Friday, February 13, 2009

Tractor

I picked up an older model 20 house power garden tractor on ebay a couple of weeks back. It’s a four speed that has the throttle on the dash, I prefer this over automatics. The tractor pulls great and the first gear is a “granny” gear which allows me to pull some decent loads up the ridge. Here are some of the uses I have planned.

Living on the north slope of the ridge creates a problem with snow pack. Even though we have been getting relatively warm temperatures the snow remains somewhat shaded and refuses to melt. With a small blade attached to the front of the tractor and some chains on the rear tires the driveway should be kept clear with little trouble.

The hot dry summers leaves the house surrounded with dry, oily sage brush that burns like paper. Part of my fire mitigation plan is to remove as much of the dead brush as possible. Clearing brush by hand is a hard and unpleasant job. With the tractor and blade it should take a fraction of the time to remove the dead brush and deposit it in the runoff ditch for erosion control.

The new garden will need some rich top soil mixed in with it. A truck delivers the soil to the roadside and I carry it in a wheel barrow up to the garden beds. With a small trailer attached to the tractor I save time and the sore back muscles.

That same trailer can be used to haul firewood from the wood pile to the house. One trip on the tractor equals ten trips for me up the icy path. I hate falling down when my arms are full of wood.

Plus you never know when you might need to pull a float in a parade.

12 comments:

HermitJim said...

Hey Bear...good deal on the tractor...and you're right! You just never know about those parade floats!

Good post, my man!

Anonymous said...

Thats a good buy if you have the acreage requiring it. Great point on the fire hazards high grass can cause. My brother has a pair of ATVs, and a deck mower trailer is on his 'gotta getz' list.

westyoungman said...

Good thinking, Bear. But I think that parade uses should be higher on the list! ;)

Congratulations on your move. I sure wish we could sell our home here in California so we could get to our land in CO.

Anonymous said...

BigBear,

Good find, many uses for that beast.

If you are interested in a cash job --- going over a driveway and parking area in H3 SDCR previously cleared by Bobcat, drop me a private email .

US Farmer

Mayberry said...

Useful little buggers... Nice score!

Ramon said...

Speaking as someone who once operated a "for hire" snow removal service, I don't believe it with really cut it. At best it would be good for only an inch or two on concrete. Even a larger unit like a 8N Ford would be a light weight.

Mo said...

I've had a little tractor for 6 years now. Mighty useful around the ranch. I've abused it pulling all kinds of things with it and mow about 2 acres with it.

I don't own a quad (yet) so I can't compare its usefulness. I plan to acquire a quad and find a logging arch to haul logs for lumber and fire wood out at the Yonderosa. I don't think a quad would work as well for mowing but I bet it'll be a lot more fun on the trails.

BigBear said...

Mo,

Cost is the only real issue. I spent $300 on the tractor and a quad for farm work would cost minimum 10 times that ammount. I have a small 250 ATV for running around. It can pull a decent load but not as much as the tractor for considerably less money.

ATV is fun though

Anonymous said...

what is your long term fuel plan for the tractor?

BigBear said...

When I can no longer afford or can't get fuel I will just park it. If I can't afford fuel it won't matter if the driveway is clear.

BigBear

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a good tool for enriching your garden soil. If you can find an alpaca farm in your vicinity -- and there probably is one -- the manure looks like licorice jelly beans and is an awesome plant nutrient. Bet your tractor could blend it in just fine. Good luck!

Unknown said...

bet i could fit a 302 in that ;-)