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  • From: Rob <becida AT comcast.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Tvo post- Small farm tractors and basic equipment(was buckwheat) Aug 2000
  • Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 07:37:26 -0800

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Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 12:09:23 -0400
From: tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
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Subject: Small farm tractors and basic equipment(was buckwheat)
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"sabra b. robinson" wrote:

> So, i need equipment for working up the soil on top of beds for
> berries, for expanding my garden and possibly for adding more
> acreage of berries. Can i get by with a big tiller? Would i be better
> off getting a small tractor? If i got a small tractor, perhaps i could
> cut my own hay. I have about 15 acres of hay fields, although i
> would eventually like to graze some of that. What kind of tractor
> should i look for? Or what kind of tiller? I would love to use horses,
> but that would take me years to work out. I have little horse
> experience and no barn, to begin with. I want to buy as little
> equipment as i need. Any advice?

Tvoivozhd---Anyone with fifteen or more acres and the intention of doing much
with it, needs assistance in the form of a tractor---in your situation a
small,
(easier to handle) tractor. But a REAL tractor, not one of those sleazy
little
lawn snails which cost a fortune to buy; to try to keep running---and have no
utility to begin with.

The little John Deeres have turned into collectors items, priced beyond their
value to a small farmer, but small Fords and Massey Fergusons are readily
available in the $2000 to $3500 range, parts for them are easily obtainable, and
if you select one in good condition, will last longer than you will.

Like these tractors, equipment for them is available anywhere. Some that you
would be likely to use are (a) A sickle-bar mower. These are higher-maintenance
than a disc-mower, but a small fraction of the price. You will have to get used
to sharpening and replacing blades, replacing blade-guards and keeping the
Pitman ball-joint lubricated.
(b) The next in priority, and maybe the first, is a front-end loader. If you
haven't used one, you won't realize this, but
after using it, you will think seriously about trading your eldest child for
one.

(c) If you plan to put up hay, a side-delivery rake is really part of the
mower-purchase. I like a New Holland brand for these golden oldies. You
might
not want the exercise, but you can put up fifteen acres or less of hay with a
pitchfork and a wagon. Learn how to put a cap on a haystack and you are in
business. Or forget how to cap one with hay (somewhat like a thatched roof) and
pull a tarpaulin over it, weighed down with hooked pop bottles full of sand or
water.

You really can't justify investing in a round baler ($4500 used) on your small
acreage---better to hire a neighbor who already has one. A John Deere and
roller-chain type Gehl's make a very tight, rain-shedding bale. A Massey
Ferguson makes a marshmallow bale which blots up rain better than the average
sponge and should be avoided at any price.
Square balers are cheaper, but require a lot more knowledge (and patience) to
keep running---and more people to
handle the bales.

A downside of hiring a neighbor to roll your hay bales after you have mown and
raked the hay in rows---you may get it rained on, degrading its
nutrients---and
requiring running over the rows of raked hay with a tedder to get it to dry
before it mildews.

A note, any farm equipment must be cleaned, adjusted, and lubricated when it
is
put away at the end of the season.
A good, well-fastened tarpaulin will do almost as well as a dry shed, for a
lot
less money, though I'd go for a shed every time if funds permit, since it lets
you do maintenance in the rain..

A disc is useful for shallow scarification of sod before broadcasting clover
or
alfalfa seed to improve your pasture or hayfield plant varieties---and a disc is
cheap. I like the old horse-drawn variety that has a handle to adjust the angle
of forward and aft discs. Most of the newer, cheap three-point lift types are
adjustable in name only, requiring wrenches to loosen and tighten bolts. Any
welding shop can convert the old handle-adjusting disce to three-point lift.
A disc is also useful as an alternative to a mower for laying down green manure.

A sod-planter plants seeds right through the sod, ergo no-till farming. Not
no
chemical though, for corn and wheat, the sod is killed with Roundup. Only one
of my neighbors owns one. The others rent one (a Great Lakes) from Southern
States Coop for $1.00 an acre, plus the seed purchase. Again, on small
acreage
you cannot justify the price of purchasing one.

A plow is something I would rarely use nowadays because of its damage to soil
structure, soil organisms and as a prime cause of erosion. If used, it should
be in narrow strips, following the ground contour and alternating with grass
strips. A tractor-driven chipper-shredder to make compost from tree limbs,
bark, weeds, paper, leaves will do almost anything a plow will and make the soil
more friable, which a plow will not.

Other equipment: (a) A box-platform for the three-point lift to conveniently
load rocks, mulch, carry a wheelbarrow, plants for transplanting,
fencing---especially if you don't have a front-loader. Oh, yeah, if you do have
a front-loader, you will want a bale-fork attachment for the bucket to move,
load and unload round bales of hay. It's pretty cumbersome, but you can also
move round bales using the three point lift and a $90 boom-pole. You can't
stack them though unless you make your own elongated (and braced) boom-pole,
commercial versions are too short. Good for hauling logs, though..

Don can get more specific about this and cover more brand-names, but I would
recommend Ford and Massey Ferguson tractors, all gasoline-fueled. Ford 8N,
Ford 2000, Ford 3000, Ferguson 20, 30, Massey Ferguson 35.
These will all have a power take-off at the rear for driving auxiliary
equipment. A "live" PTO is desirable for equipment such as a baler which
you
want to be churning around before the tractor starts moving, but unless you plan
on such equipment, don't worry about it.

Prices on a good 8N or Ferguson 20, 30 will be in the $2500 to $3000 range, a
Ford 2000 around $3000, a Ford 3000 $4000 to $5000, sometimes with a lot of
extra equipment, and a Massey Ferguson 35 $3500 to $4500.
Note the 9N is an earlier, not later version of the 8N, and a Jubilee is a
slightly later version.

On some of the other questions---you can create and maintain hilled beds with
a
disc, but this requires either a single-disc or a double-disc which has the
after-disc adjusted to neutral so it does not throw in what the front disc
throws out. An unadjusted double-disc will flatten you beds.




  • [Homestead] Tvo post- Small farm tractors and basic equipment(was buckwheat) Aug 2000, Rob, 02/19/2006

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