What mower/tractor for country living?

[SHOOTALL]

What you need depends on the ground you plan to work and how . !4 years ago I had a riding mower and a Ford Naa . Today its a zero turn mower , Atric Cat 400 and New Holland TC 45 4wd with front bucket. Here are some facts , the zero turn mower is faster cutting grass than anything else PERIOD. It is arkward going over rough ground or ditches, it likes level smooth ground. The old NAA bushogs faster than the diesel but at a higher fuel cost. The old tractor bounced more with a box or blade ( yes tires are filled ) . The TC 45 has way more power and can remove trees. It can move logs . It is much better in the garden and grading drive . The AC 400 is good for spraying fences with weed control , pulling a trl. in woods for fire wood , hunting ( but when a deer or several  are  down that front bucket on the New Holland will carry them out and can hold deer just the right height to skin and clean. The TC 45 is easy on fuel as is the zero turn , the AC 400 on the other hand loves to consume lots of fuel. If you live in snow country and expect to move snow go a bit bigger than you think you will need as far as tractor And 4 wd is always good.
 If you go with a tractor consider when you add 4wd you increase pulling power almost 1/2 again. Or a 45 HP tractor pulls like a 60+ HP tractor if it has 4wd. I have a Ford two blade plow . The NAA would pull it but would hang and require backing up to free it. The first time I used it with the New Holland it hung up I shifted into 4wd and proceeded to pull the point and blade off one side . I can also put the blade or box down with out much hop or chatter.   

[mannyrock]

 
    A couple of extra points.
 
    The original poster talked about having a pond dug out and installed.  Guess what.  The guys who do it, no matter how carefully they try, will only be able to "rough in" the ditches, berms and swells that you will need to keep water draining into the pond without having massive erosion.  Since they use large equipment, they can only rough it in.
 
   If you do not finish it up properly, then in just a matter of weeks, you will have deep erosion trenches in your land, plus overflows of the pond above the berm, etc. etc.  It is impossible to  fix this by hand with a pick and shovel.  For this reason alone, you need a tractor with an adjustable scraper blade.
 
    The other great thing about a 28 to 35 horsepower tractor, is that you can buy a four foot wide tiller to hook to the back of it, and it will easily till soil 4 inches deep in a four foot wide swath.  Believe it or not, I use to plant two acres of grain every year, to let stand for the deer, and I used this tiller to till the entire 2 acres.  It took me about 90 minutes per acre, for the first pass, and then about 30 minutes per acre to do a high speed second pass to break up the clods.
 
    As noted before, you need to buy a second, small sit-upon mower, new or used, to actually "mow" grass around the house.   It is quick and cheap.  And, the main reason is that you do not want to have to spend 30 minutes in the scorching sun trying to hook and unhook a larger mower or bushhog to the back of your tractor every time you cut the grass.
 
  Hope this helps.
 
Mannyrock

[spooked]

My late father needed a small tractor to clean out his cow barn..bought a KIoti 20 something hp. , 4wd with a quick attach loader..Man was that thing ever handy became the most used tractor on the farm..Raked hay, pulled haywagons, moved dirt, lifted things as heavy as 750 lb., mowed the large yard(drop the quick-tach loader and hook the finish mower on the rear), tilled the garden, ground feed, pulled grain wagon and dumped it,..etc. hope to get me one someday
It wasn't bad for mowing either after you dropped the loader.

[jeclif]

I use an old 15 hp kubota  B6200E compact tractor to cut my grass and a lot of other jobs around here.
It will run almost forever on 3 gal. fuel.
the mower is a woods 48 inch finish mower
the tractor and mower were made in the early 80'S and as long as I keep it serviced I hope  it will last longer than me

[Jay, Tx]

I'll start by saying....Between my home site (2 acres) and the family property where i hunt (122acres), I own a weedeater, a push mower, a riding mower, a wheeled string trimmer, and '56 model 8N tractor w/5' brush hog, seed spreader, and 5' dual row disc..

 Of all of the equipment I own, the riding mower is king at home, and the 8n tractor is about the perfect machine for me at the property. I inherited the tractor, and had to rebuild the engine (a whopping $300 worth of parts and a weekend out in the shop). But the first build lasted over 50 years. So I figure I'm in pretty good shape for it to last the rest of my life. The only thing I do not care for on my 8N is it's inability to run a rototiller. It just has too much ground speed once the pto is running fast enough. Other than that, the only other difference we notice between it and my hunting buddy's new, New Holland, is his will also back up w/o disengaging the pto. Aside from those, my old tractor isn't quite as comfortable to ride on all day long. Differences I gladly accept considering mine cost almost nothing compared to what he spends on his.

My father in law has a smaller 4wd John Deere w/front end loader, finish mower, box blade, and rototiller (5'). That thing is a freaking cadillac! I have run that tractor so long that I have literally almost fallen asleep on it.

I will advocate the use of a rototiler too. We use them on our wildlife food plots. We put in about 8acres of plots a year on our place. I mow them with the 8n, then we use the New Holland or John Deere, or both to turn the ground over. We do them in the spring and fall. We can mow, till, seed, fertilize, and turn under the 8acres in about a day and half using the tiller(s). With my disc, it takes all weekend just to turn the ground over, another weekend to complete the rest of the work. The only advantage of the disc, is that I can gig MUCH deeper with it than a tiller will dig.

The front end loader will also come in handy on  occasion. That kind of depends on individual needs. but I see the need for one quite often, luckily I have a neighbor with one

[ihookem]

I guess a tractor with attachments are the way to go. I have a Kubota 21 horse diesel. It can lift 800 lbs with front end loader.