letsrodeo, that's a very generous offer. It would be great if you could find time to look at the tractor, I'll just have to figure out how to thank you. No hard feelings if it doesn't happen for whatever reason.
All: Planting any crop may be 5 or more years down the road, or maybe never. At this time Cindy leases the field to a neighbor. Our first thought was to get a utility tractor that could get by on the 14 acres, even it it wasn't best suited for it. The truth is Cindy may never want to work that field. It's just as likely that it would get fenced in with some goats to do the mowing.
Now we're thinking that we should just focus on the best machine for everyday maintenance of the 1 mile road, two ponds, and the woods. Another neighbor leases the 6 acre Pecan orchard so he mows it, but if he ever retires we'll probably be doing the mowing ourselves. Cindy can always buy a used basic tractor just for working the field if she ever decides to.
As for the hydro, I would like it as much or more than Cindy. I'm the one that will probably be operating the tractor most often. Even though I don't have experience with tractors I'm sure I could work with a regular transmission after enough practice. The reason I'm leaning towards hydro is that I think I'll be using the front loader a lot and my impression is that it's much easier with hydro. I drove a kubota HST and I liked the way the foot pedal worked. Come to think of it I'm not even sure if all brands use a foot pedal for the hydro...
bobad: do the above comments change your idea of the sizing of our tractor since we won't be doing much on the 14a for now?
avhatsa: thanks for the link. I want to hear differing viewpoints. I've also found several threads by people who were very happy with this model tractor. I have to say that if Cindy were buying a new tractor it would be a Kubota. In fact there is another tractor that looks interesting but unfortunaltely it's at the opposite corner of the state. It's a 2005 Kub L5030 HST, front loader, 4wd, 300 hrs, dual rear remotes and the dealer is asking $19,800. The problem is getting there to look at it.
