10 gallons of fuel in jugs.

I assume you’re not trying to find a gasoline tractor, though? Aren’t they all diesel powered?

[hosspuller]

OP : “How much gas does your utility tractor use?” … None. It runs on diesel fuel.

Modern utility tractors are diesel powered. A gasoline engine tractor would be rare. Antique tractors like a Ford 8n are gasoline powered … But it’s an antique.
Do not get an antique tractor unless you wish to work on it a lot or pay for frequent servicing… and still not be able to get the job done.

A modern utility tractor will be about 45 hp and up. Think about what tasks you want to do with it. I highly recommend against a compact tractor in horse keeping. A 4 wheel drive utility with FEL (front end loader) is much better suited.

[vineyridge]

I have a JD 870 which is 28 hp. John Deere calls it a compact utility tractor, but it’s really a compact tractor. It weighs about 2700 lbs. I formerly had a Ford 3930, which was 42 hp. It was a true utility tractor; it weighed 7800 lbs. I sold it for nearly what I paid for it because it had Ag tires that ruined the pasture and lawn while mowing; my little tractor has turf tires, but I wish that it had the commercial tires.

If I were starting over, I’d really want a true, heavy utility tractor, 4WD with front end loader, canopy and commercial tires. It would be much more useful.

With my little tractor, I can’t lift heavy bales; It’s not very good for pulling stuck trucks and trees. It mows well, and it sprays pretty well, but again tank size is limited because of its weight limitation. I’ve added all the front weights available, but they really don’t help all that much.

You want a couple of hydraulic outlets as well. They are needed for many gadgets. You also want some sort of quick attach for your 3 point hitch. Mine has an eight gallon diesel fuel tank, and one fill will last me a couple of months.
I use the refund gas that my farm tenant buys and lets me use.

[MistyBlue]

I keep five 5 gallon containers of gas and the same in diesel on property. In winter I often swap it to 7-3 gas over diesel. My 2320 takes diesel and everything else takes gas. (mower, vehicles and generator) The generator is a big one and has a 16 gallon tank and I like to keep it full with an extra 2 full tanks worth of gas ready to go in case of a long outage. The rest of the year I keep the 10 fuel containers evenly split between gas and diesel.

I did swap out my 35 hp tractor for the smaller one. I miss the extra power of the bigger tractor at times, but I have a typical New England horse farm which means heavily wooded in a lot of places and several steep hills. The bigger tractor couldn’t go (fit) in a lot of the wooded areas, tires too wide to fit between trees. So I couldn’t justify a tractor that could only be used on half of the property. The benefits of the smaller tractor outweigh the power of the larger one. I can swap out all attachments in 2 minutes by myself, no need for an extra set of hands or a stronger person to help. It fits in the barn if I need it in there. And I can use it to drag the ring too. I do have the ag tires…those will chew up a lawn if it’s not bone dry! A trick for Ag tires and lawns…since it’s a HUGE deal to swap out tires on a tractor, find an old set of the same size tires for your tractor. Using a sawzall, cut the sidewalls off of them and then flip them inside out. Older tires can be stretched a bit, you can wiggle the inside out tires over your ag tires. The two treads help hold them on for driving on lawn. Friend of mine showed me this trick, works great! Although eventually I caved and just bought a riding mower, better turn radius, LOL!

[jawa]

We have a JD cab, 4 in 1 bucket, 4WD diesel tractor. When mowing (using a 6ft bush hog), it can suck down some diesel. It has a smallish tank ( 6 gallons I think) and we keep 2 6 gallon cans of diesel on hand. We had a larger diesel tank on wheels, but getting it off of the truck full and using it to fill tanks was a pain. It was much faster to lift and pour the 6 gallon cans. We also had trouble with water accumulating in the larger gas / diesel dolly because of the volume, we didn’t use it up fast enough and the container (although it was supposed to be all weather) let condensation get into the tank.

[Jim_in_PA]

While my Kubota is smaller than you are looking at, that diesel engine is pretty fuel efficient. I generally keep a couple 5/6 gallon diesel containers and refill them both immediately after emptying the second. (Tractor holds 6 gallons)

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Jim_in_PA;8091065]
While my Kubota is smaller than you are looking at, that diesel engine is pretty fuel efficient. I generally keep a couple 5/6 gallon diesel containers and refill them both immediately after emptying the second. (Tractor holds 6 gallons)[/QUOTE]

Same here. I don’t feel like I fill up very often; I’ve never really kept track, though. A full tank seems to last a long time for regular use - moving muck piles, mowing and dragging pastures, etc.

[Calvincrowe]

We have the tiny Kubota “tractor” which is perfect for the amount of land we have (5 acres) the terrain (mostly flat) and the jobs required (mowing, pushing/moving manure/gravel/things, pulling things, etc.) We have a 5 gallon diesel can which fills up the tractor, which then runs for about…gosh…months? depends on what I’m doing really. You can “idle” that baby while holding fence tight during installation, dragging logs, and what not for ever, barely using any fuel. Mowing? that chews up the diesel, much faster. However, we usually buy about 20 gallons of diesel a year for it.

[tangledweb]

I’ve got one similar. I’ve never tracked it in detail, but I think it uses about a gallon of diesel an hour when working hard. That’s something of a guess, based just on that fact that if I’m planning to be on the tractor all day I generally fill up at the start and I can get through a tank in a day of snowplowing, earth moving or mowing hills.

