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Tractor for 25acres of Grass

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dbrosius
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2002-08-21          41474

Hi all, I have bought a 25 acre property for horses. My needs will primarily be cutting grass. After house and barn are built, perhaps 23 acres or so of horse pasture. No trees, relatively flat.

Tractor should be at or under 20K.
Cutter (at additional expense) should be as big as possible,
at least 6' but 7' (8' being greedy) would really be preferred.

Any suggestions?


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Tractor for 25acres of Grass

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2002-08-21          41479

An L-4300 Kubota would give you enough power and size to do all you want. We normally put 84" twin spindle bush hogs behind them and you will be just over 20,000 with the loader. ....

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Tractor for 25acres of Grass

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-08-22          41506

25-acres of horses might produce a lot of muck, Managing the muck might be added to the list of tractor jobs. Managing large hay bales might be another job. Especially if there will be stables, a small very maneuverable tractor would be good, but just the opposite would be needed for big round bales.

Choosing the tractor seldom is easy. I spent several months and was saved from further analysis by stumbling onto about the only decent used compact in the area. It probably would have been easier if a voice and tractor materialized out of the blue, and the voice said 'Here's your tractor, now just write the cheque.' I grew into the tractor rather than trying to grow the tractor into me, and that may be easiest way to get a tractor.
....

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DRankin
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 5116 Northern Nevada
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2002-08-22          41511

Tom, I think I heard that same voice. ....

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Tractor for 25acres of Grass

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Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 3034 Northern AL
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2002-08-22          41513

With 25 acres of grass and horses that tend to be selective eaters you will need to mow periodically to keep the other vegitation from over taking your grass. I normally mow about once a month with 12 acres of grass and 3 horses. The size of your mower and the time required is not a linear function as you loss area with over lap. For example it takes me about 1/2 hour per acre with my 7 ft mower but took 1.5 hours per acre with my 4 ft.
Larger mowers require HP. My 7 ft recommends at least 55 hp. Therefore I have two tractors and one primarily for the field cutting function. The other tractor has the front end loader and does the lawn etc.
After stating all this I am rethinking my set up and concidering selling the larger one and buying a smaller field cutting mower.
I think what you need is ~ a 45 hp tractor. There are a number of choices in this range, the Kubota - L4300, JD 4510, NH TC-45, Kioti DK-45, MF 245 or 1455. There are others such as the Case and Agco which are the same tractors as above and a few minor players like Malhindra, Long, but it might be harder to find these dealers.
With flat terrain there is not special need for 4 wheel drive unless you plan to FEL work. If you keep the horses in the barn in the winter this my be needed.
With these larger machines mowing the lawn will only be a problem if you have a lot of trees and the quality of the cut. ....

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dbrosius
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2002-08-22          41518

Thanks Peters,
What you say rings true.

It would appear that 7ft is just somewhat out of reach for me, unless I choose a finishing mower, which would appear to be a big mistake.

I had looked at the 990, 4510, 4610, 5105 at JD, and will troop over to Kubota to look at their stuff. They are really the only dealers that I consider close enough.

I'm really not happy with any of the JD offerings, not cause they're bad machines, just that they don't really fit my situation, for one reason or another.

990 I think is too small, me thinks
5105 would have to be 2wd to afford, and is awfully basic
4510 prolly too small

4610, heh, i'm pushin' it, money wise, and still only a 6ft deck. I suppose this would come closest for me from JD.

If only the 4710 was a 'little' cheaper.... That's the way life goes, don't it?

Everyone says FEL, FEL, FEL.... well i suppose I'm naive, but I just don't see it for my set up, but then again, I am naive. I'm not going to grow hay, certainly NOT going to use round bales, and not movin dirt from here to there, so I'm looking at setups without it. Besides perhaps I can talk the domestic boss into an additional purchase down the road.

One could probably make some money being a tractor buying consultant. Customer gives needs, etc, you tell em what to buy, haggle with the dealers, kick the tires with the client, etc, etc, especially if you could find good quality used tractors. These tractor boards are full of "help I'm clueless" messages like mine. What you save the naive buyer would probably pay for your fees. Just a thought for all you crusty veterans out there.

Thanks all.
....

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Tractor for 25acres of Grass

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-08-23          41548

Mark: True, but it seems like my voice was nicer to me. Hope you get all this worked out without too much aggravation. ....

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Jim on Timberridge
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 172 La Crosse WI
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2002-08-23          41563

There have been many discussions of mowing/cutting regards which size/type is the best. I'm not really sure why but many future users tend to want advice that points them to rotary cutters of some type/mfgr/size. I think rotaries have limited application -- their utility as rough, knock-down implements isn't suited to maintainence of grassy acreage. Any property that will be cut regularly (intervals < 3-4 weeks)can be worked fine with what's called finish mowers. The rotaries are handy knocking down saplings and surviving encounters with rocks, etc., but if the fields are reasonably civilized, then you really don't want to just knock down the vegetation, you want to cut it. That takes a mower. And many mfgrs (Rhino, Woods, LandPride, etc) offer mowers of sufficient heft and strength to cut down most any non-woody non-stony stuff.
Get a neighbor to knock down the rough stuff with a rotary, then buy a mower to keep it looking good.
jim ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2002-08-24          41571

Jim's comment certainly is worth thinking about. I heard some people say that rotary cutters really don't do too bad at finish mowing (maybe they keep a sharper angle on the blades than would be used for brushing) but Jim's comment makes sense. Most finish mowers probably are lighter per width than rotaries. They might get the work done faster and be easier on a tractor. The down-side is that the neighbour has to come back when ever any actual bushing is needed.

Of course, what do I know? I don't have a mower or cutter. We tend to just let the bush do what it wants and mow lawns with a riding mower. When I need to make an impression on the bush, I do it with a chain saw. Of course, that would become a full-time job if I needed to make much of an impression.

....

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Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 3034 Northern AL
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2002-08-24          41576

I think it depends on what type of grass you have in the pasture. If I allowed some patches to grow 4 weeks there is no way I could it with the finish mower.
If I was going to cut the pasture I need to cut about every 10 days or less. I do not have the time to spend cutting every 10 days 12-13 acres, I would be spending nearly 2 days a week on a tractor.
Even with cutting every 10 days the long heads on the grass will not necessarily cut with the finish mower, therefore you often need to go over twice or cut very high.
I have none of these problems with the brush cutter.
Peters ....

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dbrosius
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2002-08-24          41581

Art,

You mention twin spindles... I looked up woods, they have a D80 and even C114 that are listed that seemingly can be pulled by that size tractor... Hmmm.

I spose twin spindles are nearly twice the cost? What other downsides are there.

....

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