Best tractor for small farming?

I like two cylinder JDs.....but you need deep pockets for parts, and the Ms and 40s are easy to turn over....light weight and lotta torque.
I was raised on an 801 Ford Powermaster....1958....it's got to have some clutch work done, motor been rebuilt once, had a new fuel tank and tires...ain't too bad for 55 years of work is it.
I'm down to 1 D15 Allis Chalmer.....parts are cheaper, power is better, fairly fuel efficient, easy to work on....could buy a nice WD for $1400 right now
Neighbor has 2 100+hp cab deals 5G for 1....about 10 years ago....8800 for a much larger ford with a front loader...cream puff tractor
Don't get in a hurry...look around....find out what models are most in the local area...I've always heard that the 52 model 8n was the best to buy....most of the kinks worked out...next year came the Jubilee..
The newer tractors ain't all what they make out...they tear up, most are heavy on the eletrics and computer mess....not always nice....plus lots of plastic parts
course, I still keep mules for backup.....

Get your tractor for purpose and not so much for price. You may have to wait or be prepared to sell it in a year for a down payment on your next tractor.

My 30hp Kubota was purchased new 9 years ago but since then, I have had to only add diesel to the tank, air to the tires and new oil and filters to the engine. No hydraulic rebuilds, no new tires, no engine work, etc. You need to budget in your operating expenses at a higher rate for older equipment.

I do not pretend to know the much older equipment and you have already got lots of good advice already. For a front loader, 4wd is fantastic. My little 30hp runs circles around my neighbors 40-50hp units with loaders because they are only 2wd. And you get more power with standard/shuttle shift than hydraulic transmissions because you are not using some of your HP for the transmission.

So, spend your money on what really matters for your needs. And I wish my 30hp was a 50hp because back then, I did not consider mowing pastures and now it is a possibility.

I used to use a 1952 8n. They are nice little workhorses but not so fun to work on for anything major. Two years ago I bought a 50HP Kioti new. What a world of difference.

For making hay an older smaller tractor will certainly handle the cutting and a tedder with ease. It will even handle a small square baler. But you have to ask yourself what the value of your time and wear and tear on your body is. A neighbor used to make my hay (about 4,000 small squares) with my assistance. He'd come over with two MFs (a 65 and a Super90). We'd have a baler with a kicker and I'd stack hay as he baled.

The last few years I've let a different neighbor take my hay off. We are looking to finish fencing and then run some cattle that do well on grass such as Galloways or Highlands.

My recommendation to you is to run animals on your pasture (intensive rotational grazing) and buy enough hay in the field to get you through a normal winter. This will be more cost effective (most years) than making and selling hay.

Most folks I know that sell hay off of small acreages sell at the weekly auction and tend not to make much money when all the costs are considered.

Just my 2 cents.

Mike

While, of course, everything posited here is opinion, and should be taken as such , it is well informed opinion based on experience. Every letter of advice provided above was solid. I would pause and reconsider before letting any "research" trump the experienced advice you're receiving. Google will tell you anything you want to hear, if you hit 'next page' enough times.
I don't know you, and I don't know that that is what you're doing, so please don't take it the wrong way. I'm just trying to provide some cautionary advice.

Short of a once in a ten-lifetimes deal, $2500 will not get you enough (reliable) tractor to do what you want to do. Without further qualifications or caveats, that much is pretty much fact.

Please forgive me if I'm reading too much into this statement, as it is not really any of my business. But I hope this doesn't mean, like I read it, that you're putting everything you have into the property, will have $3k to put into equipment, and will NEED max ("efficient") profits from the land to make ends meet- because that would be one seriously tough row to hoe if that is what you're planning. But by Providence alone do beginning farmers make money.

Again, I apologize if I am reading more into your statement than you meant, or treading outside my lane, but I believe that advice of caution is better than advice never given. While, through faith, He can provide all, it is still not generally considered wise to go rock climbing with shoe strings.

