Hobby Farm.. Small Tractor or Backhoe??

[TJ-Bill]

Well I'm at the point where I'm planning on getting some type of equipment on my 10 acre hobby farm.. We have 2 horse on about 2 acres of pasture/field(filled in swamp) the rest is forest. Before you get to excited we're the 2nd owners and he land is pretty picked, I have a couple dozen or so good sized trees but nothing to write home about. I'm thinking about getting a tractor, I was set on a farm tractor with a front loader until I talked to my neighbour. He has it all.. a couple of farm tractors with implements. a old backhoe, a dozer and a 3 ton dump truck.. plus much more... Anyway I'm young and I've gotten to the point where I understand that I should learn and take what I ca from my elders.. He's telling me that I need a backhoe instead of a tractor.. I see his point, but I weas thinking of maybe getting a newer 25-30hp tractor with a loader and then hopefully geting a BH attachment later. ( who know how much later) He says I'm wasting my $$ on a small tractor and that I Should spend the $$ and get a good used Backhoe..

I guess my question is to you guys out there with a small tractor with the hoe attachment,, does it work well? is it powerful enough? I realize after typing all of this I've already made up my mind... Backhoe..:greenchainsaw:

 

[Beefie]

It all depends on how much work you have for the equipment. I could see a backhoe if you wanted to dig a pond or ditch, maybe dig out a few stumps. I think a loader tractor whould be better . You can use three point stuff on it to help keep your pasture in good shape. Such as mowing, spreading fertilizer. bailing etc. With a backhoe it is not as easy to tow a trailer into the woods for getting firewood.

Just my 2 cents take it for what it is worth.

Beefie

 

[cjcocn]

Well I'm at the point where I'm planning on getting some type of equipment on my 10 acre hobby farm.. We have 2 horse on about 2 acres of pasture/field(filled in swamp) the rest is forest. Before you get to excited we're the 2nd owners and he land is pretty picked, I have a couple dozen or so good sized trees but nothing to write home about. I'm thinking about getting a tractor, I was set on a farm tractor with a front loader until I talked to my neighbour. He has it all.. a couple of farm tractors with implements. a old backhoe, a dozer and a 3 ton dump truck.. plus much more... Anyway I'm young and I've gotten to the point where I understand that I should learn and take what I ca from my elders.. He's telling me that I need a backhoe instead of a tractor.. I see his point, but I weas thinking of maybe getting a newer 25-30hp tractor with a loader and then hopefully geting a BH attachment later. ( who know how much later) He says I'm wasting my $$ on a small tractor and that I Should spend the $$ and get a good used Backhoe..

I guess my question is to you guys out there with a small tractor with the hoe attachment,, does it work well? is it powerful enough? I realize after typing all of this I've already made up my mind... Backhoe..:greenchainsaw:

I would buy a backhoe first, and then work on getting an old tractor with a 3Pt so that I could use brush hogs, tillers, etc.

But that's just me and I'm so broke I have to save up to buy a newspaper.

 

[dingeryote]

Your neighbor needs a backhoe to borrow.

You have horses so you'll be needing a FEL and a tractor to pull a #### spreader. FEL works ok for scooping snow as well.

Go 30-45hp and the smaller woods backhoe will do fine.
Skip the CUT's, as they are toys, and will cost you more than a good used tractor that will last decades.

Just my .02

stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[flewism]

Your neighbor needs a backhoe to borrow.

You have horses so you'll be needing a FEL and a tractor to pull a #### spreader. FEL works ok for scooping snow as well.

Go 30-45hp and the smaller woods backhoe will do fine.
Skip the CUT's, as they are toys, and will cost you more than a good used tractor that will last decades.

Just my .02

stay safe!
Dingeryote

I agree skip the smaller CUT's I wish I would have gone bigger. 40+ hp,
Around me I can rent a backhoe for $225 a day or get backhoe work done for $85 a hour.
I was at the county fair the first week of August and a New Holland BH attachment for my TC-30 was $6500.

I have one buddy with a backhoe attachment on a CUT. a 2001, TC-25 and he likes it. It has an 8" wide bucket on it and it digs well in our clay soil.
He is a cop and about to retire (25 and out) and he plans to use this small backhoe as a extra income source when he does retire.

After that I'd buy a dump truck

 

[Longshot]

Tractor/loader with rear PTO; acquire attachments as need/money allow.
Digging wears heavy on a machine: hire it out!

 

[MotorSeven]

Like mentioned above you need to know what type of work is going to be your main duty. For me a tractor was what I wanted so I researched used and new for over a year before buying new. I bought a 30hp Kioti (it's made in Korea.....by the way no tractor is made in the US anymore), but traded it in for a 40(Kioti DK40SE Hydro) several years later. I just needed more FEL lifting power and a bigger bucket. I had used gear drive and shuttle shift tractors and wouldn't trade my hydro drive for anything.
www.kioti.com

I also chose not to get a backhoe, & have't really needed one. My neighbor has a big JD with a BH attachment, and to be honest it's kind of a pain to hook up or detach. He wishes he had bought a used BH instead of the tractor attachment. Go to TractorByNet.com for all you ever wanted to know about tractors....it's a great forum.

RD

 

[gink595]

I wouldn't buy one of those small tractors, their a joke for much work. I might buy one for the boy to drive out to the sand box, because thats about all they are is a toy. Not good for 80% of the work you'll want to do. ANd they are damn expensive. Either get a older IH utility tractor with loader for about 4-5K that is capable of doing hard work or buy that backhoe, they are handy too. But I use my skidsteer the most for my needs

 

[Chuck Diesel]

I have a ford 555b 50hp. Its to big for firewood. The only thing that i use it for is to push snow, and dig poop holes.
In my opinion go with a 40hp. compact w/72" bucket.

