We are thinking about buying a tractor for our camp so that we are no longer reliant on the neighbors to do all of our planting, mowing, etc. The property is all low lying river bottom, and the roads can get pretty boggy sometimes so I think it would need to be 4wd. The tractor would be used for bush hogging, as well as all general food plot maintenance; disc, spray, etc. I know next to nothing about tractors or planting, but we've gotta start somewhere. Any and all advice would be appreciated.

4x4 is almost a must have for a hunting club.

Whats the budget and how many acres to work?

Big fields or woods and small fields?

Woods and small fields. We're in the beginning phase of thinking about this so budget hasn't been discussed, but none of us are flush with it. The lease is about 2,000 acres with 15 food plots. The biggest ones aren't much more than an acre.

I'd get something like a Ford 3000/3600 or better 4000/4600 either with a diff lock. Maybe a Massey 165 or Deere 2150 or 2155. There are a slew of Deere models that would fit the bill. 5-6 foot bush hog. 6-7 foot disk. Spreader and a box blade. Probably get into all that for $5-8k.

Those would all be good first tractors, reliable, easy to work on and would do anything you need done.

A step up from that maybe a Ford New Holland 3930, Deere 2030/2440 which are stout little machines.

All 4wd is going to do is allow you to get stuck a LOT worse or rut your fields all up... OR tear your roads all up.

I like 4wd on a tractor with a loader. Doing loader work. Other than that my opinion is it is not necessary.

Are you saying the 4wd would give me false-confidence to go where I shouldn't or that a 4wd machine in general just wears on the roads more?

I like my 4wd, but like said, it will get you even further stuck.

A 35hp tractor with a 5-6' bushog should be great for what you guys are trying to accomplish. I have a Kubota I've been very happy with, but gonna be more expensive.

Both. It won't get stuck as easily but when it does you'll get stuck much worse. If you actually need 4wd to get down your roads it will soon look like a log skidder trail.

4wd is not magic as far as getting around in wet conditions. My Grandfather farmed his entire life without a 4wd tractor and so did most everyone else's. If it got that slick he put duals on it.

For loader work I would consider 4wd almost a must have. Huge difference in the strength of the front end when moving things like feeding bales, etc. For the occasional loader work not necessary. Loader is handy though just going to cost a lot more for a tractor with a loader.

I can see where we'd be kicking ourselves at some point for getting a tractor without a loader on it, but it might not be in the cards at this point. Do y'all think there is any way to get into a running tractor that will disc and mow in our conditions for 5k or less?

Probably not a dependable one

In my honest opinion I would continue to depend on my neighbor or hire some one to do the work for you. I do plant for other people and have planted for a few clubs over the years. Most of my customers are private land owners or single leasers. It's hard to get a group of individual hunters to agree on a price increase for a hunting club. A few problems I see with a club buying a tractor and implements to do their own work. If the club disbands who gets the equipment? When a member decides to leave or is kicked out is he reimbursed for his portion of the equipment? Who runs the equipment, responsible for maintenance, repairs and so on. You may have a great group of people and you all can agree on a price to pay for the equipment. Hunting can become a real headache if you let it. All this being typed I would say 15k to 20k will buy you a very dependable tractor and equipment. Stay around the fifty horsepower range, loader, 4x4, six foot cutter and think about a tiller instead of a disc(stay away from trees and stumps with a tiller). Cabs are nice to.

Personally I wouldn't own a tractor without 4wd and a loader.

You can buy a pretty dependable 40-50hp tractor for $5-6000. A 2wd tractor will go places a 4wd truck cant.
If you have a tractor, disc and bush hog you can do what you want when you want

This, and buy bigger than what you think you need.

With a $5-6k budget you should be able to find a Ford 3000/3600/4000 diesel. IMO for a straight up food plot tractor they are hard to beat.

I would never ever buy a tractor without 4wd. Or a truck.

I agree. If your budget is low You can get a good running '68-'75 4000 with diff lock for that. Those are the years I would start with on a Ford. The 3000/3600 is a good one too. I use to have a 3000 and it was a great machine especially for bush hogging 4-wheeler trails with a 5ft bush hog. But the 4000/4600 is a more capable tractor. For a food plot machine there is not much a 4000 would not do including run a loader if you found one that would fit it. The 4600 would be better but they are essentially the same as the 4000 just hydros (I think) are updated a bit on the 600 series... 3600/4600 models and they swapped from a generator to an alternator making the wiring a bit easier to deal with on the instrument panel.

