[redsquirrel]

Hi all, I am fortunate enough to own three acres in southern scotland, which my wife is gradually turning into a garden, but keeping on top of it is a lot of work. I am hoping a small tractor would help relieve some of the effort. But which one to buy. I have been looking at the second hand Jap ones in particular the Yanmar but have been drawn to the Chinese ones like the Siromer and Jinma but dont know anybody who has got one. There is always the odd one for sale and they normally have low hours, which worries me as I wonder why they are being sold. If anybody has got one I would love to read their views. My land is reasonably flat, I dont feel I need a 4WD, just something I could mount a loader, use a rotorvator, cut the grass, and perhaps have a loading box on the rear. I currently cut the grass with a John Deere Petrol ride on mower which is a great tool but has limited application and is considerably thirstier than a diesel would be. So basically my useage would be light work, fetching and carrying, and taking over from the John Deere. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[little blue]

hello and welcome

[ballingall]

Hello and welcome from Central Scotland- Falkirk/Linlithgow area.

I'd be interested in any replies about the tractor too. I was looking at a compact tractor today as well, probably mostly for muck spreading and moving the muck heap around!


Beth

[Anke]

Hi and welcome from the Scottish Borders.

We have 9 acres ourselves, plus rent another 6 or 7 or so next door. We bought a new Foton tractor, 28hp, 2WD (we didn't want a front loader and the extra cost would have meant that we couldn't have bought any implements). We use it for rotovating (after pigs), topping and harrowing, as well as moving sheep between the fields when ground is too wet to use the car (not a 4WD).

We found it reliable so far, only slight probelm now was that two tyres were a bit flat, but got that sorted. Has so far done all we asked it to do, and our problem was that when we looked 2ndhand was also expensive and as tractor novices we wouldn't have been confident to buy... also found that in this part of the world not many small tractors are sold. This one also fits our standard garage door, so we can lock it into the garage (no cab, so needs cover). We are hoping this one will do us for as long as we need it, so were prepared to invest a bit.

We didn't go for Siromer, because if all built up its not as cheap as it looks. Kubota is VERY expensive, plus so are the implements. I wouldn't go for an older tractor, as my OH is not very good with tractors (and cars, lawnmowers etc etc), so repairs could be quite a hassle.

So we are fairly pleased with it, might try and save up for some hay cutting and turning equipment, once the friendly farmer who bales my hay finds that his baler is beyond repair we might need it...

[Fleecewife]

Hi there.  We are in southern Scotland too, 9 acres, near Biggar.  We bought a Siromer about 10 years ago and love it. It was I think £3000 then and is probably about the same now. We took the build-it-yourself route with some help from Jeff at Siromer who delivered it (I think he hadn't sold many at that point). My husband can give you all the tech details if you email us direct.  We use it for single furrow ploughing, rotavating, topping, occasionally hay turning, general running about and we have a front loader (added later) and a back box (which can hold about 9 small square bales).  What it won't do is run the baler or mower and it struggles with turning hay - for those we have an ancient David Brown.

[Annie22]

Hi and welcome from Australia

[jawcraig]

Me too! I'm near Falkirk too and have about 3 acres of fairly rough grazing - I need something to top it and I suspect a ride on mower would struggle a little. I'm planning to have a good look around at the Highland Show on Saturday, anyone going?