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I need something that will plow a long driveway of snow, cut a 5 acre lawn like a riding lawnmower and maybe 'til up a garden?
If it's a tractor I would like to have something with an enclosed cab for winter time. Does anyone have some suggestions on one vehicle that would do it all? Thx.
Doesn't exist. It does, but it won't do anything well. Plowing snow is MUCH MUCH faster with a truck. and used plows are about 2 grand and if you live on 5 acres, you certainly have a truck.
You don't have 5 acres of lawn, this isn't Kentucky, you have 5 acres of pasture/grassland (if you live in parker). If you cut it real short you'll burn it out and end up getting weeds and erosion and such. Pasture grass should be long, it holds the moisture in, keeps the roots from drying out, etc. At most you want to cut it to about 6" maybe once or twice a year. Rotary cutter (shredder, bush hog) is what you want for that. The lawn itself (around the house) you do want a regular mower. (riding or really a zero turn is much faster). But tractors tractor, mowers mow.
Tractors of course can till up a garden. 3 point Tillers cost about 2 grand, most people charge about $30 to $40 to till a garden. you could have it tilled for many years for less money and wear and tear on the tiller
If it was me (and it was me, I had a business that took care of people on acreage, I've done this) what you SHOULD do is
a. get a plow for your pickup
b. hire out the bushhogging of your pasture once or twice a year (check craigslist, there are a million uninsured guys doing this), they'll probably do it for $100 to $150. You'll have to get a new guy every couple years because they wear out their machines and don't have any money to replace them, but that's not your problem.
c. get a riding lawnmower of some type depending on how big your actual lawn is
d. have the garden tilled once a year by somebody. ($50 at most)
What you WILL probably do
1. go down to the local John Deere dealer (potasio brothers) and buy a $40,000 dollar 5' or 6' compact enclosed tractor with a front end loader, a rototiller, a 3 point tiller, a bush hog and a mid mount or rear mount finish mower.
2. you'll use it about 200 hours the first year just putzing around, then about 50 hours a year thereafter.
3. you'll use the finish mower about 3 times and realize that the tractor is too big and heavy to really handle a lawn and end up buying a riding lawnmower of some type anyway.
4. you'll bend/break/run into something (because tractors do have a learning curve) and that will cost you at least $500 the first year.
5. you'll be out moving snow and realize how long it takes vs. just shoving it with a pickup. (given, that the one time a tractor works and a pickup doesn't is when we get 3 feet of snow, but how often does that happen?) and get a plow anyway.
having a tractor is really useful, but it's not worth the money, it's cheaper in the long run to hire the jobs out. Unless you live on like 10 to 15 plus acres, then it's worth having something but compact tractors are too small for that size of jobs.
I've seen it a thousand times.
hope that helps.
Tractor hater.Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnTRourke
(Insert smiley face here. I have yet to figure that out from my Tapatalk ap.)
Thx for excellent advice. After reading it what I will probably do is:
Hire neighbor kid with riding mower to come do the lawn for $50 plus tip.
Find a used pickup on Craigslist with plow attached(don't want to use MY nice truck for that!)
Befriend the local farmer with a disk and have him swing by each spring to make a couple passes on garden.
Buy an old tractor to restore/tinker with and eventually watch one of the kids run it into the barn... Every kid should have a tractor to drive to school right ?!
Ive got a jd 3038 and its great for 5 acres no cab though. Clears the snow fine and runs a five foot bush hog easily. it is great, but your options above are goingvto be much more cost effective. If you want a tractor with a cab try looking used. www.tractorhouse.com is a good place to start.
My grandpa has an old walk behind tractor, and with the attachments it does everything. It's probably 50 years old and runs like a champ. I think it has attachment that you can stand on and it pulls you around, like those guys you see hauling ass mowing parks. I hope to inherit it someday.
im not sure what they cost now, but its probably a reasonably priced option if you need something that does everything, as they still make them. Might be worth looking into.
Buy a goat....a herd of 4 had been keeping 40 acres perfectly manacured
Goat BBQ.. Yum
ATV with plow and pull behind mower. Get a small disc harrow and go nuts.
After the trans drops when we're in "The storm of the century" you'll wish you scored a used plow for you "Nice Truck" It's a truck there's a reason you purchased one.Quote:
Originally Posted by T-Jet
One of these should fit your needs............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T62STbhNK3A
We have a second home on 35 acres in the southern part of the state with a 600 ft. driveway where we go to one week out of the month. We were down there in mid-December one year when a heavy storm hit (not forecasted). Cedars and pinon trees on the west side of the driveway act as a snow fence which results in four and five foot drifts on it. My wife had to fly out the next day. I spent several hours trying to find someone to plow the drive and the earliest anyone could get there was four days. She missed her flight and speaking engagement which cost us 5K and I missed testifying in a court appearance (judge was not real happy with me). When we finally got out and home I spent 14K on a 4 wheel drive tractor with bucket, blade and brush hog. On more than one occasion, when a propane delivery was due, I had to snowshoe in to get the tractor when my 4X4 F-250 couldn't make it. I've used the brush hog many times to clear about two acres around the house of vegitation that would kill a riding mower. To me it was money well spent. Make a careful assessment of your needs and buy accordingly and one step up from what you think you'll need. To my way of thinking it's better to buy one heavy duty unit than keep replacing a cheaper one. YMMV
I have ~23 acres.
I have a 25 hp tractor that I got for $3500.
I got a blade that can move dirt/plow (in reverse)
I got a rotary cutter that I have yet to use. (Horses keep the grass short)
I got an auger (my most used attachment behind the blade)
I agree 100% with the advice given above, unless you have time and money to burn. The tractor is too big for the lawn, to small to effectively move a round bale, and is essentially a driveway grader/post hole digger for me.
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We don't have to worry about mowing or tilling our mountain property. But we do need a plow. Our house came with an older, pretty good sized (the rear tires were about 5' tall), early 60s vintage JD tractor with a bucket up front and a blade behind it. It was an awesome tractor but didn't do anything well. It didn't have enough power or weight to grade the drive, it was awkward to move snow and didn't maneuver in tight places, etc...
We sold it and bought a used 2001 Kawasaki Mule, diesel model. That thing is a true workhorse and did a pretty good job of plowing. It holds 1100 pounds in the small bed and will go places it shouldn't around the property. I bought a small plow for it and it worked fine as long as I was constantly out in the snowstorm not letting the snow accumulate to more than 6 inches or so. It took almost a solid hour to plow the .4 mile drive.
18 months ago I took the plunge and bought a new 3/4 ton pickup with a big Boss plow on it. What took an hour before now takes 15 mins at most. The mule is back to general property cleanup duty.
I agree with the assessment that a one-size-does-everything approach will work only for the light jobs. For serious work you need dedicated machines.