What equipment do you need to maintain a 3 acre farm?
There are some pieces of equipment that you really need to have in order to keep your property in top condition. Of course, there are many “toys” that would be nice to have, but the expense of buying and maintaining them is much higher than renting them once or twice a year. Depending on how much of your land is covered with grass just for the sake of beauties, how much the grass or garden areas will be, or maybe even chicken or sheep pens will determine what equipment you really need. All properties need some type of lawn or garden tractor, unless you are a marathon runner and want to push a lawn mower over an acre or two twice a week in the spring. A general-purpose tractor with a 20 HP or less engine and a 42-inch or 48-inch mower deck can handle three acres of grass with ease. Accessories like a spring rake that make it easier to aerate your lawn or a light snow thrower for winter can make your workload lighter. Lawn rollers, seeders, discs and harrows, power rakes, and even mini-type end loader buckets can be purchased from various tractor and subcompact companies.
When shopping, you will find that tractors are divided into several different categories based on their capabilities. Lawn tractors are basically large lawn mowers that can pull a small trailer, leaf rake, or perhaps push a little snow. A tractor will weigh more and have stronger and larger components. A tractor may have a slightly larger engine, a cast iron rear casing, and may also be able to handle a snow thrower. A subcompact tractor for around $ 12,000 or so is even heavier, you can use weighted wheel or tire weights, front loader and backhoe attachments, and cut 5 acres more easily. The frames are also much stronger and can move mountains of snow with ease. If you own a horse stable or plant a large garden area, a subcompact tractor will take care of all these cleaning tasks without breaking a sweat.
A tag for a long trailer is also a godsend when clearing leaves, moving floors, hauling gravel, or any other yard duty. It’s much easier to load the trailer with all your spring flower plants and drive from bed to bed along with your pallets and soil supplements than it is to carry it all by hand. Moving buckets of water to pens or moving stones or firewood are tasks that are carried out in a small trailer. My trailer is now over twenty years old, and aside from a few occasional paint and grease touch-ups, it is still running strong.
A gas leaf blower and suction cup are also a real time saving device. From cleaning sidewalks and patios to removing leaves from flower beds, a gas leaf blower does the trick. If you have any kind of hedges or fit trees, an electric hedge trimmer also makes the task a breeze. Cutting thirty meters of hedge by hand is no joke. A good wheelbarrow is an often overlooked tool. Don’t buy one of those $ 29 barrows. If you pay around $ 100 or so, you’re in the right neighborhood. Oak handles, HDPE tub, or metal (I prefer polyethylene, it never rusts), and a ten-inch tire is a minimum. Mine is now about twelve years old and I have replaced the handles only once.
I own a fairly large wooded area and the grass areas have a lot of trees too. These produce only tons of branches and fallen leaves each year. I bought a small shredder for branches 3 “and smaller and it does a good job. Anything larger than 3” cuts for firewood. This machine produces a fair amount of mulch for us, so it was well worth the price.
I rotate-till my garden once a year did not seem to justify the purchase of a rototiller that would sit for 11 and a half months a year. The daily rent is about $ 45, so for $ 45, I tend our garden and the rental center store can maintain it year-round.
A pressure washer is another great tool for the average home. Washing decks or sidewalks, house siding or barn floors is made much easier with a pressure washer. They are quite cheap and do a great job. Maintenance is basically making sure it drains against freezing when stored and checking the engine oil.
If you own these tools, you can practically get by. As time goes by and you can afford it, adding a few extra implements to the tractor, such as a post-hole excavator or a bulldozer, can make even bigger tasks easier and faster.
Ask your dealer what size machine you need and they will be happy to help you decide. They want a happy customer to come back and recommend you to others.
Pete ackerson