Which Farmall Model is Best?

The wife and I moved onto a 133 acre farm and are renovating the property. We are looking at adding livestock (already have a nice size garden), and quite possibly expanding into some other opportunities. My family had Farmall tractors and if I remember correctly Papa had a Model M.

I would like to be able to use some attachments (cultivators, tiller, belly mower or bush hog and quite possibly drag a hay wagon around whether in town or on the farm.

What model and year would any of you suggest and why?

Cant speak for a tiller, but with the other stuff, a H would do you fine. A M couldnt hurt either, But if your just starting out and dont yet know to how much youll expand your farming operation, Starting out with an H will fit nicely. If you eventually feel the need for 2 tractors, but not the same size as the H, cause #1. Its too big, You could get a C. If you feel that the H is too little #2 you could get an M

A Farmall 656 should work fine for you. It is about the same physical size as the Farmall M but but has all the modern conviences such as live pto, modern hydraulics, power steering, draft control 3 point hitch and other convience features. It was available with regular transmission, TA, or Hydrostatic drive. It was built from 1965-1972 in gas, diesel, or LPG.

Harold H

IMHO I would get 2 tractors if possible. I have a B, C, and M. The M is for loader work such as moving snow, trees, or the posthole digger. The C mostly sits, but I have a plow and sickle mower for it. The B has a belly mower and is the handiest little tractor for moving wagons, mowing, and just getting from point A to B. The nice part about the B is you don't have to get off of the seat to pull the drawbar pin, just lean back and pull it up. If it was me I would get something with live power for the larger tractor and a little one for the little chores.

With the M as a foundation idea, the Farmall 350 gas, SMTA gas, 400 gas, 450 gas, 560 diesel or gas, or 656 diesel or gas, are good choices. The M and H are bad choices because they do not provide the operator safety or live PTO. hydraulics, or (except for the SMTA) a implement lifting system (fast hitch, or 3 point).
Let us help choose your find and give looking advice, then more info for appropriate implements when you find your steed. Jim

I vote that you should have more than one.

A Super C with fast hitch would do it all with all the appropriate implements. I absolutely love it as a garden tractor. It's just a handy size and nimble in close quarters. Cheap and easy to operate and keep up. With the proper guidance and supervision most anybody can operate safely.

My second favorite is my Farmall 300 row crop with fast hitch. What ever the super C can do the 300 will do it faster.

Keep it simple. The bigger the tractor the more it costs to operate and repair.

My Grandfather raised 10 kids on 80 acres with an 8N ford.

Well you are sure getting a range of advice here but at 133 acres
I would suggest the 66, 84, or 86 series. The 666 or the 686 are
the final evolution of the M. The 784 is one of the last of IH. All of these have independent PTO, 3pt and can handle a rototiller
or swather. The gas M, that is for pulling the wagon. For row planting and cultivating a C is hard to beat but the above tractors can handle it too with more modern rear mounted equipment. I would not consider a tillage tractor if not diesel these days.

You are getting a lot of answers of people's personal favorite, but that's not what you are looking for or needing. If the tiller is important to you, an independant (or live) pto is going to be key. That makes anything of the 300 Farmall or utility and newer, nessesary. Next is how many of the 133 acres do you plan on tilling or cropping in some manor? If you want pasture for livestock, that takes away some of the land. Let's say you might till or have hay on 100 acres, the next thing to consider is how much time you have to devote to that work. Is this a part time venture or do you have pretty much full time? If full time, you can get by with maybe a 30Hp tractor and smaller equipment, but if you work a full time job and do this in the evenings and weekends, you may want a larger tractor and equipment. If you substitute a plow and disk for the tiller, you can get by fine without IPTO, and if you have full time to devote, something low cost like and H might be fine, otherwise, you need to go up in capabilities from there.
Have I really confused the situation for you now?

I would also go with two tractors. My would be a 300 or 350 for light work and a 450 or 560 for heavy work. These should work fine on 133 acre farm and they work if you expanded.