You got options. I'm not selling anyone on the Ford, Deere and Massey Ferguson made a slew of good tractors as well. So did IH. But parts for older IH and Allis Chalmers in that horsepower range are too hard to get and can be expensive.

You absolutely can buy a used tractor that is a worn out POS. Let's face it. They are old and who knows how many actual hours are on one. But you can also get one that has been taken care of. Look at how many are on Craigslist for sale. They are still running. Anyone that says that era Ford/Deere/Massey is not dependable does not have a clue what they are talking about. A tractor bought new today and used will NOT be running in 40 years.

Look, everyone wants a 70hp 4wd tractor with a loader. Me too.They can suggest it all day long...But they aren't going to help you pay for it.

Let's take an Example: There is a Massey 265 on B'ham Craigslist first page in Wilsonville. $5500. Roll Bar and Canopy. 60 PTO Horsepower. 50 at the draw bar. Cat II lift @ 4,000 lbs. Rebuilt Perkins Diesel. Diff lock. Looks like it might need a seat and some headlights. Make a bumper for it and a little spray paint you'd have more tractor than you ever needed.

That is a more capable tractor than 90% of the people on this board have.

Thank you all so much. This is exactly what I was looking for...keep it coming.

What are the pros and cons of a disc vs. a tiller, uses, etc.

I have a mf 165 that I've been food plotting, bush hogging with for almost 30 years, put about 200 hours on it per year. It's 53 pto hp. As long as there is juice in the battery, it will start and run no matter how long it's been sitting.
Bought a new mf 2615, 43 pto hp, about 5 years ago and it will do everything I need to do. I keep the 165 at my lease and we still use it on a regular basis and I think it will probably still be going strong when I'm 6 feet under. Both tractors are 2wd and that's never been a problem for me, neither one has a loader.

I think a PTO Tiller as the ultimate Garden implement. If you have a big garden the tiller will do it all in one pass.

If you have 30 acres of food plots you are going to be there a while. It is slow and difficult going in unimproved ground with rock, tree roots, etc.

If your ground has been worked for a number of years and/or you have fairly loose soil and everything is nice and clean I think a tiller is good. Otherwise the disk is more durable and faster. You can pick up a disk and a all-purpose plow for what you'd spend on a tiller I would think.

A tiller in my opinion is the way to go if your plots are established. One good pass and they're ready. You do have to watch out for stumps and don't get around living trees. Stay out from under their branches and you will be fine. You can move faster with a disc but if you don't have a extremely heavy disc and tractor it will take a few passes to get the ground chopped up well. A plot that is shaded may disc in nicely the first time but one that has a thick layer of grass on top will take a bit of time. I like to see pure dirt or mostly dirt in my plots. On an established plot I will take a tiller over a disc any day. I can run around 3mph with my tiller. If you do get a tiller get one with gears. NO CHAINS!

Good Lord, you don’t need 4x4 or a 50 horse tractor to plant 15 food plots. The only reason for 4x4 is if you have a loader. Older Fords or Masseys with a Perkins 3 cylinder will run for ever and will always crank if the battery is charged. You can get what you need (maybe not what you want) for less than $8,000 with a bush hog, disk and spreader if you shop around.

We also have about 15 acres of plots. Spraying took 6 hours, one guy on tractor, another carrying water.

This year I tilled 6 fields that were about 5 acres in about 6 hours. These were established fields in central Al (good dirt, no rocks) all but one had been sprayed but not cut. The one not sprayed had green growth over 6' tall which was no problem for the tiller. One pass and they look awesome.

Another guy disced 8 fields about 9 acres in about 8 hours. He made 3 passes in most fields and they still didn't look as good as the tiller.

All the seed was covered with the tiller set very shallow. Not sure on hours there, but I'd estimate 12 for covering.

I don't know anyone that uses a tiller. Takes too damn long.
Spray, and then disc.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned getting a tractor with a ROPS. I simply won't set foot on one without it. And I know several that have died without one on there.

Here's a real good looking Ford 3000

https://www.facebook.com/groups/21432827...resting_product

Well do you wear a harness or seatbelt while using it? And you don't have to answer that... but I don't see people on tractors with ROPS and seat belts. I never see people out in the country on a tractor wearing a seat belt. Maybe the County road crew was the last time I saw someone actually using a seat belt on a tractor off a job site. I really can't remember it has been so long. .

ROPS with no seatbelt is just as dangerous as without.

Tractor Safety is a completely different discussion. You can get hurt or killed pretty easily around one. I figure we can all agree on that for sure.

