Tractor Mike's video: How Do I Know What Size Tractor to Get Use this Device

Picking out your first tractor can be a challenge. You don't want one that is intimidating to operate, you really don't want one that is too small for future tasks. Sometimes a tape measure is the place to start. My letter today is from Eleanor who has a horse farm with hayfield, pasture, and open areas. She wants to buy a tractor to use a three point sprayer, run a snowplow, move 700 lb. bales and pull a 10' bush hog. How big a tractor does she need? When I'm trying to help a person decide what size tractor to get I look at two things, lift capacity and PTO horsepower. I've seen customers that purchased tractors that wouldn't lift the amount of weight they wanted to pick up, and others who bought tractors with two little horsepower to pull their implements. So we need to look at all of these factors and determine what task will likely require the largest sized tractor. First, the easy tasks, if the three point sprayer is 100-200 gallons, a 40-50 hp tractor would lift that, and it would pull most snow plows. A 40 hp tractor can move 4 X 5 round bales, which weigh about 700 lbs. The one job that may require the most horsepower is pulling a 10 foot brush hog. Every rotary cutter manufacturer rates their cutters by the minimum horsepower it takes to pull them, and that's directly related to the size of material they can cut. Some brush hogs are only rated up to 1" diameter material, I've seen a cutter that can cut a 6" tree. They take wildly different amounts of horsepower to run. There are 10' bush hogs that can be pulled by a 10' tractor, others require 75+ horsepower. What Eleanor needs to do is determine what the largest thing she wants to cut will be. Take a tape measure and find the biggest sprout or tree that you'll be running over, and see how wide it is at the base. Then determine what brush hog you'll be buying. Then, make sure you size the tractor to have abundant horsepower to pull the cutter. Add to the manufacturer's horsepower requirements if pulling up steep hills, cutting fields with densely packed trees or trying to drive fast. The other recommendation I have is to determine what tasks may be ahead. If Eleanor ever decides to cut and bale her own hay, she may need to determine what equipment she'll buy to do that and make sure the tractor she gets has enough horsepower so she doesn't have to trade tractors at that point. Hay equipment (with the exception of sickle mowers and small square balers) takes a lot of horsepower to pull, so an extra investment in the tractor now, may make owning the other equipment a lot less painful down the road. The bottom line, when selecting a tractor size, determine the task that you will do that requires the most horsepower, and spend the money to get all you need. LINKS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT... The Tractor Fun Store: https://asktractormike.com/products-for-sale/ Support the Tractor Mike Channel: https://www.patreon.com/TractorMike Visit the Tractor Mike website: http://asktractormike.com/ Visit Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Ask-Tractor-Mike-312112962245304/ Copyright 2021 Tractor Mike LLC