Tractor vs mower for lawn care

If you're going to bale hay you will need a sickle mower (not a brush hog) and maybe a hay crimper
or get one machine called a haybine which cuts and squashes the stems in one pass. If your stuff is more grassy and you have good drying conditions a lot of times you can get by with just the mower though.

Then you will need a hay rake and a baler.

All a pretty pricey proposition unless you have the time to search want ads and go to auctions and do a lot of looking. And if you don't know much about the stuff it can be intiimidating. Got any neighbors that might help out?

If you do go baling you will need a good tractor. Something better than 30 HP with live PTO (which means the pto shaft operates independantly of the transmission) a 3 point hitch and the ability to have at least 1 remote hydraulic cylinder connected in back.

alpacamom,

I sent you a private message about my idea, but basically (unless you have large amounts of spendable money) I would look for a neighboring farmer to bale the hay for you ... probably could find one that would do it for half the hay or something. Then I would buy a mower for about an acre (actually I would probably mow less, but it sounds like you would like a big yard).

Oh yeah, get a Shivers Country Clipper mower ... made in Iowa!

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if you decide you bale your pasture area , you might talk to some locally to do it for you . around here they normally will bale it for half . it will save you time and money on gas . also it could open up the possiblity to use a smaller tractor or could move down to just using a mower .

The salesman would no doubt love to end up selling you both

Buy the tractor, if you want a nice mower then get a finish mower to pull behind it (you can find them and small bush hogs at farm auctions alottttt)

The zero turn is a great mower but thats all they will do. I would opt out of a belly mower on my tractor and go for the pull behind (will save you money and headaches in the long run)

you can buy a really decent used riding mower around here for 5 or 6 hundred bucks....take care of it and it will last a long time.

I hate to imagine the price a "Good Quality" JD zero turn will run you (i'm sure you allready know)

On the farm i manage we have two toro zero turns. Great mowers but that is all they do and they mow alot more than 12 acres a day

For the fields we use two large 100+ hp tractors and 15 ft batwings and when tuned the fields look like they have been mowed with the zero turn

At home , My reality i have a couple ol MTD Riding mowers , 1 for yard and one for the more ruff terrain and dream of an ol tractor one day

Plow it under and plant native grasses.

Alot of considerations here. Different things work for different people.
I myself have about 8 acres I keep mowed around the house.
A junky JD riding mower I can't kill for around the house.
A WD tractor and a personally modified 6' brush cutter for the outlaying areas. To give it that lawn look.
I would give anything for a zero turn to save time, but the DW nixed that idea.
The tractor has it's purpose.
The ZT turn I want is a 32 HP diesel and will mow a maintained lawn at 5 acre an hour. I'll cut that in half for hype and I'm still time ahead.
It's about $15K.
But to me it would be worth it even if it's just for mowing.
I've spent alot more for alot less.

Just the way I look at it. One way or the other it's getting mowed.
What can be used for hay is across the gulley.

Thanks everyone!

The better half figured out how much exactly we have in acreage in each pasture and how much we are actually going to consider "lawn". We have about 8 acres in the north pasture, 2 acres that we're going to consider "lawn" and 2 acres for the south pasture. The critters are going to be kept in the south pasture and I'll have my garden down there too. Eventually as the herd grows and we can afford to put up more fencing, the critters will move to the north pasture. Until then, having a tractor seems like it'll be a necessity down there.

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Paula

homeschooling mom to 2 awesome boys, married to the man who makes all my dreams come true, and lovin' life on our little farm.

I have a JD 4010 for my 2.5 acres. It has R-4 tires and does fine. My neighbor has a zero turn and after watching me zip around he made the comment that my lawn mower goes almost as fast and has a loader on it that his doesn't. I paid a little more, but I can do a whole lot more! His last comment was that mine was spreading fertilizer and areating while his wasn't.

I bought mine slightly used out of the newspaper and love it! Go with a hydrostat if you are going to have to go around things or back up. I actually enjoy mowing the lawn. My riding lawn mower wasn't getting the job done fast enough, however I kept it for the fall when the leaves drop and I bag them for the compost pile...

Hey Paula.

You left me the following question:

Would it be smarter to buy a tractor with mower attachments (whether belly or 3 point) or would it be smarter to buy as much tractor as we can afford and get some kind of lawn tractor to mow the area around the house?

Random thoughts:

Likely choice...

Get the used widefront tractor with 3 point hitch. Buy a brush hog that is the right size for the tractor you get. Get a riding mower for around the house. Something like a Ford 8n with a 4 foot brush hog would be a good tractor. Don't forget an overrun clutch to go with the brush hog.

Possibility...

See if farm neighbor will cut and bail hay for you for a percentage. It seems like such a waste to be cutting it to bits and then go and buy it. If he isn't interested in doing it for a percentage, maybe he would do it for a reasonable fee when he does his hay.

Alot depends on if the alpacas like your hay. Have you fed them anything from the "north pasture"?

It probably would cost you $1200-$2000 to buy the used haying equipment to go with the tractor you buy...figuring for an older square baler. A sizeable outlay for a few acres of hay. And you would have to make sure you do some wise shopping or you'll get stung with some crap equipment.

You might end up with enough animals grazing that you wouldn't be doing any hay harvesting.

If the neighbor did it for you in rounds, you would need forks for the tractor to skewer and pick it up if you need to move them.

You may need a storage shed to put up hay.

You need a shed for the tractor and impliments.

Get a loader for your tractor...they are priceless.

Buy impliments from the same place you buy the tractor and you will save on shipping. Most guys charge $1.50-$2 a mile with some form of minimum.

Take somebody with that works on tractors to do the inspection. Test any equipment you buy. A farmer always has a spot to demonstrate the useability of what he is selling. Buying an untested baler could lead you to having to replace the knotters for example.

The JD dealer and banker are friendly, but not your friend.


RF

RF, you've given me lots of stuff to chew on...thank you!

Haven't fed the alpacas anything from the north pasture yet. It's kinda ugly and left over from the previous owners from last year. It needs a good hacking down. Here's a pic from a couple weeks ago when we had an ice storm. You can't see the whole thing, but from the far side of the fence all the way down the hill to the trees at the bottom of the hill is what we call the "north pasture". I'll get a better pic and post it later, but this'll give you an idea for now.



I'm not sure that it would be good enough for the critters to eat anything and get any nutritional value out of it as it is right now. We just have the critters in a pen closer to the house for now...until we can put up fencing and shelter for them in that pasture.

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Paula

homeschooling mom to 2 awesome boys, married to the man who makes all my dreams come true, and lovin' life on our little farm.