NO and I do mean NO one model of tractor if the best. Be it a Farmall ot a JD or a ford no one does it all. That said you need more then one with that much land. Shoot I only have 44 acres and have around 30 tractors so it all depends on what you plan to do and what you need. Me I could not get by with out at least 7 tractors but I do hay so I need one for each job and then a couple as back ups

(quoted from post at 23:52:53 06/21/11) NO and I do mean NO one model of tractor if the best. Be it a Farmall ot a JD or a ford no one does it all. That said you need more then one with that much land. Shoot I only have 44 acres and have around 30 tractors so it all depends on what you plan to do and what you need. Me I could not get by with out at least 7 tractors but I do hay so I need one for each job and then a couple as back ups

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:lol: Little overkill there, ya' think old?
I agree with more than one tractor (maybe 2) also, but a lot depends on the crops you plan to raise as to what size they should be. If you plan on a few, maybe up to 40, acres of row crop, a small 30 hp or so tractor would be good. You don't need 6 or 8 row equipment for that few acres, so don't need a lot of HP. 2 or 4 row is big enough and cheaper. That small tractor with a 3 point will be handy if you plan to use equipment like a whirlcut (Bush Hog type) mower. Then a tractor of maybe 40-50 HP would help if you run a tiller or plow and disk or pull a baler. It may be more cost effective to hire your baling done and not have the expense and time consuming issue of maintaining the equipment. Same for harvesting any row crops you may grow. Maybe you plan to "truck farm" and that would be a whole new set of problems to deal with.
Another BIG consideration, is how deep are your pockets (what can you afford)?

Old Farmalls CAN NOT run a rototiller. They could MAYBE run one that had it's own engine and all you did was drag it around. Their first gear is way too fast at WOT.

I think with all your goals you will probably need two tractors. If you sacrifice the belly mower and go for a bush hog you could probably get it done with one more modern, 3 pt tractor. Think about it this way, unless you have a skid loader you need two tractors just to haul manure. It is not fun dropping the spreader to fill it up then hooking the loader tractor to the spreader to go spread.

We have a 300..it consumes lots of fuel..(heard 300-400 were gas hogs)have a 544 and can run that tractor all day on a tank of gas..
I have been looking for a larger HP tractor but have been told the hydro transmission have trouble,anyone know more about which models to stay away from?

Good Heavens, Hood, I feel bad for you trying to discern what all is said here. The common sense solution is to get one with Live PTO, 3 Point Hitch, Power Steering and around 40 to 60 HP. Like a 504 let's say. This would be your main "workhorse" then add a cheap one like a Super H or Super M to still have usable horsepower. That main one can do any of the chores you mention, including a rear tiller. I had a roto-tiller on our JD 4020 that was 14 feet wide so they make all different kinds. Hope this helps glean down some answers.

Hood, we were starting the family farm back up. We have 3 tractors, 2 of them Farmalls. The 1206 we picked up cheap. Needed something to run a big snow blower with. Now it also runs the haybine and round baler. That's all it was used for the first 2 years. The M ran the baler and pulled hay wagons. Now it pulls hay wagons and runs the manure spreader. A non IH utility tractor too. That is the most used piece of equipment on the farm. I plowed 11 acres and did pre planting prep work with it this year. Cleaned up some brush in the woods to expand the pasture with a bush hog. Dug some host holes (can't live without the 3 point). Cultivate the rather large 3 acre garden with it too. Plus it runs a 5' finish mower for the lawn. Actually looking at getting another utility tractor with a little more HP and better hydraulics than our current one has.

So with the advice you have gotten so far......I'd say that the H and M's are better left to lite work and parades. Yea they can still do some work but you are very limited in implements. Implements that are getting harder to find because people are using em as lawn art and tractor shows. As stated something with a 3 point and good hydraulics. Check out craigs list. Implements that fit Cat1 3 points are all over the place. I've picked up a plow, digger, cultivator, sub soiler, 5' finish mower, bush hog, 2 row corn planter, rear blade and post hole auger for a total of about 1800 dollars. I also built a 3 point mounted sprayer for it too. But don't forget a bigger tractor too. If you are planning on baling small squares an M works good. Can run a small haybine too but it's pushing that tractor. Something a little newer with power steering gives you a much widers selection of implements to chose from. Plus can handle a loader with ease.

My 2nd most used piece of equipment is a tractor back hoe loader. I use it for manure, tree/stump and rock removal and general loader type chores. It plays with 2000 pound bales! Also come in handy for unloading new implements brought home on a trailer.

Rick

Sflem,

Seeing as how you capitalized "CAN NOT", what is this? Picture taken in Zellwood, FL 1946. That is an H due to the angle of the steering shaft. Exhaust pipe is unusual.

I would agree that a H or M cannot pull a tiller. MTA in low range is marginal. My 660 seems to do OK.
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I agree with Janicholson. For the acreage you have an H or M wouldn't pull a large enough bush hog. It would take you forever to do. I would go with something in the 5-6 hundred series range. They're large enough to pull something but small enough to get in tighter places. My 2 cents

(quoted from post at 12:44:11 06/22/11) Sflem,

Seeing as how you capitalized "CAN NOT", what is this? Picture taken in Zellwood, FL 1946. That is an H due to the angle of the steering shaft. Exhaust pipe is unusual.

