dtk913

Right now I use an ATV and a plotmaster to do all of our plots, but it is hard on the 4 wheelers and it takes a long time to do a plot with any size to it. I am looking at getting a used tractor, but I am not really sure what I want to get. I want something that I can disc with and pull a 4 row planter. I am wondering what I need for horsepower and what are some good tractors that would work for what I want. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dan

timbercruiser

I had considered buying a tractor and implements for food plots, but I can get the whole thing planted by hiring a guy with a tractor that already has the stuff. A food plot, with seed and fertilizer, disc deepand planted with a grain drill ran me about $300 an acre this year (fertilizer was over $19 a bag and I put 300 # per acre of it). I don't think just for plots I can buy diesel, payments, breakdowns, etc that cheap.

Jayme roper

you know you can bye a nice older tractor kinda chep. For what you are doing a 35 to40 horse will do you just fine and if you can I mean the old Allies,farmall, and john deers would be fine I mean for what you are going to do a old WD-45 Allies would do fine or a old 520 john deer

TRACKER

If your looking for a cheap 2 wheel drive tractor its hard to eat a ford 8n or a 600 or 800 series .
They have pto and 3 point lift .
I used a few for a while then bought a new New Hollland TC-30 Diesel 4 wheel drive and power stearing . Also got the hydro drive .
I luv it . well worth the money .
I use a 5 foot tiller , loader .mower ,blade , and brush hog on it .

americaneagle

Some good ideas so far, if you can hire someone else to do it and don't need a tractor for other stuff that will be the cheapest. There are alot of good used tractors in the 40-50 HP range that will work also. I have a J.D. 4700 diesel I use (48hp), it will pull a 2 bottom plow. I also have a 6' disk and a 10' wheel disk I use with it, along with a 4 row planter.

1sagittarius

5 years ago I was looking around for a small tractor. 8N and 9Ns in good working order were in the $4K range. I ended up with a 1960 minneapolis moline M5, gas, 60Hp, PTO, Cat 2 3pt, wide front, power steering, aux. hydraulics .... for$2200.I put new seals and brass plates in the hydraulic pump, very easy. Last year I put a new gear/nose on the starter. Basically with every one looking for small tractors for foodplots and farmettes, the next size larger tractors were a better deal.

gregrn43

I have a 990 John Deere with front end assist,love it to. I use mine for food plots and the big garden that I plant every spring. Mine has a loader on and thats great for pushing debrie around the food plots, plus the weight that it adds. I use a 5 tine chisel plow to put my plots in, the ground is real rocky so a disk wont work well. I bought it new in 05, one of the best investments that I have ever made. Its small enough to haul on my on my 16ft trailer and pull with my F150. Its a 40 horse and really I wouldnt think that you would want anything smaller to pull a 4 row planter. 1sagittarius said it right the bigger ones are cheaper, but they are harder to haul around and i wanted one that I could haul. Take a look at Tractor house.com there are all kinds of tractors on there for sell.
Good luck
Greg

North Texan

As was mentioned previously, something in the 40-50 hp range should serve you nicely. A smaller tractor will pull a 4-row planter, but the weight of the planter if it is a 3-point would make a smaller tractor very, very light on the front end. Same goes for shredders.

I would suggest looking at something along the lines of JD, Massey Ferguson, Case IH, Ford, Kubota, or the likes that is still in business with a diesel engine. Oliver and Minneapolis Moline made some decent tractors, but parts can be awfully hard to find depending on what breaks.

farm hunter

We use a IH 505 -



We bought it used, and probably put more into it than its worth but for about $8000-10000 we've had very handy, reliable 55 HP tractor for about 8 years now.

FH

pa257

Like others have said, look at bigger tractors because the used 20-35hp tractor's are not great deals. i looked for a long time and settled on buying a new tractor because any good used tractor was 9-15k depending on the implements it came with, so I boght new and got a 3 yr warranty and I can make low interest payments. Every dealer has some type of low interest/no interest financing right now.

I ended up buying a Mahindra 3215 with a FEL, 5' bush hog mower and a 5' box blade. I have a small farm (62 acres) and a 0.2 mile gravel road I maintain. I got no money down, 6 months no payments and then 72 months at 3.75% with no early payment penalty, I think the whole shootin match cost me $17K. The tractor is more than enough for what I use it for but whatever you get, make sure you get some extra weight on it. Either fill the tires with calcium or that new synthetic molasses stuff or the hang on weights you see at a tractor pull. Weight is the difference between getting your work done in one pass or spinning your wheels. Good luck. Oh yeah, if you get a diesel, and I suggest you do, run off road diesel in it (basically it's home heating fuel) or do what Im going to start doing, make your own from used cooking oil.