Best tractor for small farming?

[Adisiwaya]

Okay I'll ask it here because I have nooo idea what section it belongs to.
We are going to homestead 122 acres. 30 acres is pasture, 30 tillable, 30 woods, and rest in between lol

Primary uses are going to be cutting hay, pulling square haybine etc etc, auger would be nice, snow removal, and holding beef up for butchering.

Price range of 2500$ or less. I would be getting it this coming year. (I was told a ford 9n wouldn't be so good)

What are your suggestions?

[Old Vet]

Find a dealer that will work on it and see what he has to offer. A tractor is a heavy paper weight if you don't have parts and some body to work on it.

[Putawaywet]

Agreed. You're are asking an aweful lot for $2500 or less. Sure, there are plenty of older tractors to be had in that price range, but it's not a whole lot different than buying a used car. The lower your budget, the higher your skills need to be with tools and up keep.

[davel745]

I would suggest a minimum of 50 hp and if possible 60 or 70 to plow and disk 30 acres is a big job. you also need a loader that can pick up 2000 pounds. to cut and bale a square bale isn't to hard. Brush hogging can be a problem. I have a 7 foot brush hog and it is to small for my small area I cut. I am going to try to get a 10 or 12 foot unit. there is no substitute for horsepower.

[Adisiwaya]

Oh won't need to plow a field just mostly hay and snow removal. I need something older per say. Easier to work on.

[Conhntr]

I persoanally wont drive something without a rollbar. If you have your heart set on something older rollbars can be retrofited to most units but that is an added expense.

"Holding up beef for butchering" i think investing in a pulley mounted on a strong t-pole or similar might be better. Im not sure standing under a loader holding 2000lbs and cutting away at a beef with a sharp knife and saw is a good idead!

Id say sized for you needs and looking at older but field ready machines 15k+ with loader and 10k+ without

[AdmiralD7S]

Yeah, your price range really isn't realistic for what you want to do, but based off new information that you didn't give in the other thread, I can also recommend: independent PTO. Live PTO would work, but in your power range, independent is starting to become available and is really handy.

You'll also probably want to have hydraulic arms that can take both category I and II pins. This us usually done via swappable bearings in the arms. For several tasks you mentioned, some equipment may use a hydraulic port set (like heights for hay bind and bailer), so you'll want at least one remote port set in the rear.

[VERN in IL]

I think you should lease the land to the local farmer. It will make you some money, (unless there is a drought) and you will have the ground all worked and stuff until you get a REAL tractor. For that size of ground a John Deere 4020 works great.

[bergere]

Even when we had to sell our old 1978 Allis chalmer tractor, with its huge bucket... we got $6,500 for it.
Was in perfect working condition and well cared for.
Though I wish we could of afford to bring it over to VA with us.

Anyway... I looked at the cheaper tractors here and within our cash budget... we could not find anything that ran, let alone safe to use.

While I hate credit, we badly needed a tractor.
We ended up with a John Deere 3032,,, we needed something smaller for working in our woods.
However, hindsight being 50/50... if we could of swung it, would of bought a bigger tractor, or at least, more powerful one and a bucket as big as the Allis's was, the JD bucket is half the size.
And we push this tractor quite hard, so far it is holding up well.

To be safe, I would recommend going the credit route... some of the companies have 1% rate deals. That is what we did.
Or hiring someone to come do work for you.

[Molly Mckee]

You are going to have a hard time making 30 acres of hay with a $2500.00 tractor that has a bucket. If you want to take care of that much land, you are going to need more tractor, and two tractors would make 30 acres of hay much easier. I'd get a neighbor to do it on shares, until you have the proper equipment.

[sammyd]

There are deals out there if you spend some time looking. But you will spend a lot of time looking with that small of a budget limit. I have 3 40+ HP tractors out in the shed that were purchased for 2500 or less. Only 1 has a loader.
I have 3 40HP or less that were purchased for 1100 or less and 2 have loaders but they are harder to handle because they are older and do not have live hydraulics or pto.

Rethink your needs a bit. Get a garden tractor with a snowblower, use a block and tackle on a beam to hold up your animals. If you can do without the loader your options will increase a bit.

[Adisiwaya]

I been looking around live hydraulics would cost another 800$ mostly. Ain't bad. Good thing bout mille lacs county/Benton county. There is tons of older tractors people still use. Heck my boss uses a early 40s john deer for everything... so for cutting hay what would be the better tractor to get? That's the absolute most needed thing I need.

[Waterwheel Farm]

You'll see plenty of people hanging onto old tractors for reasons of their own. I have 3 tractors, one is an 8N. For some reason this particular one always seems to start good and I've owned it for 12 years and done nothing but change oil and the occasional tuneup. I use it for light work like raking hay or using a carry-all on the back to work firewood, etc. If it wasn't as reliable as it has been I'd get rid of it because it has really limited uses for any major work around here. So, as it is, as long as it stays reliable I'll let it have a happy home in the shed. People still using old tractors usually involve their personal budget, familiarity with the tractor for operating or working on them, it happens to be a reliable one, or sentimental reasons. They generally just don't get rid of them. The older ones you will find for sale in general are because they don't meet the above criteria.
For doing hay you CAN use a scythe and dump rake with horses, so it just depends on how much effort you want to put into it. For me personally the minimum horsepower range I'd look at would be a Ford 2000 (or equivalent brand/horsepower) for mowing-raking-baling with a small square baler. Independent PTO would make your life much easier. Most people on here are going to advise bigger and better when it comes to tractors. That's because many of them have been through the underhorsepowered, break-down-when-you-really-need-it phases of farming or homesteading. For me, a loader on a two wheel drive tractor is next to useless, but there's plenty of them out there doinb lots of work with them. All that being said, sounds like you have a nice piece of property there and have fun with it. Pictures would be nice. I love looking at other people's places. Good luck!

