What tractor for ploughing 15 acres?

[Kidds]

Out of interest what would your preference be? The Super Dexta's or the MF35 or T20?

The 35 is the better tractor. I think they are almost the perfect tractor for 15 acres and capable of a lot more.

I may be missing something, but for old / vintage stuff on Ebay I have seen relatively cheap seed drills and harrow's (for a couple of thousand pounds). Or is that equipment no good? It's only 15 acres, so it will not get much use.

As for sprayers, that's not a heavy task, so would a quad bike not be up to that? It's only 15 acres and I have seen sprayers for quads.

There are loads of 2nd hand attachments to fit a 35 (or similar sized tractors) that would be a few hundred rather than a few thousand.
You can get sprayers that fit a 35 very nicely, I have one and used it for many years to do all the herbicide work on 25 acres of orchards.

 

[solo]

Mf 135 or165 would be ideal with a 2 or 3 furrow plough and rotorvator would be the most popular used on large allotments for growing veg that I’ve seen. Quad bike and sprayer would easily do that area, but a small mounted sprayer for a 135 may well be cheaper. Quad bike equipment isn’t cheap to buy. A nearby elderly neighbour used to manage 60 acres with the above mentioned,initially for market garden crops, and latterly cereals, but as he got older drilling and combining were contracted out.

 

[Nearly]

@JLTate have you still got that 4600 or 6600?

 

[Highland Mule]

I may be missing something, but for old / vintage stuff on Ebay I have seen relatively cheap seed drills and harrow's (for a couple of thousand pounds). Or is that equipment no good? It's only 15 acres, so it will not get much use.

As for sprayers, that's not a heavy task, so would a quad bike not be up to that? It's only 15 acres and I have seen sprayers for quads.

What crop are you planning on growing, and how tall do you expect it to reach?

This whole thread has got to be a wind-up, surely?

 

[quattro]

Ford 4000
2furrow rev ransoms
2.5/3 metre power Harrow
get someone who does match ploughing to help if you can’t plough
why do farmers always say it isn’t viable/ to expensive there’s lots of general folk who spent a lot on hobby’s , and why not

 

[Spud]

I have just purchased a property with 15 acres of land and am interested in growing crops (animal farming does not interest me). I know I could hire equipment / get contractors in, but I want to be as independent as possible. What tractor would people suggest I buy? Ideally I would like an older tractor that is simple to maintain myself. Something like an old Ford maybe? Ideally I would not want to spend more than 10k. What would people suggest?

Buy an old Ford for under ten grand then.

Sounds flippant (sorry!) But buy what you have an interest in.
Have you any facilities? Sheds etc?

 

[Will Blackburn]

Just a sprayer, a mf165 and a direct drill, like a simtech.

 

[Dry Rot]

Think it out from the other end. If you grow a crop, what are you going to do with it? how will you harvest it? How will you market it? So what crop?

If buying a tractor, think spares and repairs. What's easiest to get?

Contractors have a habit of disappearing when there's hay to be baled and there are clouds on the horizon. Promises get broken. The best laid plans gang awry....

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

Is it a property with 15 acres in one field or 15 acres in several fields? What sort of crops are you thinking of growing?

Personally if it were me and you want to have a go, making hay to sell will be enough, then you can experiment/play by re-seeding one of the fields/part of the ley and keep your costs much much smaller rather than going to all the hassle, cost and risk of a combinable crop.

 

[7610 super q]

I suspect " growing crops " means vegetables, unless I've missed something ?
You could do it all with a Ford 4000, but I'd be at least wanting something with a Q cab such as a Ford 6600. Maybe even 100hp +, as you don't see many S/H implements in dealers yards for small tractors these days.
You'll struggle to get contractors to do little 15 acre bits. Almost impossible getting a combine, let alone a mobile drier. I've been down to 20-25 acres the last few years, as I've been renting ground out for spuds. The less acreage you have, the more of you're own kit you have to own.

Good luck.

 

[dave mountain]

40 series John deeres are reasonably priced compared to 10 series fords

 

[Two Tone]

Where are you @tommydog ?
What is growing now in your 15 acres?

If it isn’t that far away, I’d go and have a look at Cambridge Machinery Sales to get some inspiration and an idea of prices. They have an auction every month.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

am I missing something, but could you do it all with a plough, maybe a rotovator, power harrow, harrow, roller and fertliser spinner (to seed too) and a little sprayer. Drive in the tramlines, contractor or neighbour to combine, sell the straw in the swath. All with a Ford 7600 or something similar.

