We are moving out of the city to 7 acres in Western Virginia. Most of it is pasture and we are not planning on haying...only garden and a few head of cattle and milk cow. We do want a very large garden and there is a small orchard. It is kind of hilly. Here is what we need:... we need to grade a small path to the chicken coop and barn (about 100 feet), till up the garden area, keep the path cleared in the winter etc. So here's the question: Can we get by easily with a 20-24 hp garden tractor with the following attachments: disk, cultivator, dump cart (holds 1,200 lbs and has a back that opens), dozer/grader/snow plow blade, & tire weight chains? Any other attachments we would need? Thanks for your help!

-- KBall (nascargo3@msn.com), April 21, 2001

Answers

Response to Small Tractor Advice Need, Please

A large lawn/garden tractor might be adequate, but if you are looking to buy something and have 7 acres, I would strongly suggest a compact tractor with PTO and three point hitch. A lawn tractor typically has real problems with traction, unless you get one that has a differential lock, but these are rare. A four wheel drive compact tractor will allow you to do just about anything you need on that much land. I have a John Deere 755 with loader, 12" and 18" auger, brush hog, draw bar, and tiller. We moved to five acres four years ago and thought we were only going to board dogs and have a few chickens. Before we knew it we were raising a steer, turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, goats, and bees. The tractor has already paid for itself in labor savings. It has made many tasks so much easier like: fence posts, pasture mowing, garden tilling, compost pile management, minor grading for new outbuildings, road work on our gravel private road, lifting heavy objects, dragging logs for firewood, spreading wood chips for the paddock, spreading gravel and sand, clearing brush to expand the pasture, moving trailers, etc. Someday I hope to get a backhoe attachment. You may have limited plans at the present, but this homesteading has a way of growing on you.

John Deere makes snowblowers, front and back blades, grooming mowers, and lots of other attachments for these compact tractors. Mine has a forward facing mid chassis PTO in addition to the rear PTO for using midmount and front mount implements. It also has full time four way hydraulics for the loader and other such implements.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), April 21, 2001.

Response to Small Tractor Advice Need, Please

After much gnashing of teeth, and unable to find a decent used one, I bought a Kubota B6200 in 1984. It was big bucks (over $8000) with attachments, but one of the best buys we ever made. We drive older vehicles (the "new" car is an '87 Century with 25K miles), but we spent a lot on the tractor. If you can find a small diesel tractor, do it. Gas engines are a distant 2nd! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), April 21, 2001.

Response to Small Tractor Advice Need, Please

I bought a small 1710 ford diesel in 1986 it does everything we need we have a 100 acres and about 40 of it is in field. I keep up with the bushhoging and do some light plowing. We raise a huge garden and its ok. Do wish we had a four wheel drive so we could use a front end bucket to move stuff around. Don't even consider anything less than 20 to 25 hp and diesel with out fail. If you ever expect to do much you will need 4wheel drive and powersteering. Hit a bad rut and that steering wheel can break a arm in a heart beat. If I ever replace ours it will be a Koubota (misspelled) that has power steering and four wheel drive.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), April 21, 2001.

Response to Small Tractor Advice Need, Please

A 20-25 horse diesel 4wd should meet your needs although personally I would go for a 35HP. Its not that much bigger in size and lot more power. I have an elderly friend with a two wheel drive older diesel Deutz around that size and I am always very impressed with what it can do. I went the cheapo way and bought big but old (1957) Massey Harris 444 with primative loader(called manure scoop when I grew up) and a smaller Allis WD. I dont farm, but have 40 acres and tinker. Found its really nice having the heavy Massey to move stuff around. Nothing substitutes for sheer mass sometimes (yes there is a pun there). Do wish the hydraulics were stonger. As for attachment suggestions for you, I would suggest a loader although how useful on a 20hp tractor I'm not too sure. Alternatively a three point hitch "boom pole" is very handy and very cheap although look for a sturdy one. These are used to lift heavy items. I've used one for everything from pulling car engines to lifting a sick horse to her feet with a sling. There is also a three point slip(sort of a small loader type dump bucket in a frame for moving dirt). Another cheap substitute for good loader function and works well with a light tractor since center of gravity stays low. I know a person who actually used one of these along with a 20hp tractor to excavate a basement. Beats a shovel and a wheelbarrow. Again get a good quality one. There is also a sort of 3pt platform that can be used to move firewood or lift appliances up or multitude of other things. Sort of a cheap 3pt version for tractor of a tommylift on back of a truck. Again maybe more than a 20hp tractor can handle without lifting the front of the tractor up (at least without some counter weight on tractor front). Lastly get a couple heavy duty log chains. They come in handy for lot of things. Forgot, depending on your place, a small brush hog mower might be handy to take care of weeds and small brush (and I mean LIGHT brush, dont expect miracles from it). They even make them in 4foot widths for these small tractors. When using any tool, nothing substitues for common sense.

-- Hermit John (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), April 22, 2001.

I have a 22hp garden tractor with a disk, blade, trailer, mowing deck and chains. It will not disk the garden deep enough. I have to hire someone else to plow or till deep and then I disk. For snow removal a blower would have been better. We have to get to the snow before it is more than 2 inches deep. Around here, we can wake to a foot. The blade doesn't work well with leveling either. It will do all of these things just not as well as I had hoped. For instance, one of my boys has to stand on top of the disk to get it to dig deep into the earth. A dusty job but kind of fun. This is a serious tractor too. A White. Very poplular. White makes a tiller attachment that is very expensive but works wonderfully. A friend came with his last year and tilled the garden for me. He said that it did require mechanical knowledge to use the tiller (which is why I didn't purchase one) but it did a wonderful job. The trailer is worth its weight in gold. It tips up and has a removable back. I love it. Hope this info helps. If I had the mechanical aptitude, I would buy a used tractor. They also are dangerous on banks. Part of my year has to be hand mown because of the bank. After a certain angle (I can't remember the degrees) they can tip over.

-- Cheryl (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001.

The old Ford N series, (8N,2N,9N) tractors were about 22 HP rated and they werer used to farm everywhere in the world & still are. As for 4-wheel drive, my family farmed without it back to when they used horses. I have never had a 4x4 tractor. I bought a (new ) New Holland 3010 tractor 2 years ago,(52 HP) no 4 wheel drive, I have no problems using the loader, my tires are loaded with calcium and I hang the 6' tiller on the back for additional weight to the back tires if I think I'm going to need it. I just mowed a piece of my pasture that has a 15% slope without any problems, the loader keep the front end down and the 6' brush hog give good traction to the drive wheels.

Alas, We are selling out ranch and will likely sell the tractor and most of the equipment, I checked the blue book on the NH and found it to be only $1000 less than what it was listed at new. But, to replace it with a compact, 18-25 HP the price is almost as much as buying a real tractor. i will probably just buy another Ford 8N.

As for equipment, one can by new from places like Big "R", Farm & Family, Coastal and other big chain store farm supplies. they have roatry mowers, disks, harrows, augers, and so on at prices homesteaders can afford, they are not top of the line but under light use, 10-20 acrs they will hold up. If you are in snow country, which I'm not but have been, chains are a must on snow and in mud. I set of "Pallet Forks" will do a world of work on the 3-point hitch and can be configured to fit a loader too.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), April 25, 2001.