Rotovator vs small tractor

Siamsa Sessions

Hi all,

We’re looking to start a small horticulture enterprise, planting around half an acre to begin with and progressing from there if all goes OK.

Is it practical to use a rotovator on a plot this side? Or would we realistically need a small tractor?

Thanks

my3cents

How long is a piece of string?

If the soil is decent then a rotovater the 5hp or bigger size will do the job but you'll get some good exercise.

With a tractor unless you are doing the whole lot in one go you will waste ground as headland and turning space. A rotovator can go much smaller areas with little trouble.

twofish101

You would need a rotovator like the Howard Gem for a site like thit just to make any progress. There is one on DD for around 2K, however they are very good and will bring up a fine tilit.
For a little more you should pick up a compact and rotovator around 17hp. The tractor would be handy for other jobs like pulling a trailer, or a transport box on the 3 point linkage. you could also get a plough/ridger for the tractor which would help a lot with soil prpeeration.

Siamsa Sessions

Thanks folks. Would what we’re aiming to plant make a difference? The plan is spuds, kale, carrots, and maybe lettuce - at this stage.

twofish101

Continuous use of the rotovator will cause a pan to form (rotary action) over time, get ground ploughed to start with as this will turn over any brash growing on the surface and make creating a tilth easier. Are you going organic? if so tractor with a hoe would be handy

my3cents

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks folks. Would what we’re aiming to plant make a difference? The plan is spuds, kale, carrots, and maybe lettuce - at this stage.

If you do that as four plots or groups of rows you are now only rotovating a quarter of half an acre which are small plots.

I have some experience of growing lettuce commercially and a really fine tilth from a tractor rotovator (or Howard Gem type wheeled rotovator) allows you to plant plug grown plantlets very easily.

I'm a little against inexperienced users getting something like a Howard Gem (great machine) as my boss from years back lost his leg under one. They just have too much power if things go wrong in his case he hit something immovable the back end with the rotors jumped out of the ground and he tried to control it and ended up pulling the rotors down on to his leg. But if you know the dangers then its less likely to happen to you if it takes off let it go.

You might also want to consider that you may want to use anything you buy inside a pollytunnel later on.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks folks. Would what we’re aiming to plant make a difference? The plan is spuds, kale, carrots, and maybe lettuce - at this stage.

I've two brother in laws that have BCS garden tractor with no complaints, you can get plenty attachments for them too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhtlz0k5bd0

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks folks. Would what we’re aiming to plant make a difference? The plan is spuds, kale, carrots, and maybe lettuce - at this stage.

I've two brother in laws that have BCS garden tractor with no complaints, you can get plenty attachments for them too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhtlz0k5bd0

That’s the type of machine I’m looking for - something between a rotovator and a small tractor!

Thanks

Siamsa Sessions

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

wrangler wrote: »

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks folks. Would what we’re aiming to plant make a difference? The plan is spuds, kale, carrots, and maybe lettuce - at this stage.

I've two brother in laws that have BCS garden tractor with no complaints, you can get plenty attachments for them too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhtlz0k5bd0

That’s the type of machine I’m looking for - something between a rotovator and a small tractor!

Thanks

Just looked up the price - 2,500 Sterling new!

Have to see if I could shove it into a TAMS grant between sheep wire and stakes!!!

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Just looked up the price - 2,500 Sterling new!

Have to see if I could shove it into a TAMS grant between sheep wire and stakes!!!

Top of the range is 6000 sterling with electric start diesel engine and 34 inch rotavator, you can choose the implements from here.

https://www.tracmaster.co.uk/collections/bcs-two-wheel-tractors/products/bcs-740-two-wheel-tractor?gclid=CjwKCAjwrqnYBRB-EiwAthnBFj6vWPGnTJ6nL1uwcN8L1aRMGE3niNTncQaTfXAUZMPtMapVfM24mRoCKmYQAvD_BwE

Think you might be better to get a small tractor and raid the neighbours ditches for small plough, rotavator and ridger.
Veggie growing is hard work, And that's the easy part compared with dealing with shops and in particular hotels

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Just looked up the price - 2,500 Sterling new!

Have to see if I could shove it into a TAMS grant between sheep wire and stakes!!!

Top of the range is 6000 sterling with electric start diesel engine and 34 inch rotavator, you can choose the implements from here.

https://www.tracmaster.co.uk/collections/bcs-two-wheel-tractors/products/bcs-740-two-wheel-tractor?gclid=CjwKCAjwrqnYBRB-EiwAthnBFj6vWPGnTJ6nL1uwcN8L1aRMGE3niNTncQaTfXAUZMPtMapVfM24mRoCKmYQAvD_BwE

Think you might be better to get a small tractor and raid the neighbours ditches for small plough, rotavator and ridger.
Veggie growing is hard work, And that's the easy part compared with dealing with shops and in particular hotels

Will start with supplying the extended family and go from there. The small tractor would give us more options on the sheep side too - I’d just need a fertiliser spreader, front loader, and maybe a topper. That’d cover most of what we need. Have a neighbour we pay to do such jobs at the moment.

