tractors ???

[preston39]

Don't want to tangle with them;

http://honeybee.tamu.edu/safety/index.html

 

[stocky]

I use a Long tractor. It is 4 wheel drive and their biggest model, 68 horse pto, I believe. It does not have a cab, but has a canopy to keep the sun off. It also has a Long front end loader. It handles the heavy 5x6 bales with no problem 2 at a time. I unload and move over 1500 large round bales per year, do the brushogging, spread fertilize with a 6 ton spreader over the hills, and use it for a bulldozer pushing brush and piling downed trees much more often than I should. I do not cut or bale hay. This tractor handles all of this with no problems. It is considerably less expensive than the John Deere or International, but not as heavy made of a tractor. I am sure the life of the tractor will not be as long as the John Deere, either. I do not know how it compares in price with the Kubota or Branson. If you are going to do this type of work with it, I would definitely get the 4 wheel drive, it will allow the tractor to work much easier in many of the tough situations. Good Luck

 

[Dusty Britches]

I need some help, thinking of getting a new tractor. Now I have a small massey 235 with loader. It is a good tractor but I sometimes have trouble moving the 5x6 bales. I think I need a 4x4 and little more hp. The massey is a 35 hp. two wheel drive. I'm thinking maybe something 50 to 75 hp. but no cab. Any suggestions' thanks!

You are thinking exactly right. We have a 60 hp 2wd tractor that doesn't flinch on 1400 - 1600 pound bales, but we do have to put weight (like a disc) on the back to handle the heavier bales. The loader reaches high enough to take the top row of bales off a semi truck. We still can't justify the 4wd, b/c we dont' want to drive in the pastures when it is that wet out.