Best tractor for small farming?

Late 40's JD might do what you want if you got a G. A better choice would be later when they switched over to numbers and live pto and hydraulics came into the scene. A 70 or a 720 or 730 would be a good size. 60, 620,630 might be a bit small. But anything green usually commands a better price, typically smaller ones like the 520 will go for 3500. 720s can fetch 5000 plus.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

Your right on the 300 Rambler. They were a great tractor, and can be found for The money mentioned. Your wrong I think on needing a 35hp tractor to cut hay. They had 7ft mowers on F-12s/14s/ Cs. Cub had a 5ft mower with 12hp.

Sammy, Ive always heard that the Gs wernt Deeres best offer. I totally agree with you on the 60 or 70. I gotta also disagree on price. Myself, HERE, and in NE Kans, I think the opposite is/was true.

Be nice to know what kind of hay, grass, alfalfa, mixed.

And location, if I'm guessing right person is in an area might only,get 2 cuttings of alfalfa or one of grass hay per year.

Changes the equipment needed and the amount of time one has to bale, depending on those conditions.

For alfalfa up here one really needs a crimper of some sort. And that either takes a lot of time using an old hard to find machine up here, or a more powerful tractor to run a mower-crimper all in one.

Eventually it would sure be nice to have 2 tractors for a 30 acre hay operation, a smaller cheaper less options machine and a stronger one to run a mo-co haybines and the baler.

The trick is to find one tractor able to do it all on a budget, everyone else is looking for the same tractor so it brings more money.......

Paul

Of course I would agree with you on having more tractors. When I cut hay I had the mower mounted on the H. IHC Mower simi mount. I raked with the Case CC. Had one or the other been done, I coulda used the running one.
Also, if your making smalls and stacking them and needing an elevator run by pto, its sure handy to have a tractor just for that.
My dad had a 48 H and a team of horses, Florie and Dixie. My uncle Walt in time gave him his old Kelly Ryan grain elevator when he bought a longer JD hay elevator. It came with an engine that barely ran. I knew where, on a neighboring abandoned farm there was a pto shaft and got it and put it on. Dad bought a 38 A JD both for the elevator, and for pulling wagons of corn to the crib. The horses didn't last a year after that. All that before 60.

We have a 65hp tractor and a 48hp tractor. The larger one is at the very bottom of the power range you would need for what you're wanting to do. Tillage is hard work on a tractor. Haying is hard work on a tractor. Both require a lot of power and weight.

The price you're willing to spend ($2,500) won't get you either of the above tractors or any implements. They each cost $50K and then figure an additional $50K to $100K for implements if you're doing field cropping, forestry, haying - easy, could be a lot more.

You may be better off getting the work done hired for a while as you figure out your needs and equipment. There is a level of expertise that needs to go with the equipment.

As a general farm tractor I like ours (JD 4720 & 4700) but don't ask too much of a small machine or you won't have it for long. We have buckets, forks, 4-in-1 jaws bucket, backhoe, seeder/sander, box scraper (5' here, get a 7' or 8' instead) and rake (rarely used here). Buckets, forks, sander and backhoe are what we use the most.
Sander for winter sanding.
Big bulk bucket for winter plowing and moving wood chip.
4-in-1 jaws bucket for clearing bedding in summer, rock picking.
Mid sized bucket for sand and dirt work and moving hay bales.
Backhoe for trenching, holes, post driving, crane work, etc.
Forks for moving slabs of granite, hay bales, unloading trucks, moving huts.
Box scraper - keeping roads in shape.

Tip: We welded hooks onto implements such as backhoe and buckets - very useful with chains.

Tip: Be careful, wear your seatbelt, ear protection, ROPS, go slowly. Tractors are an excellent way to kill yourself and other people.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

You would be better off paying someone to cut/rake/bale your hay then try to find something within your budget. Then get a basic older loader, even then like others said you would be lucky to get a decent riding lawn mower for your budget.

You really have to know what you are doing buying older equipment, take someone with you that knows what to look for and has experience both driving and working on equipment.

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Idleness is leisure gone to seed

Yeah, IF you KNEW you could get someone in on your ground WHEN you wanted them in, that would be OK. I didn't have that luck the first 2 yrs I lived here.

