The wife and I close on 44 acres (between Macon and Savannah GA) later this month. The property was clear cut (pine timber) 3 or 4 years ago. No dwellings on the land. I want to build a small cabin in the future and a rifle range of course.

We have come to the conclusion that we will need a tractor. I need to keep it in the 25 thousand dollar price range (w/ front end loader and bush hog). So far my short list includes Kubota L2501.

Looking for advise from anyone in the know about tractors.

My son has been using one with very good results. It will do more work than you will want to do and what it won’t do you should probably get professionally done with big equipment! Kidding aside it is a handy tool.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

We have about 40 acres and a Kubota L3010HST, (32HP) we were able to buy it used with very low hours. Between my son & I we have or have 4 Kubota's. As far as we are concerned if they are not the best they are very near the top. When we bought our largest one I was considering the L2501HST also and would have bought one except for the great deal we got on the used one. Go to tractorByNet.com lots of information there about Kubota & other brands. Kubota usually runs a 0% interest program. Hate sound like a Kubota commercial but ours have only needed routine maintenance, no repairs. The Grand L series has some nice creature comforts and features that are worth the money over the standard L series. More money but worth it in the long run. Ours has the Hydrostatic transmission, very easy for everyone, including wife to operate. Happy tractor shopping, it is fun.

Good Luck finding the right one.

I looked at them before buying "green*. They are great machines. I was looking at hydrostat models and my feet were just too large to fit between the heel and toe pedals. I would highly suggest you buy one with 4wd if you're going with a loader and will be doing any dirt work. Look in Texas for a package deal and you'll be under your expense limit by a couple of thousand.

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Gone but not forgotten-RIP Dad

4WD, front loader, box blade and mower will have you set for awhile. My JD is 10 years old and I'm glad I bought it. So many uses and my old body appreciates the 'green machine'.

We have a New Holland T5 and T8. These are much larger tractors than what you are looking for, but I would strongly make one additional suggestion in addition to the excellent points made by the gentlemen above.

That is, “buy” the dealer, not the brand. Frankly, I don’t think there is a bunch of difference between comparable greens, blues, oranges, etc. The critical thing in my opinion is the dealership’s friendliness, service and overall attitude. Meet the service manager. Visit with some of the mechanics. Meet the owners and see if he has time to visit with you.

Then stop by and say howdy to some farmers and ranchers in your area you see cutting hay, brushhogging, or feeding cattle. Ask them where they get their equipment. Ask them how the dealer your are considering handles warranty work? How about field service (critical unless you are going to get a big trailer and truck to haul your equipment around)? Frankly I would go with what they tell you.

Then once you find the right dealer with a focus on customer service, take the biggest tractor you ever think you will use, and buy twice that size! You will NEVER regret having too much tractor, you will always be sorry for having too little.

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Possum—The other white meat!

I had very good luck with my JD 1025R but only have four acres with 100 trees. It served me well.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

We bought a 2001 Kubota 4610 hydrostat with cab, heat, AC and loader. (48 HP) It had 105 hours on it and cost $21000. We've got about 600 hours on it now and have replaced nothing except lubricants and filters. I think it is still worth about that price today. Be careful that you get enough horsepower to drive a mower wide enough to wipe out your tracks. I'm not sure 30 hp will run a 6 foot mower and a 5 foot mower will do a scruffy job. If you could find a really clean low hours machine like we did, your budget would buy more size/features. Added: I just looked up horsepower required to run a bush hog. Minimum PTO horsepower is 5 per foot. The Kubota L2501 only has 19 or 20 PTO horsepower so a four foot mower would be correct. I can tell you that my 4610 sometimes labors with a six foot mower in heavy going.

1. How level is the property
2.What's average size of the stumps
3. Are you going to remove stumps

if your going to remove stumps I would go with a used Cat front end loader with back hoe .. anything else you'll wear out digging up the stumps .. a used one bought from a CAT dealer might be the best option ..

