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  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] BCS recommendations needed
  • Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2012 03:16:46 -0500 (EST)

I've got about that size machine, but quite a bit older.  I'd say I'm happy with the amount of work it does, and with the way I can basically manage it myself.  I've used it in roughly 1/4 acre plots with 4' wide beds and 2' wide walkways, and been pretty happy with that arrangement.  I also tilled the entire 1/4 acre area more than once and that went quickly enough that I was satisfied.  We did just get a normal four-wheeled tractor not too long ago.  But that's mostly for compost turning and other larger-scale operations than what the BCS was ever intended for.  We still intend to use the BCS in the growing beds because of its more nimble nature and less expensive operational cost.  I can run the BCS tiller up one side of a growing bed and down the other in the same amount of time it would take me to jockey around the tractor for the first pass.  That's partially because I didn't lay out the growing beds with a full-sized tractor in mind.  But I think you'll very much appreciate how nimble the BCS is compared to any four-wheeled vehicle.
 
The one thing that I don't like about the BCS, which I do like about the tractor, is that I can get standard Class I three-point-hitch implements for the tractor for dirt cheap (no pun intended).  The BCS implements are still rather pricey.  Depending on your area, there might be a good used market for at least some of those implements.  I was able to get a used 30" sickle bar blade for my BCS and I see those come up pretty frequently for sale here in craigslist.  But the soil-mixing implements as listed in the catalog?  Holy smokes I don't like the pricetag on the new ones and I've yet to see them on the used market.  That tells me that either a) no one else wants to buy them new, and/or b) if they buy them new they never sell them.  The best deal would be to find someone selling their whole BCS package, which is the direction we took.  That's how we got our BCS with tiller attachment for less than the cost of either alone.  But yes there are some tools in that catalog that I've occasionally thought would be ALMOST worth it to have even at full price.  Almost.
 
I also suspect that if you do get to farming several acres' worth of beds or rows or whatever system you use, you'll eventually outgrow the BCS, or like us you'll go to some kind of hybrid system.  I'm still figuring out how best to integrate both tools into our various farm operations, so that we're using each as efficiently as possible for whatever task is at hand.  But for now, farming less than an acre, the BCS should serve you very well if the two attachments you've listed are the only ones you need. And we've gotten by with just the tiller for awhile now.  The sickle-bar attachment will be wonderful this coming year in keeping our rented pasture fencelines clear of weeds.  I can't wait to retire the line trimmer from that particular task.
 
Looking forward to other people's comments on their BCS machines......
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
Ruminations - essays on the farming life at frogchorusfarm.com/weblog.html
 
In a message dated 3/8/2012 8:15:23 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, andrea.m.davis AT gmail.com writes:
I am looking into getting a BCS walk-behind tractor this year and I'd like everyones suggestions (pro & con) on what model I should get.

Here is a little information on my farm.  I am going into my 4th season running my own very small mixed vegetable farm, I'm currently on 3/4 acre but would eventually like to build up to 5 acres.  In the past I have just had a neighbor come over with his tractor to disc and rotill my field once in the spring and fall. Through out the season I have maintain everything by hand.  With the neighbor continuing to do the primary cultivation of the field I am thinking of getting:

732 model 11HP engine
additional attachments or accessories???


Thanks in advance for all your help,
Andrea

Sonoma, CA



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