# Do I want this tractor?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 18, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282 "2008-06-18T01:28:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/1 "2008-06-18T01:28:30Z")
I have about 14 acres. I’ve been wanting a tractor for some time - something I can use to mow the fields. This horses don’t graze it down enough and left to itself it’ll overgrow quickly. One neighbor (who cuts hay and bushhogs for a living) wanted to charge $100/hr with a two hour minimum to mow. ANother neighbor, said he’d do it as he has time for $20/hr.
ANyway, [this tractor](http://nashville.craigslist.org/grd/720554715.html) is on Craigslist. I could afford it, just. But it seems like a one-trick pony. Mower, that’s all. Is it worth it?
StG
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/2 "2008-06-18T01:51:57Z")
14 acres? I’d like a bigger deck than that little guy’s got; at least a six-foot. Ten foot would be even nicer. Hubby cuts our 5 acres with a six-foot.
I don’t think I’d like a belly mower, either - but I can see that it would be easier than a pull-behind to deal with. I guess on pasture land you’re not worried about extraneous logs, rocks, limbs or what-have-you.
What horsepower is it? Are there any other things you’d like to do with it?
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### Author:  [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/3 "2008-06-18T02:21:04Z")
The lo boy seems like its a little small for 14 acres.
Something a little bigger and more powerful would be useful as far as attachments. A pull behind mott mower is nice for pasture. Then you can get the post hole digger, dump trailer, etc.
That one looks nice. Just a little small.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/4 "2008-06-18T02:35:59Z")
I did a quick look for used lawn tractors onn John Deere’s [Machine Finder](http://www.machinefinder.com/index.html?ticket=d8ddbd989750503369701007aa5047828b6a6a0e&jdeere_dealer_id=0&pageseq=269521) site and found a bunch of models at that price or less – all of them much newer.
I’d keep looking.
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### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/5 "2008-06-18T02:49:40Z")
**kunilou** - I’m going to have to bookmark that. Thanks!
**Mongo Pontoon, NinetyWt** - It does seem small, but it’s what I could afford. I don’t have a lot to do, but pulling stumps would be nice. ANd if I was buying a corn stove, I could plant a couple acres in corn. I don’t know how cost-effective that would be.
StG
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### Author:  [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/6 "2008-06-18T02:51:14Z")
I vote for a tractor with a Category 1 3-point hitch on the back, and either a rear mower or a belly mower according to which you think you’d have a better time driving. I’ve only used belly mowers, though I do have an auger and a boom pole and a platform and a landscaping rake and a subsoiler for the rear.
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### Author:  [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/7 "2008-06-18T16:24:41Z")
From the pictures, you called it right. That’s a one-trick pony. It doesn’t have a 3-point hitch or even a proper draw bar. All you would ever be able to do with it is mow with that belly mower. I would keep shopping.
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### Author:  [@FourPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FourPaws)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/8 "2008-06-18T16:49:39Z")
I don’t know what your total budget is, but given the pickings on CL in your area, I’d choose this one, price / options / value-wise:
[http://nashville.craigslist.org/grd/720932181.html](http://nashville.craigslist.org/grd/720932181.html)
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/9 "2008-06-18T17:57:09Z")
You want to _mow_ 14 acres? \
Or do you want to harvest the grass at the end of the growing season?
If the latter, I’d suggest you hire someone with a harvester and baler; if the former, how about getting additional livestock? Perhaps a nearby farmer would like additional grazing?
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/10 "2008-06-18T19:08:41Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz]
You want to _mow_ 14 acres? \
[/QUOTE]
Sometimes you’ve got to even it up - livestock doesn’t eat everything. Thistles, for example.
My Hubby bush-hogs our hayfield probably once or twice a year. It’s closer to 12 acres than 15. He uses the biggest tractor we have and the biggest bush-hog we have.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/11 "2008-06-18T20:19:43Z")
[QUOTE=NinetyWt]
Sometimes you’ve got to even it up - livestock doesn’t eat everything. Thistles, for example.
