compact tractor purchase

[Leon Torkelson]

I work for a state department and have been helping expand our gardens over the last 10 years. The other day I get a call from a supervisor telling me that our gardens will expand from 1 acre to 10 additional acres and how big of a tractor will I need to include implements? I said that I am not familiar with modern tractors, my newest tractor is 40 years old and the rest are much older. So I am thinking 30 to 40 HP and a disc. How big of a disc. I will be discing an additional 500 acres once a year as an agreement to anouther state agencyfor the additional 10 acres. Any input would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Jethro Lilley]

I hope the "additional 500 acres" is a typo and you meant 50 acres. I don't think you want to tackle 500 acres with a 40 horse compact and a 6 foot disk. That is like disking 167 football fields. 50 acres is only 17 football fields. Add to that if you have to cut it twice to achieve desired results.

 

[Brady V]

A 20' disk pulled at 5 mph will take @45 hrs to cover 511 ac one time. So I guess you need to size your implements by how much time you have to do the job, and then size the tractor to match.

 

[Machinery-Man]

I've had all kinds of compact tractors and now have a 40 H.P. John Deere 990. I guarantee that you don't want to tack 500 acres or even 50 acres. You need an ag tractor with some real weight. These compact will beat you to death for that much use. They're okay for mowing, garden work, small work with backhoes and the like but they are and I repeat are not heavy ag use items. Sounds like you need a goof 4020 or the like.