I would agree that a H or M cannot pull a tiller. MTA in low range is marginal. My 660 seems to do OK.
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I notice, and I suppose you did too, that the soil is already tilled and VERY soft, before the dual equiped H is going over it. I sure wouldn't want to try it in sod.

The Ms, 400s and 450s were fuel hogs. My experiance has been that the Hs, 300s and 350s are actually quite miserly when it comes to fuel.

Why do you need live pto for a tiller? Put the tractor in gear and go. Low gears are nice for sod, but not really a show stopper in already broken ground. Low gears one pass, not so low two or three passes.

I till quite a few gardens every spring and have both live and non live pto. Works fine.

My .02

Stumpy

An M will do more work on less fuel than a 350. I know because dad had both, and the M would plow more in a day on about 5 gal less fuel.

All I can say at this point is WOW! Never really thought anyone would give my question this much attention, but since y'all did I went ahead and registered here at the forums, haha!

Pardon me for not giving more information...maybe this will shed more light.

Antiquity of a tractor has always been appealing to me, however when "Tractor Time" becomes more of a job, functionality is key. I prefer the old look of a late 40's early 50's Farmall.

Most of the 133 acres can be used for something or another. Currently 70% of it is used for cattle (sectioned off into 3 areas) One of the sections is used for hay, roughly 70 round bails came out of it last season and only 55 this year...give or take. Livestock is rotated through two of the sections until hay is put up and then all three areas become pasture. The other two sections get bush hogged and the rotation begins. We have a hay lot in which we store hay year round and the terrain is hilly. (Tennessee)

I have a full time job and have always said if I could farm full time and have what I needed in life then so be it, I would quit and farming is all I would do. I know, false hopes and dreams (read my signature).

We are entertaining the idea of starting a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, for those who might not know and please pardon my ignorance...here is the link http://www.localharvest.org/csa ) Not quite sure of the size of operation we might start and being a virgin at best, I wanted to combine antiquity of the old Farmall tractor with functionality of a working farm to make the business more appealing. This would be a farm my clients would be visiting on a daily/weekly basis. Some CSA's have been started with less than 5 acres. So with the obvious option of growing from that, here I stand. Not afraid of work, my love of the outdoors, and getting my hands dirty here we go...

Tiller, cultivator, plow and/or disc are of obvious need. The belly mower would be kewl for around the property, but could use the riding mower. Manure spreader or to haul fertilizer, front end loader would be useful and of course I will be needing to use a hay fork, baler, tedder, rake and blade of some sort. Transporting square bails and using it in a parade or two would be fancy. And my 13 year old daughter ( who already drives) would be using it at some point to help the old man. I prefer diesel...better I guess, someone tell me I am wrong, always open to new ideas.

What I thought was really funny and my wife just sat there and chuckled too and said "yeah right", was the fact that almost everyone one of you said I needed AT LEAST 2 TRACTORS. I though it was great and appreciated your help in my quest from the start.

My pockets aren't deep but I'll have what it takes to get started and hopefully be able to expand and grow.

Glad to see my 1st post on here produced so much conversion, now with more info I can only hope it will continue.


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"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."

sorry , I'm not sure how this was posted three times.

see below

It is going to boil down to your own personal preference, price &amp; availability of both tractors &amp; tillage tools in your area.
I agree with those that stated a tractor that is equipped with live hydraulics, live pto would be much better for hay &amp; possibly a pull type combine for grain, hydraulics will enable the use of mounted, semi mounted, or even a trail type tillage implement.

Inital purchase of used vintage equipment is very reasonable compared to the more modern versions, are much easier to work on, and parts availability is getting much better, BUT, you will certainly spend a lot of time &amp; money getting them into dependable condition. You can usually buy a tractor already "restored" much cheaper than you can "fix one up" so knowledge of what to look for and check over before purchase is key. The plus side would be most vintage equipment is built to last compared to some of the more modern versions, so once you do get into shape, they tend to last longer with minimal maintenance.
More modern equipment is certainly higher to purchase, but you gain the benefit of turn key operation with no breakdowns (hopefully), at least at first the warranty should cover any problems, but there is nothing worse than having your shiny new tractor in the shop with a truck load of seed waiting next to the idle planter.
So it tends to be a trade off, if you enjoy tinkering and fixing up equipment, I would go the vintage route. If you have a dozen or so mason jars stuffed with cash buried in the back yard, new equipment would be the way to go.
To properly answer your intial question, I like the Farmall 300 and 350 series row crops for grain &amp; hay, they have enough muscle to get most jobs done, and are small enough to keep fuel costs down, the two point fast hitch can easily be adapted to three point for a very versatile tractor, and the utility versions are very handy for livestock. I would go with a 300 or 350 rowcrop, and a utility 300 or 350 to start out with, as your farming needs change you can go up to either larger or more specialized equipment as the need arises.
Let us know what you decide.