[TnAndy]

I think your budget is unrealistically low.

Either change plans or up the budget considerably.

[COWS]

Terms you should know: Live PTO: You push the foot clutch half way down and the forward motion of the tractor stops, but the PTO keeps turning. Push the clutch all the way down and the PTO stops. There is a separate lever that puts the PTO in gear for this to happen.

Independent PTO: There is a separate lever that engages the PTO through a separate clutch pack arrangement. This is the best system IMO but some prefer the live PTO.

Live hydraulics: The clutch does not have to be engaged for the hydraulic pump to work. Older tractors like the 1940's John Deeres and the famous 8n Fords had to have the PTO turning for the hydraulics to work. Never used the 8n so someone can correct me if I'm wrong. Not sure about the Farmall H and M series.

Tractors without those features can do useful work but not as much as tractors with these features.

Power steering is needed. Don't even think of doing loader work without power steering. Usually the hydraulic pump for power steering is separate from the tractor hydraulics.

A late 1950s or 1960s 35 hp tractor will do what you are wanting to do. 50 hp would be better.

Get a make of tractor with nearby dealer support. Don't get a 2010 John Deere, they may be in your price range but they have serious design flaws.

A 4000 Ford would fill your needs, but if you got one for $2500 it would need repairs unless you were very lucky. Fords of that age can have power steering added on. Massey Fergueson 135 or 165 usually don't have power steering and it can't be added on at a reasonable price. Other wise the MFs are good tractors.

COWS

[FarmboyBill]

You CAN Buy a IHC M, MD, MTA for that amount. They ran from 39 to 53 thereabouts. Has hyd and pto. Hyd will lift up any mower blade, but not many large V Rakes as I found out this summer with my 48 H IHC on a V Rake. It will do 30 acres easy, unless your one of those who like to be in the field as short a time as possible.
Look for one that's been restored. You wont have any trouble out of them then. I bought my 48 at a community sale and have had it 3yrs with NO trouble. I just put the first set of new plugs in it a month ago. The one in it were OLD. IF I were to do anything else to it, id put a carb kit in it. I havnt cause I don't need to. I just cant get it to idle down to suit me.
Save your money for the best bailer you can buy. THAT will be your main hangup, and at the worst time when it does hang up.
A tractor that will run, even if it runs somewhat bad can get the job done. A bailer that gets off kilter will stop you quick.

[FarmboyBill]

Get on U Tubes, and type in Farmall M plowing. Youll see people doing lots of stuff with them, from plowing to running buzz saws, threshers, husker shredders, discing, hammermills, bailing, rakeing ect.

[Lazy J]

Originally Posted by Adisiwaya

Price range of 2500$ or less. I would be getting it this coming year. (I was told a ford 9n wouldn't be so good)

What are your suggestions?

You can't get a decent lawn tractor let alone a farm tracto to meets your needs for $2500.

Our handiest tractor is an IH 756 that we bought for $6000 then added a used Westendorf TA-26 loader for an additional $3500.

[ArmyDoc]

Was in your shoes two years ago. We have 188 acres. Only 12 cleared. Bought a MF 245 for $2500. After $4000 worth of work, I have tractor that runs like a top...and is really too small for what I need it to do. I would have been much better off spending an extra $1k and buying a newer 85hp with a quick release front loader.

[rambler]

For hay baling and running a snow blower you need:

A live or independent pto. These came out in the mid 1950s on some models, as options on some.

For snow blowing, you want several reverse speeds.

For hay baling, you want 35 or more hp for small squares, you want 60 or more for round bales.

To cut hay, can run simple hay cutters with a 35 hp tractor. To run a mower conditioner to crimp the hay and cut 30 acres several times a year, you will want the 50-70 hp tractor.

I think you can find what you want for $5000 on average. Maybe you'd find a deal for less, but be a lucky find.

I think $2500 is a little unrealistic.

It is possible to make hay with less than I suggest, but it is not fun, and poor planning to just get something less than you need to get the job done. Spoil the hay crop a few times because you didnt get the job done and you will lose more than you save, 30 acres is a real job not just a hobby for fun only.

As mentioned, I would rent out the hay crop until you can afford a little bit more tractor, get your bearings under you. Can make some income from the rent, and have time to find the gem of a tractor you can afford.

A Farmall H or M do not have live hydraulics, nor live pto, nor 3pt hitch. While very popular tractors in their day - I have an H - they are lacking features and safety for making hay today.

My Farmall 300 (tall version, not the compact one) is based on the H model, but has independent pto, the add on live hydraulic pump, and a working torque amplifier to give it 10 forward and 2 reverse gears. It is -moch- more tractor, and can be found for $2000-3000. But it would struggle to run a big mower conditioner, and does not have 3pt hitch for use with a snow blower or post hole auger, so I hesitate to recommend it..... It is a perfect match for the older style baler tho, works very well baling with a 270 New Holland baler.

Paul