[Jim_in_PA]

That sounds about right, tangledweb…if I’m running at full throttle while using the backhoe on my BX22 or doing heavy FEL work, about an hour a gallon seems to be the number. I don’t baby it when I’m asking it to do hard work…but most of the time, I’m running at about half-throttle for general purpose work, such as driveway maintenance, moving snow, playing “pick up sticks”, getting rid of debris, etc. So that same gallon goes much farther. I was moving my trailers around yesterday and never went above half-throttle…

[HungarianHippo]

OK thanks.
As for sizing, a driving requirement will be that it can lift a 1600-1800lb roundbale on forks, enough to clear the ground to move around. We have enough storage and few enough horses that we can keep our rounds on the ground. Most of our hay in small squares. I think that the roundbale lifting will dictate the PTO hp and frame size we need. Other than that, it will
-pull a mower on mostly flat, 17ac pasture/hay ground. Would like a 60" mower.
-push snow (but a big snowfall here would be 10-12", and those are not very frequent because it’s often too cold and dry to snow).
-scrape drylot to pick up roundbale waste
-blade to level gravel driveway
-FEL to turn compost, lift/spread stone.
-Main barn door is 12x12’. I want to be able to get in there. (The east section barn door is only 10x12, but I don’t really care if I can’t get the tractor in that section.

Once I dig in to actual specs, we’ll see what tractor size that steers us towards.

I know that bigger is always more fun and could do more, but my calculus: how many times a year do those big jobs materialize, where we would need to hire the guy with the big backhoe at $300-400 a pop? How many really big snowfalls do we get (knowing that our hay guy a mile up the road with his 100hp tractor would happily swing by and dig us out)?

Yes, budget is a factor because we prefer to pay cash and take advantage of the cash discounts. And let’s be real, that’s the actual tractor price-- it’s not a discount, but rather a penalty for the 0% financing. “Net present value” of money is a pretty important thing to consider. I’d have to run the numbers but you’d probably come out ahead to take the cash discount, take out a 5-yr loan at your bank, so you’re paying the interest over time.

Anyway, looking at our implement/task wish list above, is a 30-ish hp tractor feasible? Or do we really need 40 for this stuff?

[horsepoor]

We have a 30 hp Kubota and keep a 5 gallon can of diesel for it. I think it actually holds a little more fuel than that (maybe 7 gallons). I wouldn’t want to have a larger can of fuel, however, as that gets heavy to carry and lift for filling. I have never tracked the fuel use, but it isn’t often that we have to fill it - we buy a lot more gas for the mower than diesel for the tractor. It is old enough the “fuel gauge” is a notched stick you poke in the tank and eyeball!:lol:

We use ours daily in good weather to drag the arena, then more sporadically for things like moving compost or other things (gravel, dirt, etc.) and grading. Plow snow maybe once or twice a year. We have a brush hog but hardly ever use it as most of the mowing I do with our Cub Cadet mower as I prefer the maneuverability and finish.

The size is good for us, on 10 acres of uneven terrain. Fits through all gates 8’ and up but I’m not sure about height clearance as we don’t go in the barn. Price was right, too, as my dad gave it to us when he moved back to “town.”

[airhorse]

[QUOTE=HungarianHippo;8091388]
OK thanks.
As for sizing, a driving requirement will be that it can lift a 1600-1800lb roundbale on forks, enough to clear the ground to move around.

Anyway, looking at our implement/task wish list above, is a 30-ish hp tractor feasible? Or do we really need 40 for this stuff?[/QUOTE]

That is going to put you in the 40+ HP range. Our 4720 will barely lift a 2K pallet on forks, a round bale is going to put a lot of weight out in front of the loader. Anything smaller is not going to lift it, or be a hazard to drive around. You will also need a very heavy weight box to move that kind of weight around safely.

[HungarianHippo]

[QUOTE=airhorse;8091509]
That is going to put you in the 40+ HP range. Our 4720 will barely lift a 2K pallet on forks, a round bale is going to put a lot of weight out in front of the loader. Anything smaller is not going to lift it, or be a hazard to drive around. You will also need a very heavy weight box to move that kind of weight around safely.[/QUOTE]

Damn, was hoping we could stay small. (what if we did a spear off the back-- would the weight closer to my center of gravity, with the loader offering some counterbalance. Or would I likely be doing a wheelie?)

[hosspuller]

A spear off the 3 point (rear) is much more doable with a compact tractor like the JD 4720. it will lift 2500 pounds. Remember this is moving bales on the ground. It will NOT unload round bales from a truck/trailer or stack them.

specs here: http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/001/5/6/1563-john-deere-4720.html

a small 60 " mower will take a long time to do 17 acres. Think about going to 72" size. I cut about the same with a 72" and wish for a larger as I drive it around and around and around …

[jawa]

If you have mainly open acreage, I’d go with the largest bush hog your tractor can manage.

[Jim_in_PA]

Yes, to lift those big bales you describe, you’ll be better off using the 3pt attachment…but still may need to fill the bucket with some counterbalance weight, depending on the tractor you choose. Weight balance is very, very important for safety as well as steering/traction.

[HungarianHippo]

OK thanks for the advice, all. Hoss, I know all too well about going around and around. Currently pull a 44" trail mower. :lol: The vast majority of the 17 acres is hayed, so currently we rarely mow it. Mainly just at the end of season, I knock down a few weedy patches. I regularly mow only about 6 ac. (Plus a 1/2ac lawn but we do that with a push mower, and don’t plan on changing that. DH actually really enjoys it–something about the repetitive motion and spitting sunflower seeds helps him solve world problems. :lol:)

But, seeing as I’m looking to renovate the hay ground, I need the ability to mow for weed control until it’s well re-established. And I sure wouldn’t mind cutting down my time to mow the pastures–even just 6ac takes a long time at 44" per pass.

[airhorse]

Get the 72" mower, it won’t be that much more.