Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best Compact Tractor for less than $20K?

I know some of y'all have them. I just bought a new house on 13 acres of property and I'm going to need to mow it and do maintenance on it. Then there is the ever important shooting range backstop to be built. I'm thinking something in the 25-40HP range with loader, and PTO for mower and PHD. Would love to have the backhoe attachment since I'm on septic and have two wells and a lot of pipeline to the corrals, but that can always be purchased later.

Here is what I'm working with:


Nearly 1000 ft of feed bunks for feedlot, with built in cattle waterers and hydrants in almost every pen. Have a neighbor that wants to lease the pens this fall to feed calves.

Why are you only thinking compact?

Well I don't really need a huge tractor, I guess a utility tractor would work in that price range. I would like as well something kind of newish, don't want to have to rebuild a old cheap tractor right away. Plus if I need a large tractor I can always call on a neighbor who farms the fields behind my house.

My first suggestion would be Kubota, but finding one under 20 grand would be a feat.

I would take a hard look at Mahindra if I were you.

Mahindra is the largest tractor maker in the world...out of India. They're just getting started in the US. However, I have an acquaintance who bought one 3 or 4 years ago. The nearest dealer was 180 miles away. That dealer dropped Mahindra as of March so I don't know where he'll go for parts, etc. now.

Kubota was first on my list, but the price has me balking. Looking at Mahindra online but I have to drive to Ft Collins and that's nearly 200 miles. Kioti, LS and a couple others are a little closer 30-90 mile drive. Tons of Case/IH, Ford/NH, and JD but there all out of my price range.

Off the top of my head, I think I'd just start looking at tractors, small, and larger. By larger, I mean say, up to 60 horse.
Narrowing the search might make it harder to find a good one.

The newer models have bells, and whistles that are nice, but more to break down as well.

I've owned two Mahindra's and liked both quite alot. Its a Japanese industrial product, so quality is good.

Two more thoughts, a diesel will run cheaper, and I'd think about local dealer support.
Running a long way for parts is not good.

A compact Kabota or anything else isn't going to do what you want and certainly the Kabota has it all over the Mahindra.

I consider the 16 Hp Kabota as compact. Same as the little 4wd JD.

You are in the right HP range, but you need a little bigger tractor to get the weight you need especially when moving dirt that you want to do. When the bucket goes up in front with a full load, your back end comes up too.

Keep looking on Craigs List or ? and watch for something 3-5 yrs old .

Anything new with a bucket, etc. is going to be in the 30K range for what you need.

I run an old 52 Ford 8n with a bucket, blade, brush hog, disc and manure spreader. I think they were rated at about 35 HP.I had the engine rebuilt and I almost run out of power at times I can move soft dirt ,but can't dig much, and it has a small bucket.
Basically if you spend the $20K or less on a little tractor within a year you are going to be kicking yourself in the butt and find as time goes on, it is really inconvenient to borrow the neighbors

I have the smallest Kioti-20HP with FEL and have been happy with it. However, I only use it for bushhogging snow removal and dragging an occasional log out of the mtns. My brother has a 26HP Kioti and uses it for about the same. Both are 9-10 years old and have been pretty much trouble free. For what either us paid they have been worth it but neither of us need a tractor to make our living so take it for what it's worth.

I can pick up an old used tractor on the cheap, but my job doesn't give me much time off to work on it myself. So by the time I pay someone to get it in working shape add a loader, and some other attachments I might blow my 20K budget.

This LS Tractor has me interested, and I have $5K left over for loader, mower, PHD, and taxes. I'd have to go to Ft Collins to get the deal. There is an LS dealer a lot closer. However, he wouldn't/couldn't match the price on this particular tractor.

http://www.tractorhouse.com/list/li...OHN+DEERE&Mdltxt=4310&mdlx=exact


The 4310 will do anything you need done and at your price range. I have the next model down - 4210 - and it's been a true workhorse.. You won't regret it.

in laws have a small JD. Piece of junk in my books. Works ok, but it just doesn't have the HP to do things with teh bucket.

As noted, I"d sure buy a used one with a bit more HP behind it like around 50. YOu'll be a lot happier.

We bought a used one many years ago and ahve had very little work done to it. Think it was a late 60s MF around 60 hp. Its had a fuel pump put on and an injector pump rebuilt and really thats about it. Dnot' know where you get the idea that a used one would take a lot of work... Probably havbe put hoses and belts on a few times too plus oil changes...

Any used machine is a crap shoot, some new ones as well.
If a tractor is in fairly decent shape to start with, a good diesel engine will do a lot of work for a long time.
Having said that, it's a crap shoot.

You can get a new 35hp 4wd mahindra for under 20k, my neighbor hasnt torn his up yet so they must be pretty good. I prefer a Massey with a Perkins Diesel myself.

Affordable used ones around here are pretty ragged. Then there is the fact that a lot of small vegetable farms and alfalfa fields in the Arkansas Valley with irrigation you pay a premium for a small tractor. Anything around 60 hp in decent shape and not 30+ years old is going to blow the 20K budget on the tractor alone.

I'm not going to be digging a ton of stuff, and the guy who wants to lease the pens agreed to clean them with his equipment. Then there is the fact that I should have added in the newer it is the easier to finance. I blew most of our savings and all the money we made on the sale of our old house for a down payment on this place, to keep the wife at home and have a payment of less than $700 a month on a 15 year note.

25hp you'll need 4WD to move anything other than loose fill/manure etc with a loader. 40hp, like a NH 3930, is getting big enough to make a loader useful. A 60hp 4wd with a loader is a whole 'nother animal.

If you lease him the pens be prepared for a stench! Big tiime!

I'd be looking for a Kubota MX5000 like this; LINK

I'd get a Danhuser bucket mounted auger (NOT a PTO unit!) like this; LINK ,

and not look back.

I have a 50hp Kubota L5030 with a Kubota loader and that auger as well as a 7' Bush Hog, a 6' Box blade, a gang disc, two-bottom plow, 9' boom pole, spray rig, and a couple of other small attachments for our 100 ac horse ranch.

Ed