I don't know if I would do up the whole 30 at a time anyhow. Think id either do it by thirds, 10 ea, or 1/2 15 acres. U cut it all, and find you don't have help to get it in would be a bear, especially if you didn't have a loader for small bales. Even then you would need 2 minimum for that. Doing it as I suggested dosent leave you laying awake thinking you hear thunder at night lol.

The recommendations to get a 40's or 50's IH or JD just befuddle me. The OP is a first time tractor owner and beginning on a "Man's Tractor" just doesn't make sense.

The investment in a more modern tractor with user comforts, conveniences, and safety mechanisms will be well worth it. I am not suggesting the OP go to the JD Store and plunk down $80,000 on a 6000 series tractor. There are plenty tractors manufactured in the 60's and 70's that would work well for the OP's tasks, however not for $2500.

Jim

With a price cap of 2500 there aren't many choices other than 40 and 50's stuff, the OP asked for older stuff that was easier to work on..the OP brought up the 40's JD himself.

I don't believe that 65 HP is the absolute bottom end of what would be necessary at all. As a matter of fact with only 30 acres considered tillable it might be a bit of overkill.
An Allis WD with 35 HP and the right equipment would work fine. A sickle mower and possibly a crimper if your hay runs towards the more succulent stuff like clover and alfalfa. It will certainly run a small square baler such as a JD 24T and pull a loaded bale wagon along if the land is fairly flat.
The sickle mower works fine as a pasture topper as well, I have yet to own a brush hog style mower and probably never will. Don't really worry about the 3 point hitch at all really, I don't have any implements that require it.
With only 30 tillable and animals to feed I can't see where you would need to be into big tillage, maybe 10 acres worked up at the most. A WD with a proper snap coupler mounted 3 bottom plow can make quick work of that.
If the esoteric equipment needed for the WD is hard to find then converting it to a 3 point system would be an option.
Yes WDs are older and not slick like a Ford 4000 but they have a rudimentary live PTO and hydraulics provided by their hand clutch and they are cheap to buy and operate. For a bit more a WD45 would be an even better choice.
If your tastes run towards the red side you could substitute an M for the WD and be pretty close but the M lacks any sort of live pto or hydraulics unless you have some sort of funky after market set up or step up and get the super M which will typically cost a bit more and the 2500 dollar ceiling might prove to be a bit low.
A 350 or 400 would be a good option, more power and more features such as live pto and hydraulics and the TA transmission, and I have found the 400s prices to usually be less than most Super M or Super MTA's. These can typically be had with Farmalls answer to the three point called the fast hitch which was a beautiful system that worked well but it is getting harder to find stuff that plugs into it. Converting them to 3 point is an option.
Fords for under 2500 are pretty much limited to the N series tractors and I would not recommend them to anyone, there are differing opinions but I have yet to figure out what they are good for other than pulling a rake or the fencing trailer around. They can be picked up for anywhere from 1600 up to well past your 2500 dollar limit. The lack live pto or hydraulics, their vaunted 3 point system is not live and will not work with the clutch in.
And unless you have a baler with its own motor you would be hard pressed to get any haying done.

None of the tractors in my shed cost over 2500 and they run from an IH 756 down to my 2 Allis WDs and an old Cat 22. Stay away from the dealers lot. Hit the farm auctions if possible. Keep an eye out for guys with a couple parked out for sale along the road. Check out the postings on yesterdays tractors for your state, check out on line auctions nearby. Put the word out on the street that you are in the market.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

I agree with you on the WD Sammy. they would pull any square bailer anywhere regardless of hills. My Grandad had an IHC 45T Bailer with engine, and he pulled it with a 50 A JD. And ive seen him pull it up some STEEP hills. He said what was a treat is when he came down a steep hill and made a turn. He said that the bailer looked like it was trying to get him lol. He did custom bailing with that outfit.
I don't know or think a WD IHC would turn short enough for haying.

