Yes.

Kubota makes a very good machine. John Deere does as well, but they (imo) haven’t kept up with what Kubota produces.

As you mechanically inclined?
Know your way around an engine?
Have tools? Have a workshop?

If the above doesn’t apply, you will need a local dealer. An idea of their hourly repair rate might be interesting.

I have two John Deere tractors, both with loaders. While the 20-25 hp tractors are nice, generally known as “compact” tractors, I would suggest an older “utility” tractor. They run about 30-40hp and weigh in 1,000# heavier than most compact tractors. That weight is a plus when pulling trees and things out of the pond. On your land it will not seem too big.
I also use the loader as a carry all (firewood, dirt, stone, etc), as portable scaffolding (gutters to clean, trees to trim, portable work bench), as a lift for cutting trees into logs.
Buying an older tractor will be much cheaper than newer and simpler to fix yourself. Also parts are generally cheaper and they don’t have computers, plastic or emissions equipment. How old? My old one is a 1965 model 1020. Three cylinder gas engine. Buy it at a farm auction, probably pay as much as 10-12k. (That includes a loader).
You need the three point hitch. I highly recommend the loader as well. Mine has a roll bar to protect me if I roll it on its side. It also has a roof attached - ALSO a great idea if you can find one with that as well.
My place, by the way, is 6 acres and I wouldn’t be without a tractor. My attachments include a snowblower and a 6” wood chipper.

For mowing 5-6 acres of real grass, a commercial quality zero turn hands down.

For all the other projects working on that much land, a small tractor.

We sold our Montana home including a B2930 Kubota with loader and front mount snowblower. We also sold our Kubota 22 HP zero turn lawn mower that mowed the entire parcel. With 36 sprinkler zones it looked like a golf course. We loved about 10 trouble free years with these 2 pieces.

You may not need a tractor but I guarantee you that your life will be a whole lot easier with one. I bought my first tractor in the early 80's and have owned one ever since.

If I were looking for a tractor these days, I would be looking for a used one...before all the regeneration crap.

Oh, there are a lot of really good tractors out there that are not orange or green.

How do you feel about livestock?

If you’re going to maintain that many acres you definitely are going to need a tractor. I’ve seen time after time people moving into my area acquiring sizable acreage similar to what you’re talking about then either can’t maintain it for lack of tools and/or work themselves to the point of not enjoying it trying. Anything in the compact/subcompact (less than 70 hp) it would be really hard to beat Kubota. I say that from my own experience and others I personally know of. I wouldn’t even consider not getting a loader and 4 wheel drive. As far as size, you can do a lot with a 30-40 hp tractor. That said, I’ve never heard anyone say I wish I’d gotten a smaller tractor. I would be more concerned about the frame size than the hp. The grand L 60 series (L3560) would be a perfect fit. I’d also go with a rear mounted finish mower (72-84”) depending how rough your ground is.

Another comment. If mowing will be primary duty....or main duty, I'd go with turf tires vs ag tires. And they'll take you anywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Another comment. If mowing will be primary duty....or main duty, I'd go with turf tires vs ag tires. And they'll take you anywhere.

For the duty the op described, I’d suggest he take a look at R14 tires. They’re a good balance between R4s and ag tires.

I have 5.37 acres and got a Kubota BX-23S. No regrets. I use the bush hog attachment for mowing.

quote:

Oh, there are a lot of really good tractors out there that are not orange or green.

This is true, but, nothing like parts support of the big colors, large national warehouses, get what you need in two days or less is an advantage, and you pay for it.

Some grey market ones you could be down for months.

quote:

Originally posted by WaterburyBob:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
A 4wd tractor with a front end loader is very handy. Look for a Kubota with a mid mower deck. you are probably looking at $20k for a newer B series unit I would guess.
You won't use it a ton. But when needed you will be very glad to have it.

Congrats on the new place. Sounds nice.

I agree. You will be amazed at how many uses you'll find for the tractor and bucket.

