Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - Re: [Homestead] Tractor question, please

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tractor question, please
  • Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:32:57 -0800 (PST)

Lisa, I have a couple of general suggestions.

1)If you have a neighbor, friend, or can *hire* someone half as knowledgeable
as Don to check out the tractor before purchase, you will save yourself
trouble and money. Personally, I would look for the person in my community
who was going to be doing the work I couldn't do myself, and pay them to help
you buy a better tractor cheaper (which might be the one in which you are now
interested.

2) I don't care for horses, I never have. But, if you are familiar with
them, and know how much work is involved with them. Advertise that you (your
farm) will 'rescue" a couple of healthy horses. I see it often on
Craigslist. As David Brooks called them Sunday, many of the "formerly middle
class" can no longer afford the upkeep, and your "rescue", even for
occasional work, would be preferable to a Mexican slaughterhouse, to a lot of
owners.

...............bobford

p.s. I almost over-turned one of my grandfather's tractors on the incline of
the banks of a pond (I was maybe 10). I was scared to go forward or back. I
just stopped it and went and got him.. He and his BIL had to hook up with
another tracotor to make it sagfe to drive off that part of the hillside. He
said he couldn't figure out how anyone could have gotten the tracotr to that
spot in the first place without overturning


--------------------------------------------------------------------------


--- On Wed, 11/19/08, Lisa K.V. Perry <lisakvperry AT gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Lisa K.V. Perry <lisakvperry AT gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] Tractor question, please
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 8:52 AM
> Thank you everyone, especially Don, for the good
> information. I am not sold
> on JD green, but that said, my Grandpa Van Meter (passed
> on, a farmer from
> IN) always had JD tractors and hats. So it would be neat to
> have a JD
> tractor in that respect, but I'm not paying just for
> sentimentality. It has
> to be in good shape and would prefer to pay less for it. It
> just happened
> that this was the newest offering on Craigslist that had
> specifics that we
> wanted.
>
> We need a roll-bar and 4WD because we have hills, some
> rolling and some that
> are somewhat steep. We need a bush hog attachment and the
> blade and scoop
> sound necessary or certainly valuable after reading what
> all Lynn does with
> her scoop.
>
> My husband is adamant about the roll-bar, and honestly, it
> seems there is an
> annual accident printed in the paper about some unlucky
> soul who got pinned
> under his tractor with often a dire ending.
>
> I am starting to wonder if 20 hp is enough. We'll give
> it a thorough look
> over and 'test drive,' guess you can do that with a
> tractor. ;)
>
> The tractors that you all have that you paid less for, were
> any of them 4WD?
> We could have bought a decent tractor about a year ago for
> around $2500, but
> it was not 4WD nor did it have a roll-bar so we passed.
>
> I have started thinking about horses, though I'm not a
> big horse fan or a
> natural 'horse person.' They've been showing up
> on Craigslist as well. We
> have a four-stall horse barn, though the stalls would need
> some work. Two
> owners ago, they kept horses and built that barn (this is
> 23+ years ago) and
> you can see the remnants of trails here and there on the
> property.
>
> A tractor would help us a great deal, make it so much
> easier to get firewood
> logs back to the house, quicker to get all the fields brush
> hogged,
> maintenance on the drive, but a scythe would also be handy
> on the fields.
> $5k is a big chunk of money we don't have just sitting
> around. I could put
> my hands on it, but then, as you've mentioned (the
> collective you), there
> will be maintenance, possible repairs, a possible brake
> job, etc.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Lisa
> _______________________________________________
> Homestead list and subscription:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
> Change your homestead list member options:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/bobford79%40yahoo.com
> View the archives at:
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead







Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page