Portage River Farm

My snow shoveling misery of last winter made the purchase of a tractor one of our major goals for this summer. Now that the weather is warming and things need to be planted in our garden, that need is rising even higher on the list of priorities. Not knowing much of anything about tractors, I set myself to the task of studying up on them and doing an exhaustive search for the perfect machine for our uses and budget.

The first step in the process was to think about the particular uses that we had for a tractor. The three things that came to mind instantly were plowing, mowing and snow removal. Secondary things that would be useful if we could afford them are shoveling loose material such as dirt, gravel and manure, post hole digging and road grading. We also have a fairly tight budget target for the whole project which helps to keep things in perspective.

Tractors come in a wide range of sizes in terms of horsepower (hp). There are two different important horsepower ratings depending upon what uses you have in mind. The first power rating is "drawbar horsepower". That is an expression of the tractors ability to pull something behind it. Our greatest demand for drawbar power is for plowing the fields which with my preferred three-bottom (three cutting blades) plow in our loamy sand soil will require at least 45 hp at the drawbar.

The second power rating is "power take-off" or PTO horsepower. The tractors have a spinning shaft at the back end that can be used to power implements called the "PTO". Our greatest demand for PTO torque would be for a brush hog mower. A six foot wide brush hog will require at least 50 hp to operate well without overtaxing the engine.

The final requirement that eventually moved from the "would like to have" to the "must have" column was a front-end load bucket. This implement will allow us to scoop and move dirt and gravel around as needed. The hydraulic lift on the arms that hold the bucket can even be used to pull brush and small stumps out of the ground.

Given all of those requirements, I began an Internet search throughout Michigan and Northern Ohio for the perfect tractor. Right away it was obvious that an older model tractor would fit the bill and still be reasonably priced. There are many large tractors from the 60's, 70's and 80's that still have many years of useful life in them and are far more affordable than newer models. However, not so many of them come equipped with front-end loaders which helped greatly to narrow the field of possibilities.

In the end I located a couple of strong possibilities at a used tractor dealer in Fenton, Michigan. I have visited them twice this week and am starting to get very seriously interested in the 1976 Massey Ferguson 255 that is shown in the pictures. After talking to the dealer about adding in a wide assortment of implements, I am now armed with a final price tag and just have to figure out how to pay for it!