I think you need two tractors and one should be a Super C with a fast hitch and the other a little bigger and more modern. The super c is just the handiest thing you could ever have and then you could get addicted to collecting the fast hitch implements.

I didn't mention my utility tractor by brand because you had ask about Farmalls. So now that you have all these ideas I share a bit more. My utility is a Ford 8N. Not much in the HP department but at the time was affordable. I'm currently looking at early 60's utilities in the 30-40 HP range. No I'm not looking for a certain brand. I am ruling out the ones that parts are getting to be a problem for like Oliver and AC.

I would not ask questions here about value because we are from all over and location like size matters. Here where I'm at an H or M is an 800 to 1200 dollar tractor in OK shape with good rubber, may push 2 grand for a really nic restored one. A Ford 8N ranges from 1250 to 2500 on the average. The 350 utilities are pretty high as are the newer Fords JD and others, 3500 and up. We have a lot of people around here with hobby farms and hunting land so they are in demand.

Plows and disk that are pull behind that will work behind an H or M are getting to be pretty high too plus hard to find. Lots of the lake shore owners think they are yard ornaments. On the other hand I just got a 3 point cultivator for the 8N for 85 dollars.

A 30-50 HP utilitility with 2/3 point, PS and good hydraulics would be a good starting point. A 30 HP utility should mow with a 6' bush hog and use a 3 bottom plow. My 23 HP 8N will mow weeds with a 6' hog but only works with the 5 footer in heavy stuff.

So check avalibilty of implements in your area. Craigs list is a good place to get an idea. Works for tractors too. In my area auctions can be good or bad depending. Dealers lots can go both ways too. Get an idea of what you want. Don't be afraid to make a counter offer, worst they can do is say no.

Rick

Well a little bit different opinion here than others. I'd get a tractor of atleast 100 hp. You are like me and work a full time job off the farm. You can't/don't have the time to farm 133 acres on an H or M Farmall. You would litteraly get home from working your 8 hours and spend the next 16 sitting on the tractor. If you want to just have a hobby farm then get an H or M i guess, if you want to make a couple dollars doing it then think practially. Bigger tractors get the crop in and out faster. Will use less fuel as you cover more ground. Equipemnt costs are actually not that much higher. It seems the hobby farmers all want tractors 60 hp and less, most other farmers all want 150 plus so the tractors in the 100 hp range and equipment for them is reasionabley priced. Also if you want to run a round baler you will need close to if not all of 100 horsepower. just my 2 cents and i wish you the best

(quoted from post at 05:34:01 06/23/11) Well a little bit different opinion here than others. I'd get a tractor of atleast 100 hp. You are like me and work a full time job off the farm. You can't/don't have the time to farm 133 acres on an H or M Farmall. You would litteraly get home from working your 8 hours and spend the next 16 sitting on the tractor. If you want to just have a hobby farm then get an H or M i guess, if you want to make a couple dollars doing it then think practially. Bigger tractors get the crop in and out faster. Will use less fuel as you cover more ground. Equipemnt costs are actually not that much higher. It seems the hobby farmers all want tractors 60 hp and less, most other farmers all want 150 plus so the tractors in the 100 hp range and equipment for them is reasionabley priced. Also if you want to run a round baler you will need close to if not all of 100 horsepower. just my 2 cents and i wish you the best

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You are right about that. I was offering the suggestion of the utility because that's what most people want to get. Nice little (key word) tractors. I know people who are doing just that. About 10 hours a day between getting to and from work plus the work day. Then setting a tractor every evening after supper for 4-5 hours plus all weekend when it's time to plant or harvest. I'm real glad I have that 1206, would rather have an 806 but got the 1206 cheap. I don't have anything that really works it but my round baler calls for a min of 70 HP. And I really hate to run a tractor at it's max. It's hard on the tractor.

Rick

I could't agree more about the part of working a tractor to the max. It will last much longer if you never have to put the throttle past 85%

Have a few of the REDS..H-M-300-504-544 and someone snuck in a Allis 200
But the 544 is my favorite..JUST TO DAMN HARD TO FIND PARTS..

I would get two. One say a 460 utility with a loader. Nothing is more handy than a loader tractor on the farm. Then a 1206 something to take care of all your chores. Then maybe a Farmall A kids like to go on hay rides. I guess that's three.