I wish that I'd though of the timer idea. When we had the MF at the farm, it was a booger to start if the temp even approached "cool". I always plugged in the block heater the night before and let it run all night if I was wanting an early start in the morning.
I will say that it did make a helluva difference in starting that ol' piece of scrap though. Lord, I hated that tractor .... for many reasons.