Well xmas came early to the farm. We bought a new tractor. Our rational for the tractor is multifaceted. This tractor will be our only tractor for the foreseeable future and will be tasked with moving Sifs Harvest forward in all aspects. This includes land use, reuse and occasionally misuse. We needed to have a 3pt hitch, Loader and some implements, We also needed it to have considerable horsepower. The Cub cadet is 25 hp no loader and no 3 pt PTO. We have abused it for 4 years on this property towing, moving, mowing 5 acres etc etc So it was important to provide some relief for the cub cadet. This was not a part of our original plan for the property. Originally we did not expect the driveway (.25 mile lane to need attention as quickly as it has. To that end we needed an angle blade and a box blade plus loader to move gravel and to ensure driveway operationality for years. We also needed to be able to keep the driveway free of snow after two years of not being able to get off the property more than once.

We considered many criteria including two wheel Vs 4 Wheeled tractors. The wonderful people at https://www.earthtools.com/ are an amazing resource for all things walk behind (two wheeled) tractor. Early in our process two wheeled tractors were eliminated due to lack of adequate earth moving capabilities. We are still considering them for the market garden as that evolves.

Bobcat CT 4050 HST. We selected the bobcat over Deere, Kubota, LS and Massey Ferguson plus others. The decision came down to several criteria that needed to be met. Bobcat met or exceeded the requirements where every other tractor we considered was lacking or inferior to the Bobcat.

1. Service- This was the area that we were most concerned with the Bobcat. They sold tractors previously and left the market. They came back 2 years ago and are expanding their offering and increasing production to meet demand. The 35-55 HP space is extremely desirable as we will go into more depth later. Bobcat in our area is represented by Rexco Equipment. They have 4 locations within 45 mins of us and 6 within a hour. All of the location provide service and they are able to come and get the tractor for offsite service. This is common in the area with Deere, Kubota and LS. Massey would not provide a straight answer when I was talking to their folks before the local representation changed to a new company this year.
2. Functionality- When using a tractor you can expect to be seated for a good amount of time while you are doing whatever you plan on doing. I am not a small person so having a seat that was somewhat comfortable was important. LS and Massey failed this criteria as the operators station was cramped and not as intuitively designed at the Deere and Bobcat. The Deere 3 Series was acceptable when not in the “E” models. Bobcat has a significant amount of space in the operators station and is not very cramped. Deere was on the more cramped edge to the point of almost being uncomfortable. The ability of doing the work needed was not a concern for any of the tractors but the Bobcat did provide greater lift capacity with the loader Vs the Deere and Kubota. Bobcat has a universal skid steer coupler for the loader which increased the ability to utilize the loader with universally designed implements.
3. Availability- This was not so much of a concern as we expected to purchase a new tractor and if a dealer could not supply one with what we needed then we would simply go elsewhere. There are many many many tractor manufacturers but their dealer networks are limited. When we began our process identifying brands was helpful as some brands I had never heard of were in our area. Branson and Mahindra are two that came to mind. Branson is very small but does have a loyal following. Mahindra is an Indian producer. While I had to really be cognizant that they have been around a while and that nearly every tractor on the market has some level of outsourced production. The tractor being from India was not a reason to remove it from consideration.
4. Price- It very nearly always comes down to money. How much does it cost? how much will it cost? So while researching I found some short term advantages for Bobcat but the longer term ones were less clear. The Maintenance schedule is rather straightforward. The initial cost outlay is what really sealed the deal for Bobcat. By the time price was the final criteria we were evaluating we had limited our selection to 3 manufactures which had offerings in the range that we needed. We had decided that 35 hp was a min and 65 was a max. At the high end we thought we would not be utilizing the hp available while on the low end it was not much different from the lawn mower and we knew we needed a significant step up in ability. This is also where bobcats newness worked in our favor. The bobcat base price was below both Kubota and Deere. Including the loader it was closer to Kubota with a loader but still significantly below Deere. Including modifications (we added work lights and a second rear hydraulic remote) , loader, we were slightly below Kubota and still significantly below Deere. Adding in the 72 inch reversible tiller( can be either forward or rear rotating), Box blade, Pallet forks, angle blade and Bucket we were still below the build price of the Deere and near the price of the Kubota with modifications and tiller. We did get some incentives that may have been available through Kubota or Deere but we feel as though we got a good deal and are very nearly set up for all of our near term needed with the tractor. The only thing that might make sense is brush hog style mower.

Since have made the decision and have the tractor on site. We are in the process of housing and re arranging our facilities to enable quick and efficient use of the the tractor. We are also thing of naming it. So please if you have a suggestion let us know. Right now Tanngrisnir, Mjolnir, SVADILFARI, ALSVIN, ALSVINDER,