I agree too

A tractor with a loader/bucket/forks will save many hours of work and potential injury. I also have a 3ph/PTO leaf blower that moves a ton of leaves from the comfort of a cab. A grapple on the loader will pick up logs you couldn't dream of moving by hand. PTO driven chipper will handle brush up to 6". I use a 59" front mounted snowblower and a rear blade for winter, but you may not need those.

Yes, tractors are extremely useful. Especially the green ones!

Yes. We have 5 acres and a BX23S. Amazed at how much use we have gotten out of the tractor, and we don't even mow with it.

Well worth the investment.

quote:

This is true, but, nothing like parts support of the big colors, large national warehouses, get what you need in two days or less is an advantage, and you pay for it.

I have a Bobcat branded Kioti. Part aren't an issue at all, then again I've never needed any parts outside of filters in my 400 hours of use.

I agree with the others who mentioned having a mower for the grass along with the tractor. I started out with just the tractor, but the addition of a zero turn has made a huge positive difference.

If you need to lift anything, make sure you're buying the right sized machine. My neighbor (green tractor) is always borrowing my Bobcat/Kioti to move his round hay bales for his goats. His is one model too small.

Bucket, forks, and box blade are must haves. All of the other attachments will be dependent upon your specific use. Along those lines, make sure your machine is set up to quickly switch between bucket/forks.

We have an mid 90s Massey 1240 compact (which is a Japanese Iseki) which also means that parts are getting hard to find. We also have a Deere 3032e which is a compact, modern, hydraulic tractor.

Finding a good, middle-aged, tractor will be difficult. Most of the good pre-emissions tractors have been bought by exporters and sent out of the US to south America where they can be maintained without special tools and software support.

Kubota and J Deere both are well established brands, with good customer support, but both charge a truly premium price.

Kioti is a South Korean tractor with an excellent reputation, and which is supported in the US by Bobcat.

I would seriously recommend that you look at TYM tractors. They are a South Korean machine, that are assembled in the US in both Florida and Ohio, and they look like they are here to stay.

Two of my neighbors own them, and they have been excellent, well supported machines. One is a Series 2, with around 30 HP., and the other is a Series 3, with around 40 HP. Both have been trouble free, are quiet, seem powerful for their size, and well supplied with accessories and hydraulics.

If I have to replace the Massey, due to parts availability, I will likely look at the TYM, rather than another Deere.

Remember the bush hog rule: 5 HP at the PTO per foot of cut. That means that a 60"/5' hog needs at a minimum, 25 PTO HP., which realistically means 30+ HP. at the flywheel.

In small tractors, more power is always better, wider stance is always better for stability, more weight is always better for stability and traction, and tires are best suited to your ground. In my area, R3 turf give better traction than R4, but R1 agricultural is best of all. In muddy locations, R1 and R4 are vastly better than R3 turf, as turf packs up mud, and the others are less likely to do so. R4 Industrial is often considered the best compromise between adequate traction, and tearing the shit out of everything you drive over, and getting stuck.

As a practical matter, no tire, at the weight of a compact tractor, is going to provide more traction than the engine can provide. In lowest gearing, anything over 25 HP. will slip the tires on any surface, which is why weight, within reason, is your best friend.

Weight can come from implements, rear tires filled with a liquid solution, dedicated weights on the 3pt hitch, or an old barrel filled with concrete attached to the 3pt. Weight is also important because most compact tractors can lift enough weight in the bucket to take the rear end off the ground going downhill, when steering, or when going over rough ground. Nothing makes a diamond in your sphincter like having the rear wheels of an overloaded tractor come off the ground when you are driving. Seatbelts, and a good ROPS are your friends.

Good luck, and feel free to email if you desire. I'm happy to talk.

