Just discovered this forum, liked it, and posted a question about buying a new tractor in the Buying and Pricing forum. After teaching school for 33 years and a kidney transplant, I got to retire to the farm that has been in our family for over 100 years. My great-grandfather owned it in the late 1890s, left it to my grandfather, bought from my grandmother by my Dad in the 1960s, and inherited from him. I am a one-third owner, as are my sister, and my late brother's children, but I am the only one who lives here and who works on the place. As a kid, I hated fixing fence. hauling hay, digging post holes in rock, spraying cattle, etc. I married a farmer's daughter who also wanted to get away from the farm. When I retired and wanted to build a home out here on the farm, I promised my wife I wouldn't make her chop cotton like her Dad did. We love it out here, and I love having so much to do. My Dad has to be rolling on the ground laughing in Heaven when he sees me fixing fence and spraying the cattle.
My current tractors are a 1946 Farmall H that my Dad bought years ago then had the engine rebuilt just before he quit using it, so the old girl runs very well, and I have a 2 bottom breaking plow, a 6' drag tandem, a 10' IHC steel wheel drill, and a 5' Corsicana shredder with it. It is the first tractor I ever drove. Several years ago, I tried to buy a IH Farmall 504 from my then-retired (now deceased) father-in-law, but he told me his 82-year-old brother had "spoken for it". So I bought his other remaining tractor, an IH 1466, along with a 14' toolbar chisel, a 14' JD shredder, and a 21' Surflex one-way. So I went from plowing 2' to 14' per round. The 1466 is a fine running beast but way too much tractor for my needs, and it is very difficult to get 14' equipment through Dad's 14' gates. In fact I have had to rebuild several after attempting to scrape through them. It is also old enough to need various parts regularly, and hooking up the equipment can take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. At 56, it is hard to get excited about that any more. Of course it is nice to get the plowing done faster, but it is kind of ridiculous for 5 acres. That's why I'm in the market for a new tractor.
We have 190 acres total and run a few cattle on it. The tractors are for shredding and plowing and planting deer plots and some small areas of winter grazing for our horses and donkeys.
My current tractors are a 1946 Farmall H that my Dad bought years ago then had the engine rebuilt just before he quit using it, so the old girl runs very well, and I have a 2 bottom breaking plow, a 6' drag tandem, a 10' IHC steel wheel drill, and a 5' Corsicana shredder with it. It is the first tractor I ever drove. Several years ago, I tried to buy a IH Farmall 504 from my then-retired (now deceased) father-in-law, but he told me his 82-year-old brother had "spoken for it". So I bought his other remaining tractor, an IH 1466, along with a 14' toolbar chisel, a 14' JD shredder, and a 21' Surflex one-way. So I went from plowing 2' to 14' per round. The 1466 is a fine running beast but way too much tractor for my needs, and it is very difficult to get 14' equipment through Dad's 14' gates. In fact I have had to rebuild several after attempting to scrape through them. It is also old enough to need various parts regularly, and hooking up the equipment can take anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes. At 56, it is hard to get excited about that any more. Of course it is nice to get the plowing done faster, but it is kind of ridiculous for 5 acres. That's why I'm in the market for a new tractor.
We have 190 acres total and run a few cattle on it. The tractors are for shredding and plowing and planting deer plots and some small areas of winter grazing for our horses and donkeys.