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School me on tractors in E Texas

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    School me on tractors in E Texas

    I grew up on a ranch with no trees and hay meadows. My dads a JD man, so we ran 80-100ish HP cabbed green tractors to mow, bale, some box blading roads, and general work. Wife and I are now looking at buying 50-100acres in east texas. Something maybe 3/4 wooded with some meadows (wont be haying or anything). Tractor will be for small food plots, mowing, maybe a bit of roadwork when needed and general tractor tasks. Im thinking something in the 30-35 hp range? Bucket for sure. Smaller tractor to maneuver between trees. Are cabbed tractors hard to maneuver in the woods? Kind of leaning toward an hydro tranny as well. Never having bought a tractor before, seems theres not a huge difference in price between new/used and lots of new ones finance 0%. Thoughts/recommendation on those who have leases/places in east texas?

    #2
    School me on tractors in E Texas

    50-100 acres I would go 50-75hp minimum and skip the cab.

    There are only 1 or 2 months of the year that I wish mine had a cab, the rest of the year a cab would be in the way or just get the windows knocked out by limbs.

    4x4 and FEL are essential

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      #3
      why 50+ if not planting more than an acre or 2?

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        #4
        50hp minimum. I passed on the cab when I bought mine, lots of trees=broken windows.

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          #5
          I have a kubota 70 hp with canopy, didn’t go with cab because of trees and being able to maneuver around them. Even with that size and loader I have to be careful when driving. One suggestion is go with maybe a 50hp, you can never tell when you might need that extra hp. 50-100 acres is good size place. One thing that will come in handy is a grappler for picking up trees etc., pulling out brush, nothing like pushing over a tree and latching on with grappler and be gone with it. I don’t know what brand you like, but right now Mahindra makes good tractors at a good price. If I was going to buy a new one I would look seriously at them. I bought my kubota in 2015, but wanted and bought a 2014 because 2015 and up had believe it or not California emissions systems, I still don’t get that one. Good luck!

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            #6
            look at united ag and turf in Navasota. They advertise tractor packages with up front pricing. I got mine from there last year at 0%. If you're not going to be running the tractor for hours on end day in and day out I would recommend open station in the 45-75 hp range 4wd.

            1) A cab will get banged up working around trees. more hassle than its worth.
            2) take the 4-5k a cab cost and put it towards a bigger tractor.
            3) JD 5000 series from the 45 to the 75hp i believe are all on the same frame. point being youll physically have the same size tractor for the 5045 5055 5065 and 5075.
            4) youll be happy with a 55 or 65 i think. plenty of tractor to do my day to day tasks around the land which does not include haying.

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              #7
              I’ve had my jd for 8 years, unbelievably reliable. Smaller 30hp I think, 4x4. 10 acre tract

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                #8
                Im not stuck on any brand. My dad was JD only, im not that picky ha. For the next 10yrs or so (when I retire) it will primarily be hunting land. We will likely move to it after retiring.

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                  #9
                  I have a JD 5103. I believe it’s 50 horse-power. The number of acres is irrelevant really... a lot of east tax land is timber or wooded and you won’t really do anything to it. I don’t hay either (that’s a totally different requirement). I honestly can’t recall ever saying... I wish I had more HP.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by CWendling View Post
                    Im not stuck on any brand. My dad was JD only, im not that picky ha. For the next 10yrs or so (when I retire) it will primarily be hunting land. We will likely move to it after retiring.


                    A pretty solid piece of advice was first offered up by our late Jaspro and I agree.

                    Up to 100hp go Kubota. 100hp and up go Deer.

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                      #11
                      I have a 75 Horsepower Kabota and like the above post said most manufacturers put 50, 60 and 70 hp tractors all on the same frame so you get the same size tractor just different horsepower. I have a cab on mine I spent most of my life mowing on a tractor without a cab and I’ll never do it again if I don’t have to. And I will disagree with the last post, if you work your tractor hard, every day you’re gonna say I wish I had more horsepower.

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                        #12
                        I have about 30 acres, much of it twice thinned pine plantation with several acres of hardwood mix and several acres open.
                        In that terrain, anything over the compact tractor size would be too big.
                        I have a Kubota L3200 with loader and 3rd function with a grapple. I highly recommend the hydrostatic, and 4WD, and grapple. The 4WD and hydrostatic will get, or keep you out of a lot of trouble. The grapple is the handiest thing I've had. No cab for me. Life is tough for a woods tractor.
                        I think you can get up to around 46 HP in the same size chassis.

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                          #13
                          I have 51 acres in Deep East Texas and a Kubota MX5100 DT 4x4. I've never said I wish I had a smaller/less horsepower tractor but every once in a while I do say I wish I had a bit more horsepower. Agree with above, 4x4 & FEL are both a must. I got a good deal on a used DT or I would have looked at a hydro. My plan is to buy a bit larger tractor as a retirement present for myself when the time is right. With the current economy, we'll see how/when that works out.

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                            #14
                            I have 34 hp kubota 4x4 fel and only have 1.5 acres and a deer lease. I will be getting more hp 50-60 hp probably. 34 hp is not enough. Go with 50-70 you’ll be glad you did.

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                              #15
                              I have lots of woods with trails through them and open pasture also. I thinking a combo of large and small to be the best route. I have a 45 hp and it's too small for hay and mostly too big for the woodlands. I'm going to sell what I have and buy a 75 or so 2wd tractor/loader and a 25hp 4 wd loader to do what I need. I run a 7' shredder on my current tractor and that size mower is the problem in the woods. I may just keep what I have and run a smaller shredder along with the bigger tractor for pasture work.

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