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 | FLDave
Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 3 West Central Florida 
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2004-06-09 88126
Hello Everyone, I'm sorry to add yet another size question but I am getting ready to buy my first tractor and don't want to make the wrong decision.
I have 15 acres that we are moving to in West Central Florida. It is flat with a 10 ft. wide creek running across it. It was cleared in the early 60's for farm land and pasture and has a few small cross ditches for drainage...some of which need to be filled in and others cleaned out or moved. In the rainy season the creek will occasionally (during floods) spill over onto the front of propery but drains off quickly. A downstream neighbor has insufficient sized culvert pipes which cause a back up on to my property in bad conditions. We have a culvert crossing the creek to our home site with (3) 4' diameter x 30' culvert pipes. We had a truck drop off 20 tons of 6-12" rip rap rock and installed it by hand on the culvert banks for erosion control (I'll never do that again).
I am a reptile wholesaler and we had (3) 1,000 cu. yd. turtle ponds put in the back of our property. Eventually I would like to add 2 more.
We have our house pad and driveway dirt down already. We need to add about 800 feet of crushed shell to finish off the driveway.
I would need the tractor to brush hog about 13 acres, finish mow 2 acres, maintain 800 feet of driveway that may increase to 1600 feet, and probably add dirt for the rest of my life to areas of the property that drain poorly.
The kids want a horse (and a barn), the creek would need maintaning of the banks, and when I add 800 starter Washingtonian Palms on an acre, I'll have to deal with that also.
I may want to till an acre garden also (why not I have the land). I almost forgot, I probably need to put in about 400 fence posts to divvy up the property sections a bit.
I need some good suggestions, I was pondering the MX5000 but I am concerned my wife will balk at driving it because of the not HST tranny. Any experience with wives learning to drive a tractor? She never drove standard in a car before.
Any input is highly appreciated.
Dave in Florida
P.S.-I really can't afford to go over 20K complete, I can add some attachments as I go but need the brush hog and problably a loader right off.
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 | jarndt
Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 351 Northern Virginia
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2004-06-09 88130
A neighbor of mine has a small horse farm. About 180 acres, 16 of which closely maintained. He makes good use of an M5700 cab model with FEL for bush hogging, fence post installation, hay bale moving, clearing, grading, snow plowing, and other general use. He, of course, has a separate machine for lawn mowing. For $20K you are going to have budget issues. You could probably get by with a large L-series model at the expense of productivity. If you think you could get by without 4WD, a basic M-series machine might come back into the picture. ....
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 | DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000 Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada 
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2004-06-09 88133
The most size dependant job on your list is the 13 acres and the brush hog. How often will you need to cut the 13 acres? ....
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 | Chief
Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4297 Southwest MiddleTennessee
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2004-06-09 88179
Being that the wife likes the hydro transmission, I would suggest depending upon size limitations you would like to stay within, the John Deere 4310 or 4610. I personally would go for the 4310 as it has plenty enough hp to run the PHD, tiller, or rotary cutter but is small enough to manuever reasonably well enough to mow with. Deere has also come out with the new 4000 Twenty Series "hot rods" ;o) that have Deere engines instead of Yanmar engines. I am not much on buying something the 1st year they come out. Been there and done that with my Chevy Suburban, just ask a 6.0 Ford Power Stroke owner.
If you are a Kubota man, I would suggest the L3830 or L3430. You can get by with a smaller tractor but running a PHD of the typical variety will demand a medium sized tractor.
You can get PHD's and other implements sized to smaller machines such as the JD 4110 or 4115/ Kubota B7510/7610 and I am sure they will perform just fine. Might even perform better in the turf mowing department as well. Just a matter of personal preference.
I would strong recommend that you demo several different brands and models to get a feel for what you want and what will work best for you and the wife. Then find a dealer that will offer you great customer and logistical support. This last point I cannot emphasize enough. Good luck and let us know what you finally decide on. ....
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| FLDave
Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 3 West Central Florida
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2004-06-09 88189
Hi again,
I just got home from work...thanks for the responses. An M4900 4wd would be sweet but it's definitely a little above my means at the moment. If I got just a cutter for now and bought the loader later maybe. I found a couple of places on the net (deen Implement, Watkins, etc...) that have better prices than here in Fl. It seems TX and TN have some of the best prices. I'm willing to drive, I have a Dodge 3500 with the Cummins Diesel engine that's begging to tow something. Who's got the best deals on Kubotas?
I'd have to bush hog the 13 acres about 8-10 times a year. Only a couple of times in the winter because that's Florida's dry season and a several times in the summer when it's hot and rainy and the grass is growing fast. If I get a half a dozen or so cattle then they can help keep a lot of it down and I'll just have to knock down the weeds and patches they missed but I still a couple of good sized areas that are sometimes wet that bull grass grows. I'd like to be able to rip through the grass (which can get thick) with a 6' cutter if I could.
I researched Deere and I'd have to get a lot less h.p. for the same money. If the prices were the same I'd get a Deere. In fact a friend who has an excavation business warned me if I got a Kubota that parts and repairs were real expensive. He said to get a Deere, a New Holland (Ford) or a Massey.
I even researched Mahindra, the 3rd largets tractor mfg. in the world. Apparently International Harvester worked with them in the beginning to develop tractors. They are supposed to be a lot heavier than the big 3 which would help in traction.
I was also wondering, is HST worth it. I mean, pushing in the clutch and putting it in 3rd...how hard can that be? I wanted to get something my wife could drive but what if she never does anyway?
I was thinking a minimum of 35 P.T.O. h.p. and would love 45 P.T.O. h.p.. Where does that leave me?
Thanks again.
Dave in Florida
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 | lucerne
Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 192 Lucerne Maine
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2004-06-09 88192
FLDAVE check out this place in Texas, they have some great prices, now have a m4900 m5700 and a dt 4300 on special plus more. link below ....
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