No lol I am not that stupid. We have money just that is what we decided to set back for a tractor looking at prices online and at a place that sells ford n series. For 3k I can get the tractor/sickle/rake and I can use my friends haybine. Round here there so many people that buys hay from people that have signs. Anywhere from 1$-8$ a square bale. Ain't bad but its something

An 8N is not the tractor to run a haybine. It has the small PTO, would need an overrunning clutch adapter to a full size 540 PTO shaft and has no remote hydraulic outlets....James

Does an 8n even have the HP to run a haybine? I think they were rated for something like 30hp, so maybe 25hp or so at the PTO - that was when it was new. Unless it was rebuilt from the ground-up an 8n now would probably make 15-20 HP at the PTO at best.

They have their place, but I don't think it is bailing 30 acres.

Look on YouTube there's videos of 8n pulling haybines and using disc and everything. Might not be the biggest but it'd get the job done

In the '70 s I had a 196 acre farm with 30 acres in cultivation raising hay ,corn, truck patches. I used an Allis Chalmers B model tractor, disc plow,sickle bar mower,a rotary rake, harrow, hay wagon, twine tie baller with Koehler engine. It all cost under $3,000.
I was 30 years old in great shape. No lift or 3 point hitch.
Looking backward in time it would be far better to have more powerful and efficient equipment. Such as a new medium size tractor with 4 wheel drive, bucket loader, box blade , round baller, hay loader stinger, plow,pto tiller, mowers and anything else one could ever need or use.
Now I think smaller is better. Think raised beds raising crops of vegetables and fruit that bring more dollars per square foot of fertile soil. Small hay field for a milk cow or goats. Pasture management to provide forage year round instead of raising hay and on and on.
The cost of equipment can be a burden as well as having equipment that breaks your back.

Have you baled hay before? It may not work as easily as you think. If you are going to try to make 30 acres of hay with old equipment that is at best marginal for the job when it is running well, I hope you are a good mechanic. You are going to be fixing a lot of things.

Post of the thread!

Do you know what a haybine or mower conditioner is? Even the little 7' ones probably weigh what a 8N does. They will not handle a haybine safely. Cycle mower, yes. Maybe a 3-4 disc, disc mower....James

What are you doing with the 30 acres of tillable land....James

Yes I have bailed hay before in my bosses case tractor, way more money than I would see fit to spend on a tractor but it cut nice and drove nice bailed very nicely too. Did that this year. I haven't quite decided what to do with the 30 tillable. They had corn there last year. Nothing this year. 30 acres of hay is cut this year and probably last year and so on. Neighbors have been using it not renting and for my knowledge they would not bale hay and split it with me because of cost. I lived in hick (no offence to anyone) ville u.s.a. for 4 years I picked rock to help butcher to plant. I do And would like a bigger tractor just not right away.

It appeared you are in mid-northern Minnsota from previous comments?

That gets to be near the single or maybe 2 cuttings of grass hay per year, depending on rain in mid summer. As well it gets cold and dry for corn, but a lot is grown just not the 200bu stuff....

Here the 30 acres would be worth $6000 a year rent without blinking. Could be closer to $10,000 but I don't want to go over board. Paid up front in spring.lets say its poorer ground, $5000 up front. Give a 2 year lease, farmer feels a little more like making the effort if he has the property for a bit of time and can work it right not just in and out.

The 30 acres of hay should be worth 1/3 hay to you sitting by your barn, 2/3 hay to the person making it without blinking an eye. If it is fertilized properly and good testing hay could get closer to 50-50, but again I don't want to assume too much and you need to throw money into it to bring it up to good fertility then.... That would give you 500 bales worth $1500 maybe.

If you can't find that, you aren't looking very hard - if my assumptions are more or less right.

This gives you $6-8,000 cash a year. And you can get settled into your location and search for equipment.

No reason that shouldn't work I can think of, and gives you a nice nest egg to use to buy a little more capable tractor. Getting the el cheapo, you spend more time fixing than baling and hay goes bad real real quick, changes from those $8 bales you mention to the $1 bales that are hard to get rid of with one rain, with too much drying time..... Then you mess up the next cutting by falling behind, and your whole season of hay turned into $1000 of mulch is all you made......

Again, just some general chatter, not in any way telling you what to do, but how some of us are viewing this. Hope it adds to the discussion.

Paul

Actually I like that idea a lot better. Didn't really think to much of leasing the 30 acres. Thanks Paul.