Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire best make of farm tractors?

I’ve been running Kabotas as hard as they can go for about 20 years. Durability is impressive

Whatever you do, stay away from anything with tier 4 emissions. That likely means before about model year 2010 or so. I like to see under 1000 hours on the hour meter. You pay more for JD but they also hold value the best and generally have good parts support. Certainly no flies on Kubota either. They would be my top picks. That said I have a McMormick 80 hp that I bought new in 2009 that works fantastic. Case, New Holland and Massey Ferguson make good tractors too. Have heard parts can be hard to find for brands such as Mahindra and LS etc.

I'd look at four brands..............Deere, Case-IH, New Holland, and Kubota, and see which one I liked the best, then price them. Any one of those brands will do the job. I run New Holland's, have 3 of them, a 115HP, 80HP, and 45HP. Never had a problem getting parts if I needed them, and have had good service out of the tractors. If I were looking to buy a new one tomorrow, NH is where I'd look first. But, that's mostly because I have ran blue tractors for 45 years, starting with Ford's.

John Deere has always been the most popular brand, and there's good reasons for that. The resale values of most models of JD make them a very good investment. But, the others aren't really all that far behind. One thing to keep in mind.......today's tractors are not going to be easy for the average person to work on themselves. So, unless you're bent on buying a new one, I'd take a serious look at a good, clean, low hours, used one. A tractor like that will last a long time, and do just as good a job as a new one.

When I bought my Case (above) in 2015, I did my homework...

The same hp cab tractor at JD was $10k more than the Case. And it didn't include the loader.

Not buying a legacy tractor I will leave to my kids, but rather to use for 10 years or so, that $10k difference, plus another $5k for a loader... kicked the JD to the curb.


Mahindra has lots of models that are assembled in the US. Parts are not bad to get, and are getting better as far as order time. But if it's an odd part, it can delay shipping.

For the money, my newer Mahindra is a beast for the $$ I paid for it! It also doesn't use DEF, or have a DPF. Just put diesel in and go. No regeneration.



I think I enjoy operating the Mahindra more than the Case.

I'd go Blue, (NH), but I work for the company and can get a huge discount.

I should have got you to buy my last one...........lol.

I'm fixing to have to get a Compact Track Loader to clear about 100 acres of land, by pulling and pushing brush (mostly yaupon) out from under majestic live oak trees, to make the land useful again. I'll also have to deal with frequent downed big oak trees from Hurricane Harvey thrown into the mix...

A small, girly CTL just won't be up to the job.

I'll probably be buying a new New Holland. They are made in Kansas, USA too!

Three things are important.

Close, good dealer support, good close dealer support, care to guess number three?

Look into those brush grubing forks that the ASV use. I would think that a combination of the grubing fork graple on a tracked unit would be ideal.

Barry, that should do the job. My Mennonite neighbor rents out his Kubota skid steers, and let me have one cheap last summer to do some work that I knew would be hard on the tractor and loader. I fell in love with it, and if I could justify one, I'd like to own one. I see a lot of those NH ones around here, so they must be pretty good.

If a Deere dealer has a poor parts department and a poor service department, they won't be a Deere dealer for long. Deere & Co. stay on top of that and see to it. Some dealers are surely better then others, but Deere is there to make sure customers get reasonably good support.

Thanks! I'll look into those.

I already have a Danuser Intimidator brush/tree puller that works great on a CTL as well... I'll start with that too.

http://www.danuser.com/attachments/intimidator

Agreed.....

This also is a good deal.....if there is a dealer nearby

Mahindra would warrant a serious looking as well

This is gonna be the most important. Color really don't matter much anymore.

Anything built in the last 10 years will be lightyears ahead of your tractor built back in the 60's.

>>>>

And to answer your initial question "best make of farm tractors?", ........nobody.

Most farmers/ranchers are gonna use what brung ya.

One thing I really like about my Mahindra is NO PLASTIC!

It's all steel.

Body and frame.

This is wise counsel. Visit the dealers of each, and spend some time listening to how the service department deals with customers. Around here, that excluded JD given the premium for their machines, and the attitude of their service folks. It was a closer call with the Kubota dealer...but the distance and premium, and lighter weight of their tractors dissuaded me. I ended up going with MF for my most recent purchase. They’ve taken care of me with a previous tractor and a number of implements/rentals.

FWIW, I’m super impressed with the 4700 series tractors. I ended up with the 70hp with deluxe cab. It is a beast of a machine and has far exceed my expectations.

In this part of Iowa, we see more of the big blue New Hollands, I'm told they are much cheaper than a Deere.

Yes, the battle of the brush. It is a noble cause. In my part of the country it is Russian olive. I think when I cut it all it does is piss it off. Next year it's back with a vengeance.

3) Operating the machinery with actual brain cells?

John Deere. I have an excellent dealer that provides top notch service 18 miles from my farm.