I remember seeing in Denmark (admittedly years and years ago), people combined and dumped the wheat in a heap in the gatewa (on a tarp), the buyer would pick it up with a sort of air driven "sucker" into the lorry. No idea if that happens now, or even if you could do that in the UK.

 

[deere 6600]

As a young enthusiastic man many years ago ploughed about 15 acre a year with a ford 3000 and SINGLE furrow plough took a while but when your just starting out you think it’s great by the way nae cab but a big coat

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

15 acre of vegetables is going to take some eating,,,,,,,
What's the land like, ?
You seem keen, and if that's the case then do whatever you want with it,
My guess is your lacking experience on a large scale (from 1/4 acre to 15 acre will be large scale to you).

No mention of where you are situated in the world, that could be a big difference on what you do, and how you sell your produce, as you will never eat it all.

Is it now in arable and all ploughed, or in grass, if in grass is it in good heart, weed free etc, or old pasture,

Not the bite off more than you can chew, and learn as you go along, I would suggest the following,,,,

You need to find a local Plough man to help you get tuition, as badly ploughed land will be a pita to work, and needs to be ploughed right for weed control, along with a good seedbed .

Plough the lot, cultivate and sow most down to grass, leave couple of acres for vegetables, if your not interested in livestock , make small bale hay to sell,
On the rest grow half acre of potatoes , rest in vegetables of your choice, again most for sale, try this for a year or so, rotating the cropping on this 2 acre.
This way you will not out faze yourself at the beginning, as time goes on.

As for equipment you would need, it would be of what you are capable of doing, or wanting to learn to do as time passes,

If it was me, I would think about the following,,,,
International B275 with later vari touch hydraulic,
Or a International 434, £3000
Ransomes TS59 Plough on YL bodies £750
Howard 50" rotavator, £600
Ferguson drill Plough, £150
Ferguson spring time cultivator, £125
Transport box, £250
3 tonne tipping trailer, £1000
Potato digger, £500
Total £6125

Grassland equipment,,,
Fahr KM22 mower, £600
Haybob, £1000
Good Baler, IHC 440 OR MF 124 / 128 OR NH 376, £2000
Flat 8 Bale sledge, £500
Flat Roller, £400
Total, £4500

Vicon Fertiliser spreader, £600
Sprayer, if needed ?


Total so far is £11250, and allow £1250 for sundries, ie, fuel tank, fuel baler string, and wearing metal,, also oils, grease tyres etc, and fertiliser and grass seed,

Now at £12,500, 2,5 k over budget, however 1 cut of 13 acre of hay should yield over £4000 for safe calculations, so in 4 years, all equipment should be paid for, if not accounting for labour,
As for hay, what you cannot store at time of making it, sell off the field,
And you still have your 2 acre of vegetables to play with and spuds for sale,
Increase the vegetables if you want as time goes on,

As for grassland, if possible take 2 cuts of hay, to increase the revenue of hay sales, however, get some sheep on it in January and eat it down to the wick, so it's bare of old grass to aid a better regrowth in the spring, ( some local farmer would maybe put sheep on it and shepherd it for the weeks there on )

 

[Cowabunga]

Be careful. Unless you have a keen interest in antique tractors, don’t buy one. While a 50 year old tractor could do the job for its first 20 years of life, time and tide move on and things were added later, like higher flow independent hydraulics, independent PTO, spool valves, trailer braking and so on that just aren’t available on many of the tractors you will find for sale. You will need these at some point as many implements will require them to work without frustration.

Older good condition implements are another story and may work well. Beware again of ploughs that have rusty mouldboards because with even a season’s rust on them, a three furrow plough may take more than 15 acres work to get a shine on and not have the soil stick. If the soil sticks you will be off the tractor, scraping the soil off and damning more than actually turning soil.
Be careful if buying an old topper or mower. They may well have past their use-by date and be fit only for scrap. On the other hand you might find a bargain. Things like steerage hoes and transplanters for vegetables are quite specialist and region-dependant for availability and choice.

 

[Boohoo]

1 tractor on 15 acres? Is it possible to farm 15 acres with only 1? Or am I doing something wrong with 3 tractors and around 230hp on 9 acres?

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

1 tractor on 15 acres? Is it possible to farm 15 acres with only 1? Or am I doing something wrong with 3 tractors and around 230hp on 9 acres?

You need another tractor to future proof for years to come, and your a bit low on HP

 

[Boohoo]

You need another tractor to future proof for years to come, and your a bit low on HP

Another smaller tractor is planned once we have enough shed space. That should take us to around 280hp

 

[bovrill]

Get something with a loader on the front.
There might be clever ways round things, but being able to pick things up with hydraulic power on the front of a tractor is vital in my opinion.