Tractor Mike's video: Determining How Many Horsepower to Get in That First Tractor

If you're purchasing your first tractor you may wonder what size to get. When discussing size, that could mean how many horsepower, or what physical frame size does the tractor need to be? This video will help clarify how to be comfortable that the tractor you are buying is big enough, and powerful enough, for your needs. Most small tractors are sold with rotary cutter or brush hogs behind them. A good rule of thumb for selecting the size of cutter to get is, it needs to be the same width as the loader bucket. So, if you have a 4' bucket on a sub-compact, a 48" cutter is about what you can pull. If the tractor has a 5' bucket, get a 60" cutter, and so on. When you get above 40 hp, that rule goes away. You'll have a tractor with a large enough frame size to pull any rotary cutter that matches the horsepower of the tractor. Now we need to determine how fast you want to get your mowing done. Personally, if I was mowing under 5 acres, a sub compact with a 48" cutter would get that done in a reasonable amount of time, if I had 5-10 acres I'd want at least a 5' cutter, and for 10-25 acres, a 6' cutter would be fine. Of course, if you have 5 acres and you want to mow it every week, you'll want a bigger cutter than if you just mow once a year, unless you just really enjoy riding around on a tractor. So, our tractor size will be determined by how much ground we're mowing and how fast we want to get done. But, there's another factor in tractor horsepower. Virtually all small tractors today are sold with front-end loaders. To correctly size the tractor/loader combination, you'll want to determine the heaviest thing you'll be picking up and check that against the lift capacity of the tractor. Lift capacity is mostly determined by two things, the physical size of the tractor and the hydraulic components, like the pump and the loader cylinders. Don't be surprised if a 35 horsepower tractor and a 45 hp tractor the same size will pick up the same amount of weight. Once you've determined how big a cutter you need to get your pastures cut in an acceptable amount of time and how much weight you need to pick up, you can quickly narrow the horsepower options down and get the right tractor for your needs. But, be prepared, you'll always want the next larger one. 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 2022 Tractor Mike LLC