 

[TJ-Bill]

Thanks guy.. I guess I should mention that my fields are basically fill.. where the horses are was a swamp.. previous owners filled it in so it not a field,, grass grows if we keep them off of it.. the rest of the property is a slight up hill of woods.. In about 2 weeks I'm having a crew come in and dig me a pond and do some drainage! spending about $2000-$3000...

I have no fields to hay, no garden to till (that else where and I have a tiller)..

I can see the 3 point hitch and its benifits.. but I have little need right now for most of them,.. Neighbour put soem quick disconnects on his hoe hyldraulics and runs his splitter off it

 

[Woodcutteranon]

I wouldn't't buy anything new. THere are way too many old tractors out there that are capable of working daily without breaking down. Take the money you save and buy a chainsaw. If I were you I would buy a late 60's to early 80's tractor with a front end loader. Make sure it has the three point hitch and a live PTO. The loader, IMO, is the most priceless thing any farmer could ask for. You will use it 100 times before you will the backhoe. You can always get a 3 pt. backhoe to go on the back of your tractor anyway. Its easier to borrow your neighbors' or trade work for its use. My recipe for your success...an early 70's Ford 2000 3 cyl diesel with a front end loader.

Good luck.

 

[England14]

I just woke up and am not thinking very much yet. What is a CUT???? :monkey:

 

[flewism]

Compact Utility Tractor or CUT. Usually 17 to 45 Hp diesels, 48" rear wheel track, smallest CUT's, 60" rear wheel track midsize CUT's, 72" rear wheel track the largest CUT's

 

[England14]

Wait till I tell my wife I need a CUT! :jawdrop:

 

[Dalmatian90]

I second Woodcutteranon's advise.

You have a hobby farm, not a hobby excavation business.

Buy the used utility tractor -- notice the lack of "compact" -- like he said.

Contract out, rent, trade for backhoe services unless you have a fire burning in your wallet for a 3-point hitch unit (not as powerful) or used backhoe as a seperate machine.

CUT must be a newer acronym. Used to be called Compact Tractors. Sales people must've been getting asked too often why the Utility Tractors were bigger, did more, and cost less. Instead of answering that they sold one of them to sucker homeowners, and the others sold to farmers to knew how to pencil out the value of a machine...they did some smoke and mirrors to distract you with what they call them

 

[greengoblin]

Go to a consignment auction and I bet you can get an older but still reliable tractor like a IH 560 with a loader for 4k to 6k....compare that to an new CUT for $40k, leaves quite a bit of money for a backhoe.

 

[Wolfcsm]

My little JD790 (yes a CUT) does just about anything I need to do around my place. The loader is great. Won't fill a dump truck in five passes, but I don't fill many dump trucks. It does move the rocks, dirt, grass, trees and such that I need to move. I started with a box blade and a mower as my attachments. I have added a blade, landscape rake, and a lifting arm to them. I am always using one. Put on a quick hitch for the 3 point. Makes changing implements a 5 minute job.

A little more horsepower would be nice but not mandatory. Things I can't do, I wait and rent a large tractor for a weekend and get several out of the way at a time. A backhoe would also be nice to have. But, it seems that in order for it to really do some digging it needs to be a fairly large tractor - again for the few times I need one, I am better off renting one.

Hal

 

[gink595]

My little JD790 (yes a CUT) does just about anything I need to do around my place. The loader is great. Won't fill a dump truck in five passes, but I don't fill many dump trucks. It does move the rocks, dirt, grass, trees and such that I need to move. I started with a box blade and a mower as my attachments. I have added a blade, landscape rake, and a lifting arm to them. I am always using one. Put on a quick hitch for the 3 point. Makes changing implements a 5 minute job.

A little more horsepower would be nice but not mandatory. Things I can't do, I wait and rent a large tractor for a weekend and get several out of the way at a time. A backhoe would also be nice to have. But, it seems that in order for it to really do some digging it needs to be a fairly large tractor - again for the few times I need one, I am better off renting one.

Hal

And how much did that little dude run ya?

 

[crashagn]

We have a IH 656 utility hydro. Got it for around $6000. All new tires except. Ive since bought a new 1 since having it repaired 2 times. It has a freeman loader on it. 7.9 acres and its done a ton of work. Bought a 16ft spring tooth cultivator and cut it down to 12ft to make it through the gates and easier to handle in the garden. Also got a post hole digger. Built a weight box for the back. Used a couple of 2 point quick hitch arms. I cant tell you how easy it is to hook up. Just back up to it and lift, or unhook just undo the releases and lower it and pull forward. I wouldnt dare put a 3 point backhoe on it. To much wear and i know it would break something. Now i have seen them 3 point hoes but also with a under carraige iron that goes under the whole tractor for strength, but for the cost of it, we will just go rent a mini excavator and save the costs on repairs on the good ole hydro.

 

[TreePointer]

I use a '99 John Deere 4600 utility tractor to maintain 75 acres. Less than half of it is pasture/crop fields.

43 hp diesel
2WD/4WD hydrostatic transmission
Cat1 3pt hitch
FEL

Just over $20K new. I did some snooping around the Internet and found similar used models for as low as 13.5K.
http://www.google.com/products?q=john+deere+4600+tractor&hl=en&aq=f

Here's mine:

My point in making this post is not to tell you to get a 4600 or even a John Deere. It is to let you know that you can get something like a very capable used 4000 series utility tractor for the price of a new 2000 series utility tractor. Just like buying a car, go to the dealers, ask your questions, and take your test drives.