our dogs are fenced out of the pastures with V Mesh between the backyard and the pastures
YES a tractor is necessary. We delayed buying one for a few months after purchasing our farm. Big regrets. Zero turn mowers were not made to cut pastures…Plus there are so many other jobs made easier with a tractor that can’t be handled by a mule/gator or a zero turn mower.
Give it a go without for a while, especially if it will stretch your budget more than you’re comfortable with. See what works in your situation, with your means. If it gets to where you’re spending too much time/energy/money dealing with things that a tractor could easily handle, then consider getting one.
I bought my 7 acres 4 years ago. Couldn’t comfortably afford a tractor, and have gotten by. That said, the second one becomes financially feasible, I’m jumping for one.
Good luck!
If this is your (general you) plan be sure there is a neighbor willing to be hired first. In my part of the world it is next to impossible to find a farmer with time or willingness to do such things.
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Definitely pre-plan the hired help. By the time your pasture needs to be mowed, theirs needs to be mowed, and theirs will take priority. Their property will always take priority - downed trees and fence repair will take priority over your mowing. That neighbor would need to be very close too, as transporting equipment is time-consuming and costly.
Things like seeding and fertilizing can be hired out more effectively than things that need to be done more often, but still - if you’re in a good window to seed right before a rain, chances are they are too, and see above- their property comes first
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Even renting equipment suited for seasonal tasks can be a crunch. Limited availability and everyone wants the machinery at the same time. Ditto on fertilizer and lime buggies. Add that to weather unpredictability and it’s not exactly ideal!
That being said, I got a screaming deal on some work done via a giant trackhoe that my dirt guy had out at a neighbor’s property. The stars truly aligned for that one, but I wouldn’t plan on getting so lucky again.
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This is 100% true. Which lead to us waiting over a year to have something planted and finally giving up and finding a way to do it ourselves.
If you do find someone who is willing to do work for you, treat them like they are totally amazing, because they are.
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What tractor suits a professional’s small farm the best?
Thank you
As a new farm owner, buy the damn tractor and get a cab if in budget. That’s the one thing I wish we had gotten first.
Screw the mule. Just use the tractor unless you can afford both.
Also, get a commercial zero turn with a pressed deck. That can get under your fence line and areas tractor can’t. I have to weed eat very little. Just at post.
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The one you can have serviced most conveniently.
I have a 35HP Kubota with FEL. I have not felt like I would need a larger tractor, but I do not have round bales and do not plow with it. If you need either of those things, larger is probably better.
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This is what I have. The bucket is removable so we can use other front end attachments as well.
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We had 10 acres growing up and didn’t have a tractor. My parents would hire a neighbor to mow the pastures a couple times each season. Everything else we did by hand or with the little yard tractor/mower and a cart. So I will say it can be done. And it takes a lot of years of paying the neighbor $200 to pay for a tractor.
See if you have any neighbors who you could pay or if you have a local place that rents small equipment. These are both really viable options for the big chores that you don’t do every day.
DH and I have 20 acres and a tractor was purchased within the first year. They really do make things easier and it’s nice to not have to rely on others. But, we could have probably gotten away with a Mule and borrowing equipment if we had to.
I will say, I don’t know how we did it growing up without a Mule or a tractor. I can tell you my “arena” never got dragged and looking back was probably insanely hard sometimes. You will need at least one or the other for sure.
Equipment Starter List:
Truck
Trailer
Tractor/Gator/Mule
Mower (with a cart)
Weedeater
Chainsaw
Sprayer
It will usually end up being a local teen using a family tractor.
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If there is a local teen with a family tractor to do it.
Never hurts to make sure there is someone to do it before you move forward assuming that is the way it will get done.
It was not just me who had the same problem. Like others have said, your job comes after all of their jobs are done and sometimes that means it does not get done.
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Lots of folks around here have Kubotas for a couple of very good reasons - there’s a local Kubota dealer that sells and services them, the dealership will finance them and they are very, very, very easy to learn to drive/operate - almost like cars.
I came up with ancient Ford 8Ns and 9Ns that required a high level of skill and a little witchcraft just to start, and graduated to nicer farm tractors that still had two phase clutches, complicated shift patterns, challenging hydraulic hook ups, etc.
Kubotas are designed with hobby farmers in mind; the design doesn’t presume you’ve operated a tractor before.