Just need to figure out what will compliment the sheep now. Tillage and cattle might suit in terms of scale but there doesn’t seem to be much money in anything these days!

Eamonn8448

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks folks. Would what we’re aiming to plant make a difference? The plan is spuds, kale, carrots, and maybe lettuce - at this stage.

cant see much of a profit in carrots and kale, main money makers used be broccoli and cauliflower, lettuce you would want to be experienced with. Wish you look with your venture but to answer your post get a tractor far more useful, plenty pf old single furrows, ridgers and rotavators around. Only grew kale once but that was for livestock, if its anything like cabbage wont be much to be made in it.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Will start with supplying the extended family and go from there. The small tractor would give us more options on the sheep side too - I’d just need a fertiliser spreader, front loader, and maybe a topper. That’d cover most of what we need. Have a neighbour we pay to do such jobs at the moment.

Just need to figure out what will compliment the sheep now. Tillage and cattle might suit in terms of scale but there doesn’t seem to be much money in anything these days!

Sheep shearing if you're fit, have recommended it to a few that have done well. :eek:

Markcheese

Depends on your budget.. If you buy a 2 wheeler you'll probably have to source any accessories new... Whereas if you pick up a small tractor you can usually get second hand accessories fairly easily...

Siamsa Sessions

Markcheese wrote: »

Depends on your budget.. If you buy a 2 wheeler you'll probably have to source any accessories new... Whereas if you pick up a small tractor you can usually get second hand accessories fairly easily...

That's kinda the way I'm leaning at the moment. We have the shed space to keep machinery inside too so no problem keeping them dry.

gomamochi1

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Hi all,

We’re looking to start a small horticulture enterprise, planting around half an acre to begin with and progressing from there if all goes OK.

Is it practical to use a rotovator on a plot this side? Or would we realistically need a small tractor?

Thanks

I use a small compact tractor, Japanese kubotanor Mitsubishi, great bit of kit with rotovator, linkage kit so can attach trailer, link box, mower, anything else.in fact fenced a field last weekend with the motivator using it to pull the sheep wire. Class job. U can get a small tractor on done deal or adverts for around 3k lot of money to start but believe me it paid for itself 10 fold. Got a quote to fence 1 acre site around 2500e. Ended up costing me guts of 800e with the compact tractor. Thanks

Siamsa Sessions

gomamochi1 wrote: »

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Hi all,

We’re looking to start a small horticulture enterprise, planting around half an acre to begin with and progressing from there if all goes OK.

Is it practical to use a rotovator on a plot this side? Or would we realistically need a small tractor?

Thanks

I use a small compact tractor, Japanese kubotanor Mitsubishi, great bit of kit with rotovator, linkage kit so can attach trailer, link box, mower, anything else.in fact fenced a field last weekend with the motivator using it to pull the sheep wire. Class job. U can get a small tractor on done deal or adverts for around 3k lot of money to start but believe me it paid for itself 10 fold. Got a quote to fence 1 acre site around 2500e. Ended up costing me guts of 800e with the compact tractor. Thanks

Thanks for that. We have lots of fencing to do so it’d be handy to stretch wire properly!

gomamochi1

wrangler wrote: »

I've two brother in laws that have BCS garden tractor with no complaints, you can get plenty attachments for them too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhtlz0k5bd0

All the above can be gotten for compact tractor too. I find them very versatile and end up doing a week work in a weekend on a small holding.

gomamochi1

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Will start with supplying the extended family and go from there. The small tractor would give us more options on the sheep side too - I’d just need a fertiliser spreader, front loader, and maybe a topper. That’d cover most of what we need. Have a neighbour we pay to do such jobs at the moment.

Just need to figure out what will compliment the sheep now. Tillage and cattle might suit in terms of scale but there doesn’t seem to be much money in anything these days!

Recently sold a excess to requirements rotovator.fod 200 quid so they are around the place handy enough.