I see some one has already made the comment to match the bush hog type rotary cutter to the horsepower of your new tractor. Its easy to go oversize and thats not good. I see you live in Ga already. Probably a little older and planing on enjoying your new property. Well, most important item for your new tractor in that part of the world is a cab with air conditioner so you can work when it get to 100 degrees and 98 percent humidity. I would go with a lightly used unit with a good dealer close, not so much brand specific. You can find such deals, with rotary cutters attached, etc. Hobby farmers buy them, keep them in the shed and they are two, three years old and have just a hand full of hours on them and look brand new when you wash the dust off. Enjoy. There are some nice long range rifle ranges in that part of the world. I have friends that make the cool acres 1000 yard matches every year. That cab with AC is more about keeping the dust and pollen out of your lungs and hair that it is about keeping you cool. If you ever bush hogged a weed patch in August without a cab, you would understand why its a necessity.

I have owned Ford, Massey Ferguson, and now a Mahindra 5570. It has 78 in. Bucket, 4 wheel drive shift on the go. Is heavy built tractor. Have 10 foot heavy duty bush hog shredder it pulls with ease. The advice I received was from a neighbor who retired from farming. Never ask a small tractor to do a big tractor job. Get u some horsepower everything else will fall in place.

Kubota makes good machines.

Whatever brand you end up with, my advice:
1) Buy as much tractor as you can get for your money.
2) HST
3) 4WD.

My biggest recommendation is to buy a bigger tractor than 25HP.
That's on the small end of the scale of Kubota's L series.
For you budget you can probably find a good deal on a used setup and end up with more tractor for your money.

For brush hogging and (I assume) moving dirt for a rifle range, HST is a handy feature to have.
My tractor is a Kubota L4310 HST. I wouldn't want to have to shift manual gears every time I wanted to change directions, etc.

4WD is just nice to have, period.

Get a used Bobcat& a toothed bucket You can rent any attachment you might need .
Get a 50-60 hp tractor & a 6 ft brush hog . I don't like using a loader tractor for mowing seems like it's either to hi or to low in general Pita . You can rent a dozer or track hoe for your stumps & building site prep .

Other big advantages to a cab are no snakes dropping from trees, no bug bites and when you run over a hornet's nest there is something very satisfying about listening to them hit the glass instead of you.

I have a Kubota 3130 with Loader Bucket I bought years ago and absolutely love it. Don't have one negative thing to say about it. Use 6' tiller in heavy clay with no problem.
Get the Loader with the quick detach so you can buy forks etc that hook up right up to it. Any Skid Steer Atachment work on it.
4wd is a must.
Good luck

Have a Kubota 3800 (pre pollution stuff) 4WD, shuttle shift, bucket, tiller, bush hog, and finish mower. 2014 Model with 111 hours found on Craig's list at $17400. Good power and great working tractor. Added a box blade.

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TOMBECK

Bought a Kubota L3800 about three years ago after I sold the *** John Deere. Less said about the JD in my book the better. Kubota wasn't cheap but learning from my past experiences well worth the money. Out side of cleaning the screen and radiator fins with a 30psi air gun, normal oil changes, greasing the fittings no problems at all. Don't think they make the L3800 anymore due to epa regulations. Look for a used Kubota prior tier 4. I was told the new ones cannot be run at less than 1500 rpm regardless of what gear you are in. Something with the exhaust system getting clogged up with carbon and at 1K to clean it out does get expensive. Used a germicide to help critters from growing in the fuel oil system and a cetane booster/cleaner for the fuel and fuel oil system. I do both and no problems with the fuel or fuel oil system. I use regular pump diesel but you can use the off road diesel like the farmers do. Use the additives you should be fine. Keep the fuel tank topped off with fuel after you use it. helps with condensation in the tank. Love my Kubota. Frank

Whatever size you decide on go up one.....my 2800 HST 4x4......I love it but at times wish I had a bit more horsepower.