Our farm tractor is a 90s Ford 3930, rated at 45 HP at the PTO. I dearly love the thing. We’ve had it for 16 years, and right now it’s worth more than we paid for it. However, when I use friend’s Kubotas, there’s no question that they’re easier to operate. We have a great mechanic that services our Ford locally, but no dealership, so sometimes getting parts is challenging.
Of the factors mentioned above, the most important one is who you will get to work on it. If there’s a Kubota dealer locally, get a Kubota. John Deere dealer? Get a JD. Pay attention to what the neighboring properties have, that will give you another clue.
PS - Another .02 on equipment. While the heavy duty Mule or Gators are REALLY nice, we’ve made do with an electric golf cart with a lift kit, off road tires and a cargo back. Considerably cheaper than a UTV or ATV, and needs much less maintence/service. We use that sucker for EVERYTHING, especially when one of us is having knee or back issues. It’s much more useful that a standard 4-wheeler or ATV. So if you’re looking to manage equipment expense, consider getting the tractor and a beefed up golf cart instead of the Mule or Gator.
Also, if the property has been neglected/not well maintained, you will need to clear/rehabilitate pastures before a zero turn or a finish mower can be useful. So start out with the bush hog. Using a zero turn or a finish mower when you really need a bush hog doesn’t end well. Ask me how I know, or rather, ask Mr. McGurk how many times he’s taken his sister’s zero turn to the mechanic because she doesn’t understand this concept.
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I couldn’t run my 13 acre farm or my former 40 acre place without my 24-horse tractor. Just this afternoon I was chuckling to myself about how much more fuel I go through in the summer between dragging to break up manure, spraying for weed control, and mowing. That doesn’t include dragging the arena, using the leaf vacuum in the fall, hauling firewood, pulling the kids on their sleds in the winter… You get the idea.
I loved our tractor. We finally have to upgrade, but in the meantime, we found local teens. It can be hard to find kids to help, but we’re active in our community and at church and we don’t seem to have any trouble here. It really depends on your area, though. I can imagine it would be hard in an area with either huge farms or too many suburbs.
100% this. I have 5 acres in pasture and 3/4 acre in paddocks. I started with a lawn tractor we bought with the place. I spent two summers trying to find local folks to seed, brush hog, plow snow whilst cursing keeping up with the little mower consuming tons of time. Just too busy with their own work at the times I needed them. So I finally bought a tractor with a 60” belly mower this summer. I almost forgot how much I missed having a FEL. Much better summer so far. It’s fine to give it a go a ZT and outside help. My pasture is just too hilly.
OP, if you are considering this advice, please make sure your insurance would cover your hiring a teenager to do work with equipment that can easily maim and kill.
I’m no a lawyer but I guarantee the threshold for a “you gonna lose yo’ farm” type liability claim is going to be very different if you hire a competent adult for professional services vs a teenager.
Personally I would never hire a teenager to use dangerous equipment on my farm.
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We have about 20 ac and these are the tools that I’d consider indispensable:
Tractor with FEL. To lift/stack rounds, you’ll need 50hp. We got a 35hp since I only have 2 horses and don’t use a lot of round bales. For me the price and frame size difference wasn’t worth it since I can easily drag/push the roundbales to where they’re needed.
Bush hog. Ours is 6ft, we have wide-open pastures. If you have smallish-fields, I’d reco a 5ft one.
ATV (or mule)
Ground-driven manure spreader
Utility trailer(s) - for the ATV, we have a Polar 2-axle on-farm trailer w/1500 lb capacity, and also a road-worthy flat utility trailer 6x10’ w/ 2000lb capacity
We also have a 44" trailcutter self-powered mower, which, combined with the ATV is how we mowed all our fields prior to getting the tractor. So, from just a mowing standpoint, you can get by without a tractor. But seriously, get the tractor.
We have the backhoe attachment for our tractor. That one is squarely in the nice-to-have category, not essential. But it’s really nice to have.
Logging equipment: If you have many trees like we do, your farm ownership will include lots and lots of chainsaw work to maintain your existing trees and clean up storm damage. So invest in a good saw, chaps and helmet, and take a class on safe chainsawing – your local community college or extension office will probably have one. It saves us a ton of money to have those skills.
I mean, if there’s a really big tree that needs to come down, we’ll have a professional do the initial felling, but then we can take it from there – cut all the limbs, buck the logs, and split into firewood. If it’s an uncomplicated tree (or it’s already down), we just do the whole thing ourselves.
Aside from the value of being able to clean up the property, the wood stove is a really nice feature of the house and significantly cuts our heating bills. If you’re going to get a wood stove, definitely get a log splitter.
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