Eight Acres

A tractor with implements is an essential tool for getting work done around the farm (as I recently wrote about here). At Cheslyn Rise, our 258-acre property, we have a 75 HP tractor with front bucket and forklift tynes. We have ploughs, a hay rake, cultivator drill (seeder), an 800 L spray tank and a slasher. At Eight Acres, we only had a tiny 15 HP tractor with a slasher. Often we wish we could use the big tractor there too, but it's just not practical to transport it.  When I write about farm work we’ve done using our big tractor, I usually get questions from readers about how to do these things on a smaller scale, for a hobby farm or lifestyle block, especially our recent pasture seeding, which required two ploughs and the cultivator drill. Until recently, I haven’t had any answers. I think it's an issue that we’ve all experienced, it's hard to justify buying even a small tractor for a small hobby farm, and even if you do buy one (ours is second hand), it'...

When we bought a bigger property we knew we would also need a larger tractor.  The tractor that we have been using at "eight acres" is a 17 HP Kubota, which is about the same power as our ride on mower.  It can run the slasher (very slowly) and lift things (not always very safely) but it is not suited to running cultivation implements or a large slasher or lifting hay bales.  While we were waiting for the property settlement date, we spent a whole lot of time researching tractor options and trying to work out the size we needed and whether to buy new or second-hand. The new tractor towing the big plough The size of the tractor depends on the work that needs to be done.  A bigger tractor can tow and lift heavier implements, and it can do most jobs faster than a smaller tractor would.  However, obviously the bigger the tractor the more expensive it is and the more fuel it will use, so the first step is to determine what the tractor really needs to do and w...

I had been resisting buying a tractor for a while, it just seemed like extra hassle and lots of money, but when we moved to our property at Nanango, it became clear that we were going to need one.  We didn't know much about tractors, so we decided to just look for a cheap one secondhand and have a go.  Luckily for us we found one advertised in the local paper for $6000 (that's very cheap compared to a new one).  Its was a little Kubota 1500L.  We went and had a look at it and couldn't see anything wrong with it, so we bought it before someone else could snap up our good deal.  We had it delivered to our property on the back of a tow truck. I wouldn't recommend a second-hand tractor to anyone who doesn't have at least a little knowledge of engines.  If you're someone who services your own car, you'll probably be ok with a tractor, otherwise, you may find yourself paying that much to get things fixed you should have just got a new one with a warranty....