Looking for opinions on the best tractor for taking care of food plots and bushhogging a 400 acre tract. Appreciate any input....
OT: Tractors
- Thread starter VinceVega70
- Start date
Looking for opinions on the best tractor for taking care of food plots and bushhogging a 400 acre tract. Appreciate any input....
Variable size food plots from one to 3 acres. Tractor to stay on premises in a barn (I have nothing to haul it yet). Budget is flexible. 400 acres - mainly woods and trails. Several food plots.
Honestly, it sounds like you could plant what you need to in one day. If you don't live on site, and don't have a way to haul the tractor back to a safe place you always have to worry about vandalism too. It seems odd, but if you are only there during deer season or something, some local knows it and will 17 with your ****. I would just recommend contacting some locals and seeing if you can make an arrangement for them to plant your plots. It can be a money arrangement or you can allow them some amount of hunting rights. A tractor can be purchased pretty cheap if you know what you are looking for, but it is way easier to just get somebody else to do it if it is only a days worth of work per year.
40-50 HP tractor will handle a 6 ft bushhog easily and is big enough to cut a 3 acre plot in a couple of hours (with heavy growth). It will also handle a 6 ft disk well. Two or four wheel drive, won't make much difference unless you have wet areas to contend with. Front end loader is best option as it will allow you to do lots of stuff to maintain roads by moving dirt. If you have extra cash you can upgrade to a 65-70 HP tractor and run a 7-8 ft bushhog and 7-8 ft disk. Best use of money if work time is not a big factor is 1st option. You can get a Massey, Kubota, or John Deer tractor new with FE loader 2WD in the $18k to $22k range. 4WD will run you $22-25k depending on which model/brand you buy.
If buying used, look for something with under 500 hrs, which is broken in good but not run so much you have major maintainence coming up soon. I would be careful of buying compact models as they tend to be lighter in weight and take longer to do the work. 2WD is easier to maintain and service. A good 40-50 HP used tractor should run $8-11k again depending on model/make.
New Holland, Massey, JD, Kubota are all good brands as you can get parts and service. Remember the Mahindras and other cheaper brands are cheaper for a reason and parts and dealer service can be a big issue.
A Bulldog Club sticker is a must.......
If buying used, look for something with under 500 hrs, which is broken in good but not run so much you have major maintainence coming up soon. I would be careful of buying compact models as they tend to be lighter in weight and take longer to do the work. 2WD is easier to maintain and service. A good 40-50 HP used tractor should run $8-11k again depending on model/make.
New Holland, Massey, JD, Kubota are all good brands as you can get parts and service. Remember the Mahindras and other cheaper brands are cheaper for a reason and parts and dealer service can be a big issue.
A Bulldog Club sticker is a must.......
dad purchased brand new 65 hp 4wd mahindra last spring. nothing but trouble. fuel injector problems, leaking wheel seal, but the kicker is when i was bush hogging and it caught on fire (at 42 hours). mahindra replaced brain and had to tweek that a few times. no problems since but i suspect more on the way. while the mahindra was down, used our smaller 1973 model massey ferguson which he also purchased new and has never given any problems.
apparently these are awesome tractors. went to tractorhouse.com to look at some and they all have thousands and thousands of hours on them lol</p>
We have about 15 currently, and trading them all in for 12 brand new Lamborghini tractors in the next couple of weeks. All of hours have almost 10,000 hours on them currently and it is getting expensive in maintenance. Just had my business partner in my office reviewing the financials on the deal and am on hold with the vendor trying to verify the import taxes right now.
We have about 7,000 hectares of sugar cane, 15,000 hectares of rice, 20,000 hectares of mango, 12,000 hectares of cantaloupe, 15,000 hectare of watermelon on our land and these tractors take a 24 hour a day beating during sugar cane season (right now!) and a good 16 to18 hour a day beating outside of cane season.
Best tractor a money can buy in my opinion.
Yes, for those that remember me, I am out of the golf business and working for a large real estate development group in Costa Rica and one of our partners is one of the largest sugar cane, rice, and mango producers in Central America.... not all that big in watermelon or cantaloupe but we do make a lot of it.
We have about 7,000 hectares of sugar cane, 15,000 hectares of rice, 20,000 hectares of mango, 12,000 hectares of cantaloupe, 15,000 hectare of watermelon on our land and these tractors take a 24 hour a day beating during sugar cane season (right now!) and a good 16 to18 hour a day beating outside of cane season.
Best tractor a money can buy in my opinion.
Yes, for those that remember me, I am out of the golf business and working for a large real estate development group in Costa Rica and one of our partners is one of the largest sugar cane, rice, and mango producers in Central America.... not all that big in watermelon or cantaloupe but we do make a lot of it.
played soccer for MSU when I was in school. We lived in the same apartment complex..... they were good guys and apparently had lots of money.
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