[/QUOTE]
Try goats. 🙂
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### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/12 "2008-06-19T01:50:17Z")
Goats are common here, but I’ve been told they’re very hard to keep in. And that’s more mouths to feed, vet and care for. I really only need to mow the fields down about 4 times a year.
**Quartz** - Horses tend to graze in short grass. As the pasture grows up, there’s less and less to eat. Plus, scrub like cedars and thistles and raspberries canes take over.
StG
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### Author:  [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/13 "2008-06-19T02:09:42Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz]
Try goats. 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Any chance you’re in AZ? [This guy](http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/flg/631354274.html) needs a home.
/hijack. i don’t know why i’m here anyhow. i live in a condo
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### Author:  [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/14 "2008-06-19T02:15:54Z")
Hey, why not one of [these tractors](http://www.ruralheritage.com/team_for_sale/images/2226.jpg)? I bet those ponies can do more than one trick. 😉
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### Author:  [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/15 "2008-06-19T02:35:44Z")
**NajaNivea** - Well, my [TB boy Irish](http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j127/StG61/Pets/Irish.jpg) is over 16 hh tall (64" at the shoulder)and my [little guy, Peanut](http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j127/StG61/Pets/Peanut.jpg) is about 30" at the shoulder. It would be pretty hard to have them pull a mower together! But sort of fun to watch.
StG
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### Author:  [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/16 "2008-06-19T02:54:12Z")
I had one similar to that, a 1948 Super A IH with a woods '60 in. Belly Mower.
No, you don’t want it. You have too few horsepower, and too narrow a swath. That’s a finish mower, and it will bind up if you don’t keep the grass low, which means you’ll have to mow every week. On top of that, it has a great big serpentine belt driving the mower. That belt will tend to stretch and vibrate and snap and they cost $90 each back in '02. I don’t know what they cost now. You’ll have to mow in first gear because of the low horsepower, and plus that tractor is prone to tipping over.
You got yer finicky oil filter and gasket, and mine never smoked until the head gasket blew completely and then it smoked a lot.
If you have any hills you are likely to tip over and kill yourself.
You will spend as much time working on your older tractor as you are mowing with it.
What I ended up doing, after a lot of research was buying a Kubota Bx-22 diesel with a '60 belly mower, a three point hitch with a brushhog, a scraper blade and a loader. It has 4 wheel drive, sips gas, finish mows, cuts fields, moves snow, etc etc etc. The loader is the most massively useful instrument you can ever have. It never gets stuck, and it’s virtually identical to many JD tractors without paying the extra for sitting in the green and yellow. They had zero % financing, and I paid it off without interest in 3 years. Some of the best money I ever spent.
Get the tool to do the job you need to do. Consider it an investment in the next 30 years.
Here is a great site to research the whole compact tractor thing, read reviews, and posts by owners for all different brands. Post your questions there and you’ll get authoritative answers.
[www.tractorbynet.com](http://www.tractorbynet.com)
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### Author:  [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/17 "2008-06-19T03:52:12Z")
[QUOTE=StGermain]
**NajaNivea** - Well, my [TB boy Irish](http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j127/StG61/Pets/Irish.jpg) is over 16 hh tall (64" at the shoulder)and my [little guy, Peanut](http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j127/StG61/Pets/Peanut.jpg) is about 30" at the shoulder. It would be pretty hard to have them pull a mower together! But sort of fun to watch.
StG
[/QUOTE]
I was thinking maybe they’d like a couple new pasture mates. 😉
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-want-this-tractor/453282/18 "2008-06-19T04:31:52Z")
**Scylla** , out of our three - Massey Ferguson, IH, and Kubota - I think the Kubota is hands-down my Hubby’s favorite. It’s a 4-wheel drive also. It’s perfect for box blade work on a twisty camp road, or disc-ing up food plots at deer camp.
They are handy little tractors, **St. Germain**. BTW, pretty horses!