The truth is that just about any farm tractor will work for a homestead. Some will work better than others. However the best tractor for homesteading that I can think of is the one that runs and is paid off, including all needed implements, the day you take possession of it. Most of us could get by with much less than what we think we "need". If you got the money for the biggest and best there's nothing wrong with that. However it's a real nice feeling to walk out to the barn and look at equipment that is paid for in full and still works even if it takes a little longer to get the work done. Even at $2,500 I bet you could get a more than just a tractor. If you shop around I bet you could get a plow, disk, bush hog, and maybe even a sickle mower in addition to the tractor. You may have to put a little work into repairs but you could end up with some nice stuff that gets the job done.

I agree with much of the stuff mentioned by the last few messages. But......

Baler.

Snow blower.

Post hole digger.

Baler far easier to run with at least a live pto.

Snow blower is about worthless without live pto, and slow reverse gears, and most all need 3pt hitch.

Post hole digger has a special scissors action with the 3pt hitch, so many converted tractors don't really work with one, you need a real 3pt hitch.

Now there can be ways around all that, but a person needs to be real familiar with old machinery to sort through all the issues and conditions that brings about.

It sounds like the original poster isn't all that familiar with farm equipment and tractors, and so these ultra cheap cobbled up solutions might be getting in over their head.....

As before, good discussion, not that anyone is wrong, just different ways to look at the situation.

Paul

yup, IF one is wanting the digger, the front blade or scoop, and all things like that, then they need to b e looking for a tractor made much later. Problem is, All your going to get for $2,500 in that range is the thanks of the guy one buys it from cause its got major problems usually.

Well I have been doing a lot of research I do agree with some and disagree with others. This is a good discussion I have been learning alot. But max I can spend after putting down payment for the house i can spend is roughly 2500/3000$... I gotta make ends meet and well me cutting/bailing my own hay and selling some will be more efficient for me. And its grass, found here we get 2-3 a good year. This year with weather people barely got one. 30 acres with a sickle mower might suck but oh well lol. I appreciate and thank everyone for opinions. this is a good community to learn from and I'm happy to found it

That is the property. Mix of woods/ meadows/pasture/willow thickets... they use to have some horses on the property...

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30 acres will cut about the same with a sickle or a small haybine. Just a thought but around here the smaller 7' haybines bring premium prices. The sickle mower works better to keep your ditches trimmed.

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Deja Moo; The feeling I've heard this bull before.

Lazy J U say that he should get a more modern tractor which would be easier to handle. ive never drove a tractor newer than the mid 50s. Im not sure I know how to drive every make of tractor made in the 60s or 70s. Other than the hand clutch on an AC I DO know how to drive every tractor made from 1920 to 1955

Absolute minimum, IMO, is a decent Ford 3000. Tractors are plentiful, parts are plentiful and they're not bad to work on. But even $3k probably means just a bare tractor - if you are lucky enough to find a decent one for that - no loader, no implements.

The 9n's were pretty good little tractors for their time, but lacked the power and hydraulic system that was introduced with the 8n's. My experience with the little tractors has taught me that the ferguson 35's are vastly superior to the little fords. I maintained a 30 acre place with a to20 for quite a few years... close cousin to the ford 9n. I now have a to30 and a to35. I use the 30 for bushhogging and raking hay mostly. The 35 is primarily used to mow hay pulling a 7' mower conditioner and rolling hay with an international 5x5 hay roller. I also use it for handling the rolls. The 35 set me back 3k about 15 years ago, it came with grader blade, front end loader, a 5' bushhog, cultivator and 2 bottom plow. I picked up the 30 about 10 years ago for a grand... when I went to get it they guy had hooked up a dandy 5' John Deere rotor tiller to it and told me it went with the tractor!

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

First of all you need to figure out WHAT you will be doing. In your opening post you say there is 30 acres tillable. What are you going to do with that? 30 acres hay and woods. What are you going to do with the woods? Hay needs a cutter, you can use a mower or a haybine. Mowers can be disc mowers or cycle mowers. If you are willing to make small square bales a 30-40 horse tractor will work. Oliver 55 or 550. IHC made quite a few 30-40 horse tractors. B414, B275, 404, 424, 434, 444, 454 all with 3 pt. I would not get the older 2 point tractors or a row crop tractor. JD 1010. Massey TO 30, 35. Ford 600, 800, 900 series and early 2000. All can be found for less than $3,000.00. For afirst time owner I would suggest a utility tractor with independent or live PTO. Low and stable....James