Hello all. I have purchased some property and am looking for a tractor. I have just over 3 acres in ponds and and 35 in pasture. I am mainly looking to mow and a few food plots for deer. I also will get a front in loader and the fixins for the usual around the farm work. I stopped by a Kubota dealer and he suggested 32 OR 38 HP 4WD. My wife went to another dealer and they told 50 HP or more was what we needed. The 32 looked good to me but I am new to this game. Was my wife getting over sold or was I getting undersold?

If you're not planning on doing any tillage work, then 35-40 hp is plenty.

35-40 sounds about right. If you're getting a new tractor, try to package the accessories at time of purchase. You never know what you may get thrown in. Hay hooks, post hole digger, etc.

Hey, John, I agree with the other comments here - 35-40 should be enough for what you've described. I have 30 acres and just bought a Mahindra. There is a lot of good discussion in this thread from the forum that touches on all kinds of things you should be considering right now.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing! I'm still floating with my new tractor even though I just mailed the first payment yesterday! No sting at all!

Amen!

Also, if you can get a loader with quick-tach, I think it's worth the nominal upcharge. Go ahead and get hydraulic remotes if the tractor isn't already equipped. There are loads of cool hydraulic implements out there, from 3-point wood spitters to loader mounted augers. All depends on how you foresee using the tractor. I've wondered how I ever survived so long without owning one. Five years and 1100 hours on the L2800 and the only regret is not getting one in the 40 hp range.

I started with a 29 HP yrs ago. Although it was a good tractor it was too small for what I wanted it for(3 acres food plots,mowing). I now use a 48HP with front end loader, and also an old Ford 3000 (hate changing attachments so much). Anything larger than 50 HP the attachments start getting pricey. With these tractors I can use a 3 bottom turning plow, 7 ft finish mower, 6 ft. bush hog,and 6 ft. box scrape with ease. Good luck,and let us know what you get.

In the past few weeks I've used two different brands of 72" rototillers on the same ground. One by Bobcat, the other by Brush Hog. I was able to keep a ground speed of 1.7 to 1.9 mph and get a good finish with the Bobcat, with the Brush Hog brand, .9 mph seemed to be the sweet spot to get the same finish.

I'm saying that because a buddy has a tractor that won't go slow enough (ground speed) for a tiller. Maybe just another thing to look at.

Bigger is always better unless bigger means less manuverability - and you need the manuverability. You can always back off the throttle if you don't need all the hp, but there's a limit on how far down you can push on the go pedal..... At least that's my thinking!!

Like with life and ponds balance is a good thing with tractors. You need the right balance of equipment. Too big a tractor can't go where you need to , burns to much gas/diesel , and breaks to small of attachments = not efficient and dangerous. While too small a tractor can't do what you need , can't safely employ the attachments , gets you in dangerous situations and breaks under stress. Best advice seek balance and compatibility but if at all possible insist on 4 wheel drive.

There's a difference between farm tractors and utility tractors, although there are certainly areas where they overlap. For the most part, using the machine for tillage, (plows, discs, some tillers) tends to require bigger, higher HP tractors. There are "crossovers", just as there are in the automotive arena.

In the example that Spinnerbait gave, hooking a three bottom plow to a compact utility tractor, even with 4 wheel drive, would probably do about as much good as a Banty rooster out there scratching around....

I have a 34HP Kubota that serves me well on my 26 acres with one minor exception. It is only rated (according to the dealer) for a 5 ft. rotary mower. It takes about 8 hours to cut the 15 acres of open land that I have with that mower.

I would've like to get a bigger mower but the increased cost of the tractor could not be justtified for this reason.

I’m on 20 acres and bought a Kubota MX5100 three years ago. I had a smaller 28hp before. It’s rated at 48 at the PTO. Make sure you get a 4WD. It’s a must with a loader. I pull a 6’ shredder behind it. I look at it in time. How long do I want to spend cutting. That’s why I went with a little larger tractor. Don’t regret it a bit. Plus the first time you lose a large tree and you have to cut it up too move it you going to be hating life. I was. Just get a good set of forks and scoop it up and off to the burning pile. I lost a lot of trees last year with the drought. The forks saved me a ton of work. Attachments become an addiction.

I purchased a kubota L4400 43 pto hp 4x4. It is rated for a 6 ft mower. If you will be mowing the majority of that 35 acres then the saleman isn't just trying to make a sale you will be far ahead with the 50 hp machine. Yes you can get by with less but you will be spending a lot more hours in the seat and working the smaller machine much harder. In my case I have open land and wooded brush land so I needed something for both. The bigger tractors will not manuver thru the trees and the little tractors are a bit underpowered for large open mowing. Alot depends on what type of grass you are cutting and how often you cut. Thick costal grass can bog down the biggest of cutters. I chose a mid size tractor that would do both. Mine has the quick detach front in loader which I have never removed and never will it has more uses than all my other implements combined.

Using Bill Cody's term -- "it all depends."

I downsized, and downsized, until I'm now down to a 23 HP 4WD. As of next week, I'll have had it for five years. I've got 25 acres.

It is a real heavy little tractor. It has a front-end loader, and I've got the factory frame-mounted backhoe for it. The rear tires are loaded. It weighs in at about 5000 lbs. when the backhoe and front-end loader are on it.

All of my implements are 5-6 foot. My box scraper and brushhog are 5-foot. My rake and rear blade are 6-foot. It has all the traction I need for pulling a box scraper full of gravel up a very steep driveway. Best of all, it is extremely maneuverable. Things like a post hole digger, or a finish mower, require very little PTO power.

Except when I'm using the backhoe or brushhog, is uses less than a gallon of diesel per hour.

Now, I'm probably more fortunate than most. I have a good friend with a 65 hp 4WD tractor, a big skid steer, an excavator, a dump truck, and trailers to haul it all. Frequently, they are stored at my place. However, even without them, I'm still able to do 90% of my projectgs with my little-bitty tractor.

I'd only get a larger tractor if I had to mow lots of acreage several times a year and had to bale it. If I just had to mow it, I'd just get a 54-inch conventional or zero-turn mower.

Ken, have you considered "floaties" or maybe "water wings" as your next attachment purchase?

Perhaps this tractor would be good for doing odd jobs around the house? Hahah! Actually its owned by Dole Foods and is getting serviced down the road from my house.

Glad I don't have to pay for the maintenance on that sucker.

Could you imagine just buying tires for this thing?

I'd be more concerned with the daily fuel bill.

This thing has a huge turbo on it to! Diesel is close to $5.00/gal. out here to!