I need some advice from people that know tractor work and food plots. I meet a local up at our lease in GA this weekend to get some quotes on providing tractor work for our food plots. We have six (6) plots (+/- 0.5 acres each) that were existing but have grown over, looks like they haven't been touched in well over a year at the least and are very thick with vegetation.
Let me run these #'s by everyone to see what they think. This guy is running a +/- 65 horse Kubota with 6' implements
Labor: $90/hour
Bush Hog: 1 hr / 0.5 acre - this seems way too much time to me.
Disc Harrow: 2 hr / 0.5 acre - even cutting in 2 directions this seems way too much time to me
Recommendations received for finishing the plots:
4 bags (30 lb) of fast acting lime/0.5 acre
4 bags (30 lb) of fertilizer/0.5 acre
1 bag (50 lb) Rackmaster Spring Mix/0.5 acre
I can price these out myself just looking for proper ratios, etc.
Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.
I have no clue as to the going rates etc....but I think you could probably buy a small tractor with a bushhog and discs for what it would cost to have that guy come out two or three times.
90$/hr is rape. You can rent a tractor and keep it running all day for much less than that
I figured once he gets the heavy lifting finished we could take care of it moving forward with 4 wheelers ourselves. But your right, I could afford a pull behind mower and small disc at his current quoted prices.
It depends on how overgrown it is chief? Do they have sapplings growing in the old plots? $50 an hour for just running the brush hog over grass and weeds under 4' is about right and the same with the disc but as soon as it's any heavier, has brush or saplings it's $100 an hour. I used to get that regularly and normally had work with the 40 hp Kubota 4x4 lined up two weeks out.