Farmed most of my life either as a job as a kid or myself. Farmers have some big equipment these days. I've had a couple 100hp tractors...but most of my bigger ones were used of course. Moved here to Wy and needed a tractor...sold my stuff from the farm back east. Ended up buying a 40hp John Deere. Looked at Kubota and while a good machine there were a couple of issues that did turn me off of them. Many of the lower hp tractors are a bit light for the jobs you may have in mind. Some had aluminum rear housings. Surprisingly you NEED weight along with hp on a tractor. Oh another thing. Hydrostat drive IS convenient. But there is a trade off with it. You lose hp to the hydrostat drive....so to do the same work you will need more hp. Personally I would go with a conventional transmission. Most small tractors will have a 3speed with hi midrange and low range tranny. For the job you seem to have in mind I think 4 wheel drive is warranted. No matter what you buy think about the job you need to do and buy a tractor a bit larger than you think you will need. I run a six foot bush hog with mine with no bogging...also a 5 ft tiller...and wish I went a foot larger. As stated before go a bit larger than you think you need...no matter which brand you choose

I have a New Holland 31HP diesel tractor with bucket. I maintain my 1/4 mile long, hilly, curvy gravel driveway with it. Its also used extensively during our nasty winters up here for snow control It backs up my 4X$ pick up with snow plow, and its very good at some bad places on my driveway each winter. I also used it to move earth and put up a berm on my on site gun range.

My tractor is now 8 years old and I have been happy with its performance. I was told by the people at the dealership that you have to be NOW above a certain size to get more heavy duty parts in your tractor. Its like the difference between home and light duty commercial, but I do not know exactly where the line is.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I have a Kubota MX5800 and I love it. As others have said, go with the HST transmission and 4x4, and buy the biggest one that you can afford. I had initially looked at the 35-38hp range. I am glad that I went bigger. Mine has a 6' bucket on front and it will easily run a 6' rotary mower out back. One of my 'best spends' was to purchase a set of pallet forks for the front lift. They are very handy moving limbs, poles or anything that will not go into the bucket easily.

Tim

One item I wish I had purchased...or at least I think that from time to time...ya know...when I need 'em

I join in the advice to buy dealer, the one item I didn't see in the advice was HONEST! I do believe JD is excessively proud of their products and getting the correct part can be a trial (friend bled JD green, which is how I know this last).

25 hp isn't enough for your acreage, that's basically homeowner territory. Depending upon your plans, you would be better off going 40 hp or up. And the gent who points out that you need weight is correct. One of the claims for 4 wd is that hp & weight don't matter*. False! It does get you a heavier duty front axle which is important for loader use. A 2 wd tractor should only carry about 25-30% of it's weight on the front axle-load in the bucket included, but frequently exceeded. 4 wd tractors can go higher, but you need specific figures and actual tractor weights-see below.

BIG THING: the loader on a farm tractor is intended for moving hay, bagged feed, manure and LIGHT grading. My 52 hp tractor, with loader and weights, goes about 7500 lbs (scale weighed, not factory figures). A backhoe of about the same size weighs 22,000 plus. Leave the stump removal to someone with a D8/D9 Cat dozer, along with the heavy earth moving.

* There are weights & limits you need to know for your tractor. Maximum allowable weight for the tractor and on the front and rear axles. The other thing you need is an accurate (scale weighed) figure on what your prospective tractor weighs, and the weights on the axles with the tractor ready to go to work. This'll give you some idea of allowable loads.

I'be had a Kubota L3250 for nearly 20 years now. It continues to be a great tractor.