I absolutely use my seatbelt. Every time. The dang bushhog is lethal and 4' from me. One bump and you could bounce backwards into it. If folks don't use the seatbelt, that's crazy as hell.

I use a tiller. I have an 8 footer. I can actually run on at a pretty good pace but my fields are really established. One pro to me is that it only takes one pass and makes a nice, level seed bed

Yeah, if you've got a big tractor and a big tiller, you can do some work.

Tillers rule.

We use the tiller in all our established plots. Cuts our planting time by over half. One and done.

Someone new at tractor work needs just a disc not a tiller. A good used tractor, disc, and a bush hog is all you need. I had a Massey 245 I wish I had back but you can find anything around 35-40 HP. These will work fine.

Takes less time and does a better job to prepare a perfect field with one pass of a good tiller than multiple passes with a disk.
Plus one heck of a lot less wear and tear on the tractor and the operator.

I have a 245 I use with my spreader and cultipacker. I cant reach the lever on spreader from inside the cab of the IH986.

I like that tractor. It would be fine for someone who does 8-10 acres at most.

When I had bottom land my tiller was my go to. Now that I'm upland with mostly chert, it's useless. I'm probably going to sell it at some point, just been too busy to let anybody look at it.

I'd like the first shot at that tiller the you sell it.

This is common sense. You don't need a 4x4 and you don't need a loader to manage a few food plots. I've done a bunch of years of farming without either. Currently have one big tractor with a loader but I still don't have a 4x4 tractor. That crowd who says, "I won't buy anything unless it's magnum turbo supercharger 4x4 with big ol honkin front end loader"!
That's just a bunch of city boys don't know shcit about nothing.

I've been planting my foodplots for at least 5 years at my hunting club with an atv,sprayer,and spreader. My plots always look good. You don't need a tractor to grow good food plots.

I don't even want to think about planting around 20 acres with an atv

Really? All I do is spray, wait 2-3 weeks and sew my seed. Done. Planted 3 acres in just over an hour and don't have to haul a heavy ass tractor to the club.

Blumsden, do you bush hog or roll the dead grasses and weeds down or just leave it standing.

When you spray grass, after about 3 weeks it will lay over and create a mat. I thought I had screwed up, because I didn't think the seed would reach the ground. I was wrong. I made a pass over it with the spreader, got off and pulled back the thatch and seed was all over the ground. Any that was not will easily make it to the ground with a good rain. I've planted this way for the past 2 years at my club. No bushhog. I don't even drag over it anymore. I got tired of hauling my tractor. It really puts some wear and tear on a truck. Some stiff broadleaf plants will stay standing, but there not that tall and this is a food plot not a golf course.

I live where I plant, so a tractor isn't a problem, but I was think of trying this on a couple of hillside fields. These fields dry out really quick in the fall after rains and wash also. This might be a help for them. Thanks

Goatkiller has some good posts in the thread. I'm not really familiar with Ford tractors of that era, but I planted deer plots for decades with an International H on one place and a Super C on the other. We had a pull type Bush hog and a disc and that was it for a long time. Then my dad found a discplow that operated on a pull rope and we could make deer plots as good as any made with a fancy tractor.

Those old tractors with the big tires would go places my 4x4 Yanmar wouldn't have a chance of getting through. For your situation, I'd get an older 2wd tractor, a disc and a bush hog. Appoint someone in the club to be equipment manager and let him be responsible for it. Make an agreement that if the club ever disbands you will sell it all and divide the money. Good luck!

Have a Ford 4000 for sale in Clarke county for 3000 or best offer. If interested pm me

I know of one for sale, a JD 790 4WD with all that goes with it. Doesn't leak a drop of anything. FEL, heavy 7' disk, 60" box, heavy bushog. 2004 with 300 hours and barn kept. Dang thing like new.

Same tractor I have and it is a fine food plot tractor. Only thing I would be concerned with is a 7' disc. I had a 5' disc with plenty of weight and it was all it wanted, I switched to a 5' tiller and it is perfect

I was thinking same thing. The 790 is a fine little tractor but the lift arm capacity is 900# and a 7' disc seems a bit much. We have a 770 4x4 and it'll handle a 5' heavy disc like a champ.
I have a 6' Prime Brand disc that I pull with the 5210. It weighs 1100# and it's a bear for that 50 hp tractor.

Pulls the disk just fine. Keep it in 4WD.

New tractors have all that electronic bunk and emissions crap. Get an older tractor and you can work on it yourself.

Tiller does take more time but is easy on the tractor and the tractor driver. The thing I like about the tiller is the ground is perfect with one pass.