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No, you don’t need a tractor, you need several tractors. Something like a wheel tractor with four wheel drive, a three point hitch, and lift arms for a skippy bucket in front, and an excavator for all the great things you can do with it, including pulling your wheel tractor out when it gets stuck, and pulling itself out if things get boggy. With any sense of the terrain/soil, a guy who’s halfway handy with an excavator is never stuck as you can (almost) always drag yourself out if it gets soupy. Or better yet, get the wheel tractor with the three point hitch to mow, a skip and drag (4in1 loader bucket on the front with clamshell and Gannon on the back with tilt, pitch, lift, rippers, and an aux hydraulic lever/port), and the excavator. Still better, get all that and a small handy bulldozer for larger grading projects. Oh, and start saving up for a dump truck too, those are handy as heck.[/ENABLER RESPONSE]

More seriously, a lot depends on what projects you are hoping to do, and how often. If you only have the occasional project, and your various projects require a selection of different pieces of equipment, renting may make the most sense for most of your needs. That said, there are some projects that you’d just whip out and get done quickly if you have an appropriate piece of equipment standing by, but you wouldn’t bother renting for just that project. Another thing to consider it that if you end up with too much equipment (Is that even a thing?!?), you will either get really tired of maintaining it all or really tired of paying someone else to do it for you. Maintaining a little more ground with miles of roads and acres of oak woodlands, I’ve often thought it would be nice to have a motor grader and a nice tree farmer / cherry picker / boom lift. Then I consider having to maintain them and that idea evaporates quickly.

Think about what you need to do, what you think you’re going to want to do, then consider what equipment might best work for the applications you’re considering.

I would say yes, at least a tractor. My hubby and I are on just under 5 acres, and we discovered we needed a tractor very quickly on. Using a finishing mower helped a lot, but it took about 4-6 hrs to mow it all. We sometimes wished we had gotten the next size up on the tractor, but it worked really well, we didn’t want anything less than 35 hp.
But also, having a bucket comes in very handy for cleaning up brush, fallen tree limbs, or cleaning up after a storm. Or even trimming trees back. Much easier to put it all in the bucket, and haul it to a burn pile, than trying to drag it off by hand.
For mowing, we are using zero turn mowers, have a Hustler Super Z, bought new in 2007, and just added a Bad Boy, both are 60 inch.
So, mowing, we use the zero turns, and get everything mowed within 2 hrs, and for other work, a tractor is fantastic.

What you need based on your OP is a mower. How you get that is lots of different paths with lots of different costs and capabilities.
The best answer for mowing that size area is a decent sized commercial zero turn mower. Its good for mowing and not much else, but its way better at mowing than the next option. But literally anything that can mow will do what you need just trading time to get the job done.
A second option for mowing is a tractor with a mower. Depending on brand/size/etc. you may be able to get a midmount or more universally use PTO mounted mower. This is way less efficient to mow with and lower quality grass cutting (but that doesn't seem to matter here, so just mentioning it). BUT what you get out of that solution is a general purpose tractor that can do lots of other things, like be a loader, run a rake or rear blade, snowblower (don't know if that matters in your area), grapple, brushhog, log splitter and just about anything else you might imagine. But you will likely pay substantially more for this general purpose capability.

wow!!! Great information and a lot to consider. Sounds like more is better but not to overdo it.

Lots of choices and options to review as well. As it's all new to me I hope to avoid making too big of a mistake.

One thing to think about. Are you going to be mowing 5-6 acres every week or two? Have you thought about looking to nearby farmers to have them cut and bale it a couple times a year and maybe pay you a little money for the hay? If you are actually going to mow that much, I agree a zero turn will be way quicker and probably cheaper.

I bought 11 acres a couple years ago and had all sorts of plans for the expensive stuff to use there, much to my wife's dismay. Its 90% woods though and hilly, only about half an acre of yard. I picked up a used really nice Honda self propelled mower, I forgot which model, but it runs $1K new and will eat anything, thick wet grass, sticks, long grass, doesn't matter. It works fine for me. I also bought a Stihl FS131 trimmer and a knife blade and that takes out brush well. I've purchased chainsaws and found I bought more chainsaw than I realistically need also.

I have had to pay someone for some skidsteer work, but that was a one time deal of filling in an area. I love the idea of buying toys, but I'm in the camp of wait and see what you actually need so if it turns out you need a tractor, you buy enough or the right sized one.