There is a lot of good advice in these responses. The OP doesn't really say how he will use the tractor. Digging out/pulling stumps is very different from light mowing and would require a very different machine selection. The "L" in Kubota model numbers stands for "light" and while they are durable, they aren't tank destroyers. Also does the OP intend to haul the tractor back and forth from his residence or leave it on unoccupied property? How will it be safely stored and protected? There are a whole lot of places in the country where you can't just leave a little tractor outside unattended without the battery or the fuel or the whole thing disappearing. I occasionally visit a chainsaw forum where someone will ask for a recommendation on a saw to trim an apple tree. Some enthusiastic reply will be recommending a $900 pro saw when a $150 one will do the job. In short it is important to match the tractor to your particular uses, not mine. You probably will not be sorry if you have a little more than you need as opposed to a little less than you need.

You know what they say "If it aint orange, it's a lemon"

Down here Kubota runs no interest financing all the time.

[QUOTE=6518John;140067962 take the biggest tractor you ever think you will use, and buy twice that size! You will NEVER regret having too much tractor, you will always be sorry for having too little.[/QUOTE]

Super good tractor advice. Larry

Thank you all for the input and advice.

My main uses will be evening out the dirt roads on the property. Clearing a lane and building a berm for a 100 to 200 yard rifle range. Leveling a small area for an RV pad (for now) with intent to level an area for a small cabin, animal pen(s), etc.... And keeping the underbrush under control.

We plan to trailer it back and forth to the property and store it at our residence (1.5 acre w/ no HOA) until we eventually move.

Have an 18' X 7' trailer with slide away ramps that will handle my Kubota 3800 with bucket and bush hog. 20' would be real comfortable.

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TOMBECK

I would recommend a little larger tractor, as much as for the added weight as for the added hp. I don’t think you can go wrong with a “‘bota” as folks down here call them. (I’m 40 miles west of Macon.)

I have a gear driven MX4800, which I believe is the smallest true “AgUtility” Tractor Kubota makes. It is the same as tc66’s 5200, without a turbocharger, I think. I believe with 4wd, loader, bucket, hay spear, and a 6 foot harrow, it came in ai around $28K. I didn’t have to pay sales tax because of Georgia’s agriculture exemption.

I sometimes wish I had gone a tad larger, but 95% of the time it is big enough. With your acreage, I would recommend at least that size. DO NOT attempt to dig stumps with it. It ain’t no bulldozer.

There are few things as handy or as efficient as a good 50 hp diesel tractor. I speak from 60 years experience.

I can recommend Walker Rhodes, the Kubota/NH dealer in Perry, GA.

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Georgia On My Mind

Kubs are good machines, but if it ai'n't Green, it ain't a tractor.
Nuthin' runs like a Deere!!

I have a 70 hp Kubota cab tractor and a 77 L245 24hp small tractor (kubota) but if I were you I would check out a Mahindra tractor, nothing wrong with the Kubotas but parts are kinda of high. Jeff

I've mentioned before that I'm a retired mechanic for my city. I was the equipment guy and we have a lot of tractors. I used to work on them almost daily.
Kubota makes a very good tractor. But they tend to run a bit small. Also, as near as I can figure, the Japanese have small hands and build accordingly. Pretty much everything on a Kubota is hard to get to. However, its still a good choice.
Not a fan of John Deere. They ain't what they used to be. Not even close.
Personally, I like New Holland. Good tractors and easy to work on.

Some very good points have been made.
Buy bigger than you think you need.
Weight is your friend, especially with a front end loader. You don't want to fill the bucket only to find your back tires off the ground.
Definitely add the ROPS!
Go with the 6 foot mower. You won't regret it.
4 wheel drive. Again for the front loader.
Hydrostatic drive. No clutch to burn out and easy to shift.

ABSOLUTELY THIS! ^^^^^ The best tractor in the world is worthless if you can't get parts or service. I've seen times when equipment was down for months because the dealer didn't have or couldn't get the needed parts. Talk to the local folks and check the dealer out carefully.

Are you going to be hauling the tractor between McDonough and Dublin (or wherever your place is)? You will need a good trailer. I haul my 4800 on a 16 foot 7000 lb gvw trailer. It is really too small, but I do very little hauling, and never on the interstate. I assume you will be using I-75 and I-16. You would need a 10,000 lb trailer, 18 feet long for a tractor like mine. The 7000 lb trailer would be good for the smaller tractor.