DX85

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gomamochi1

DX85 wrote: »

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Couldn't disagree more re Compact tractor- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq5plLHv6bo see a small plough on a kubota B7000 which you can probably pick up for around 2700- 3000 for a 4 wd.
Japanese tiller (Curved Blades more used in Paddy fields for laying rice) had no problem on my hard ground that I was reclaiming to lay lawn seed with out ploughing though ploughing before hand would have been much handier! I then used a land leveller I made myself from 70mm angle iron to clear away any stones and laid the seed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rCTCpYxSxQ
I have had various compact tractors over the years with loaders, link boxs, water pumps gone, clutchs gone, cyclinder head gaskets gone and never had too much trouble sourcing parts on various website such as sparex.ie and some hungarian crowd for the odd bearing I cant get locally. I think its a negative economy buying a walk behind rotovator (Save your back) when you can have a compact tractor with tiller and all the other implements and do 4 times the work in half the time. usually good resale after on the tractors if you feel its not for u! I used a lad in Tipperary Tom O Dee on dd. very good to deal with. No connection with him.https://www.donedeal.ie/tractors-for-sale/large-selection-of-compact-tractors/15597879 Thanks
some samples of yokes I have had over the years on my small holding-

DX85

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my3cents

DX85 wrote: »

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You can rotovate with a Kubota tractor that is only 12.5HP, the old B4200 used to be a great little tractor especially with its own custom made rotovator (it bolted on rather than use the 3 point linkage).

DX85

This post has been deleted.

NABLOSE

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Hi all,

We’re looking to start a small horticulture enterprise, planting around half an acre to begin with and progressing from there if all goes OK.

Is it practical to use a rotovator on a plot this side? Or would we realistically need a small tractor?

Thanks

Hi there, just seen this post, we are a smallholding in the northwest of ireland, we have a ferrari rotavator for sale it's an old model around the 74. model typs, we sell it with a rotivator attachment and a swivel plough (very handy to plant potatoes and mantain the rows afterwards)
Has to brand new tyers and rims are newly painted, working perfect.
Private message me if you interested.
Cheers

Siamsa Sessions

Resurrecting this thread briefly as we’re probably going down the compact route for a number of reasons (if it helps others):

* Smaller money for newer machine; same for implements

* Less choice - too many regular dealers; also less trawling DoneDeal trying to pick up bargains! Buy what you need or else trawl DD for what you might like

* Easier to drive into sheep sheds and manoeuvre around vegetable patches

With a bale spike and transport box on the back (hay or straw only) and a fertiliser spreader, we’d have 90% of our jobs done.

One issue we need to check now is whether a 25-30HP compact will pull a quad spreader, as the compact spreaders seem fairly small.

bryanMC

@DX85 Half of the stuff you're saying is not true. Not sure where you're getting this info from but it's not good to advise people if you're not really and expert in the topic.
a) Rule of thumb is 1HP to every inch of rotovator and a couple of horsepower more.
Not true. A Kubota B1600 (16HP) came with original 44-48 inch rotavator and it did great. Now I have a 20 HP Yanmar and it has an original 56 inch rotavator.
b) I would stay away from Japanese rotovators. You will find it hard to get the hooked shaped tines for them and also they are lethal when the tines break as they leave needle sharp points....
Blades for Japanese rotavators are easy to get. Guy from Waterford that sold me a compact tractors has all of the replacement blades for rotavators, stone buriers, flail mowers etc. And I've found a few other dealers offering these blades. 
And any blade that brakes can cause injury, be that L shaped or hooked one. It's just a matter of replacing them and storing the rotavator properly covering the blades.
c)  Japanese rotovators though... no way... a 60 - 70 inch howard he'll have for life.. 
My Yanmar is 26 years old and it's with original rotavator. I've checked it after buying and it didn't even need the bearings and seals replaced. After greasing I'm sure it will last for years without problems.
d)  I'd be getting something around the 70 - 80 HP range personally. You won't have to change it then if you want to increase production area to a couple of more acres
May I remind you the topic is about a smallholding? 70-80 HP tractor is a machine suitable for a mid-size farm. It will be the worst choice for a smallholding making it unable to use it in most places, manoeuvre between trees and indoors. If I got an 80 HP tractor for my small farm and stables I couldn't use it for cleaning horse boxes, mowing lawns and pastures around the property etc.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have a feeling you've never had such a tractor have you? If you had I'm sure you'd know the above.

bryanMC

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Resurrecting this thread briefly as we’re probably going down the compact route for a number of reasons (if it helps others):

* Smaller money for newer machine; same for implements

* Less choice - too many regular dealers; also less trawling DoneDeal trying to pick up bargains! Buy what you need or else trawl DD for what you might like

* Easier to drive into sheep sheds and manoeuvre around vegetable patches

With a bale spike and transport box on the back (hay or straw only) and a fertiliser spreader, we’d have 90% of our jobs done.

One issue we need to check now is whether a 25-30HP compact will pull a quad spreader, as the compact spreaders seem fairly small.

Regarding the spreader I think it will manage much bigger attachment than a quad spreader. I reacall the guy in Waterford I bought my tractor from had a 200L spreader mounted on a 3-point linkage. It was a PTO driven one. He said most of his compact tractors would manage it perfectly.