Typical power/size vs. acreage?

[curiousnonfarmer]

Hey all,

I hope you don't mind indulging this non-farmer but I'm very curious about the typical size and power of tractors - plus the size of implements - you use vs. the size of fields/farm that you're working on? I've been reading through a lot of machinery threads and trying to collate the info in my head but thought it best to ask in a single "summary" kind of thread!

I try to keep my eye out for tractors in the area but as I'm just on the outskirts the city of Liverpool, there isn't too much going on around here, especially not being able to see tractors and the implements in use. I've watched plenty of farming vids and it's very impressive to see the huge tractors paired with massive cultivators etc, but that seems to be a far cry from a more "local" UK farm, and I get the impression that the implement sizes in use are actually much smaller than one might expect.

Would anyone be willing to give a quick summary of the equipment on your farms? This doesn't need to be to in-depth, but maybe something along the lines of this:

Tractor manufactor plus power/model
Implement sizes (for example, 6m seeder and cultivator, with 18m sprayer etc)
Rough total acreage of fields you work on?

Cheers!

 

[Spencer]

That would be some interesting data to collect right there...

 

[Adeptandy]

A lot will depend on personal circumstances. I work off farm a lot so tend to have tractors and machinery that a much bigger farm would have due to needing to cover the ground quickly when I'm on farm.

 

[curiousnonfarmer]

That would be some interesting data to collect right there...

Ah, yea I hadn't considered this may come across like that.

Nope, just a regular person - work in IT, passing interest in agriculture and play Farm Sim occasionally, just wanted to get an idea of what's actually out there past the promo vids of the latest and greatest

 

[CORK]

163hp tractor with loader here for 225 all arable owned acres.

Work off farm also so contract out planting and harvesting. Do own ploughing, fert, spraying and move most of the straw and a share of the grain ourselves.
Autosteer, CVT, section control.

24m tramlines. Average field size 22 acres. All equipment quite new as haven’t time for downtime. Probably over mechanised in some eyes. Enjoy farming most of the time!

 

[Hfd Cattle]

Ah, yea I hadn't considered this may come across like that.

Nope, just a regular person - work in IT, passing interest in agriculture and play Farm Sim occasionally, just wanted to get an idea of what's actually out there past the promo vids of the latest and greatest

View the 'today at work' thread you will see all sorts of pictures of what various machines there are about

 

[Chae1]

Our machinery is definitely too big for area we farm. It depends what value you put on quality of life. I don't have to push myself or machine because it's too big and there's always tomorrow.

I don't feel cost of machine increases proportionately with size.

 

[Andy12345]

When I was farming 20 odd years ago .... 800 acres of arable plus some contract we managed with a quarter of a horsepower per acre . JD 6900 plus a 6400 mind you we had to put some hours in!

 

[traineefarmer]

350ac arable, 300 head beef unit, 5500 laying hens + dozens of mini diversifications. 20m tramlines. Biggest tractor is 125hp. 7 tractors in regular use - 2007 - 1970ish. SP sprayer, combine, digger and 2 telehandlers.

I'm slowly dragging the farm into the 1990s.

 

[teslacoils]

Case 9380 quadtrac. 380hp
Pulls a 4.5m solo
12m rolls

24m chafer 418 24m sprayer.

That all. 300ac. Average field size about 37ac.

 

[eagleye]

we are over horsepowered but work with older equipment so our investment is not excessive in my opinion, anyway long hours of work are less acceptable the older you get.
12 to 14 hours a day are plenty

 

[Dian Landman]

A bit of info from elsewhere in the world. 1000ha dairy farm in South Africa. Biggest tractor John Deere 6195M. Smallest is a New Holland TD80. Got a TLB, excavator and telehandler. 11 tractors in total. Do all our own subsoiling, baling, planting, mulching and all other jobs. Only get the contractors in for silage chopping. Average field size 4.5ha. Biggest fields 35ha.

 

[Lowland1]

We have 1000 acres of triple cropped veg when i added everything up tractors, sprayers and telehandlers we have about 2200 hp so we are using about 0.7 hp per acre cropped. Which i thought was pretty good. I remember talking to my Aunts brother who were farming wheat and grass for drying and they were at about 0.4 hp per acre so i think in the scheme of things its good.

 

[Suffolk Serf]

I'm perplexed by those who describe a shed full of big kit as "impressive", I've always been more impressed by those who seem to get by with the bare minimum. Says he who has about 3.5 hp/acre.

 

[Tomr10]

28hp per acre lol

 

[le bon paysan]

250 Acres, 240hp including combine. Beef and cereals.

 

[jimcooke770]

800 acres - 1x 200 hp tractor +combine + loader . Spraying contracted out , will hire another 150 hp for August

 

[4course]

surely without taking into account all contract work either way and any seasonal hire its almost impossible to get a rough never mind accurate hp/acre figure.
for instance one day last year grass crop had nearly 2000hp in or around the farm for about 2 hour

 

[snarling bee]

2000 acres, 1645 HP (34,500 hours between them)
485 quad - 8m rapid drill, 4.6 Simba SLD, twin leg mole plough
410 challenger - 8m double press with discs, 8m Horsch Terrano, 4.5m KV stubble F
2 x 4220 JCB - Fert, Transport, Rolling 12m, muck cart, muck spreading, topping, going to the chippy, bowsers, and every other job going.
JD 7530 - 6m tine drill. 3rd corn cart, giving me a bad back.
JD 6920 - Hedging, combine header,

plus Lexion 770, Bateman RB35, 2 x Loadall.

Apart from the Fastracs everything is at least 5 years old, some 20 years old.
1 Full time, 1 part time, me part time, various local casuals at harvest.
Clays and clay loam.
72 fields, within a 6 mile square.
Everything in house except contractor only for baling. Nothing hired.

 

[Barleymow]

If you count the combine, jcb loadall pig tractor and bobcat have 650 hp on 150 acres