Don’t skimp on the trailer!

My tractor being delivered.

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Georgia On My Mind

When I bought 120 acres up in Tennessee as a retirement landing spot, I also bought a slightly used Kubota L3400 and it has been a wonderful tractor. For the road work that you are planning, you'll need a bucket and box blade. I'd also recommend a hard top to keep the sun off your noggin. It mounts directly to your ROPS. I've laid out a lot of gravel road and trail with mine and so far the 3400 has proven to be 'enough' tractor, although if I decide to start working hay I might add a larger (50+ hp) one day. HST is definately the way to go, it really makes it usable for the wife, who probably wouldn't use it much at all if it was a conventional or shuttle shift.

You will need at least a 60 hp fwd for 40 acres. I have a 40 hp Kubota and 15 acres to barely keep the place in shape. An estate sale would be a good place to get what you need. Beware of used equipment that sits in the weather. The sun will age things fast. I know more people that own tractors than do not.

Depending upon soil conditions, paying someone with a dozer/loader to do that is cheaper than fixing your tractor after you try to do it. Especially if you're trying to pop stumps. The guy who cleared our pastures (D9) was doing a stump every 15 seconds or so......until he got to the oak stumps. Several of which were larger than minivans with the root ball.

You've got a learning curve ahead of you. Use the lower/lowest ranges in the transmission A LOT.

[QUOTE=KarmannGhia;140068622
My main uses will be evening out the dirt roads on the property. Clearing a lane and building a berm for a 100 to 200 yard rifle range. Leveling a small area for an RV pad (for now) with intent to level an area for a small cabin, animal pen(s), etc.... And keeping the underbrush under control.

We plan to trailer it back and forth to the property and store it at our residence (1.5 acre w/ no HOA) until we eventually move.[/QUOTE]|

A little bit of help on this.. A tractor you are going to trailer is going to be a smaller unit... I wouldn't want to trailer my 40 Horse JD. Your tractor will do all the things you state above but building a berm for a rifle range??? May be a bit more than you want to do. I built a range back east on the one farm I lived on. How did I do it, though? I had a small 2 acre pond dug. Had a fellow come in and do the dirt moving and the dirt he moved became the berm/backstop. I did the rest of the work with the overflow planting grasses and providing for the run off to fill the pond. It did have a spring to keep water in the lowest area. Now just to let you know...that pond which cost very little in cash outlay (about 2500 bucks) added approx 100 grand to the value of the place when we sold it. We were on the Eastern Shore of Md and during the winter we hosted as many as 5000 canada geese and a few hundred ducks. And a good shooting range will take a lot more dirt than you'll think. Moving larger amounts of dirt also takes somewhat different equipment than farm type stuff too. I am in the process of buying an ol D-2 Cat right now...to push out Russian olives and moving a bunch of dirt to create a pond here too.

I built this berm with a 2wd John Deere 5105, about a 55 hp tractor. Substantially bigger than the L series Kubota, but about the same size as my MX series. I doubt the L series would have the weight necessary to cut into the hard-packed clay.

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Georgia On My Mind

A few passes with a subsoiler in tough dirt makes it so a blade or bucket doesn't have to work as hard. Larry

I have a Kubota L4200 with a GST. It has a clutch but it is only used once in a great while in a close place or when hooking up. The shuttle shift, transmission, and power takeoff are clutchless. A couple of months ago I used a scoop pan on the 3 pt. hitch with a hyd. top link to haul and move dirt.
I would back up and load the scoop. Change to a forward gear and drive to the dump. Change to a lower gear and back up and dump. Change to a higher forward gear and drive to the dirt pile. I did this all day and never touched the clutch.
Nobody else has recommended the Kubota GST but I think it is great and wouldn't trade it for any other kind of transmission and I'm hard on machinery. Larry