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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BReeves" data-source="post: 2075573" data-attributes="member: 10973">Hi Vicious, when the wife and I bought this place I knew I was going to need a tractor and a loader was a must. I was able to borrow the neighbors Massey Ferguson with a bush hog until I could find something I could afford. I also rented a New Holland with a loader for a weekend when I needed to move some dirt, nice tractor. Ended up with a 71 Ford 3000 diesel with loader and box blade. If I had the money you have I would have looked for a used Kubota but the Ford has treated me well and I can get my money back anytime I want. Tractors hold their value except for Chinese imports, John Deere's seem to be worth a $1000.00 premium because of the green paint, I would say go with New Holland or Kubota.For sure look for 4 wheel drive especially if you plan on using it to move snow and a hydro drive sure makes loader work easier. Don't bother with a belly mower for your tractor it will be a PTA when you want to use it for tractor stuff. Depending on what and how often you mow a 3 point finish mower may be all you need for mowing. If the property is still overgrown with saplings and such then you will need a Bush Hog or what other manufactures call a rotary cutter. After the first year with a rotary cutter my place is all grass and I mow it all with an old Ford Flail Mower. Flail mowers are a bit expensive but in my opinion are much better than anything else for mowing acreage. You can still run over debris without damaging the mower and it gives a cut almost as good as a finish mower. Keep you riding mower for around the house, that tractor simply won't turn as tight and you don't want tractor tire ruts in your yard. Ya, you can put turf tires on the tractor to keep it from tearing up your yard but then it's just another lawn mower and no longer a tractor.Get a Landscape Rake for dressing you gravel drive, you can angle it to pull the gravel back into the drive that gets kicked out into the grass. A Box Blade is good for moving and leveling dirt, finish it with the Landscape Rake. If you are going to do any fence work get a post hole digger, I borrow my neighbors post hole digger and have used it for many things even digging holes to plat trees.Have had my Ford for about 7 years and it has been a life saver even with it's manual transmission and two wheel drive limitations. The loader is my work horse, I use it when I don't have enough strength to do the job. I pulled the bed off my Chevy pickup by myself to fix an issue with the frame using the loader. I've pulled old fence posts and unloaded countless items from my pickup that I simply couldn't have done without the loader. When I put a metal roof on the house I built a wood frame that went in the bucket to lift the metal sheets up to the roof.That's my 2 cents, coming from an old guy that uses his tractor for more than a glorified lawn mower.</blockquote>

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