If I were spending Deertracker’s massive trust fund, therefore cost not being a concern, I’d buy a New Holland Boomer 50 or 55. Add the biggest loader the tractor will handle, wheel weights, and call ‘er good.
Or pick your favorite color, Kubota, Deere both have similar models. No sense talking to a Kubota guy about Deere or a Deere guy about Kubota, etc everybody seems to have their brand mind made up.
But since I’m spending real money, I’m currently in the market for a 50 HP and my only dream criteria are that it has to have less than 1000 hours and be pre-emissions because I don’t want anything to do with all that crap on a small tractor. I want old school simple stuff that I can fix myself. I want the biggest QA loader the tractor will handle. I don’t care about brand as long as its one of the big 4.
I talk to a lot of food plotters every year. If the goal is to save time, it’s less about the tractor and more about the implements. As DT said, a big no-till rig would probably be the biggest time saver because it cuts the discing/tillage step out completely for most plotting operations. The key with NT is the rigs are big and heavy so you have to size your tractor accordingly.
The biggest time/work saver for me was getting a high-quality boom sprayer setup. Frost, Inc, IMO makes the best food plot sized sprayers on the market. A big boom sprayer easily cut my spray time in half and boom rigs are more efficient as far as water usage compared to boomless, so you spray more and fill water less. As far as implements, I use my sprayer more hours every year than I use any other implement.
Also, your planting strategy can be a big work saver. Being all in on annuals is a lot of work. I have half my 12 acres of plots in perennial clover/alfalfa blends. So for that half of my acerage, the only thing I do is spray and mow.
Grouse
