Help with horsepower/PTO for newbie.....

Hello, all!  First post, but a reader for a few months.  Love the information, and just want to kind of see if my thinking is correct on a new tractor.

I have not driven one; ever.  I will test drive before I buy, however.  My questions to you all are based on my needs.  I just purchased 5 acres, with two levels to the property.  The new house will go on the top most pieces (property is a rectangle, not a square).  There is a 5-stall barn and 3 acre pasture on the property.  In between the home "footprint" and the barn is a fairly good grade, but it is a pretty gentle slope.  I intend to mow pasture and do the initial landscaping at the house (as well as cut the lawn weekly).  We will also terrace a couple of levels of outdoor porches.  Muck stalls, carry feed and hay, move rock, sand and dirt, and grade the 1/4 mile driveway, dig a few additional post holes for fencing.  No brush of any consequense, as the whole property is cleared.  Trees, yes, but not too close together or too many.  This is Washington State, so snow is not an issue.

So, I suspect that I will need an FEL as well as a blade, box scraper, tiller and a mower.  I will rent a BH or trencher if the need arises.With that in mind, the next move should be to look at PTO on the tractors that I am considering.  Since I want the widest possible attachments available for a light-to-mid sized CUT, I'm thinking that I would need 25-27 PTO horsepower, which translates roughly to a 32-35 horsepower tractor.  Am I tracking so far??

Next come the candidates.  Have seen Kabota (2800, 3030 and L30 Grand), Kioti CK and DK 35 (what is the real difference?), and the new Cub Cadet/Yanmar Ex 3200. Those are the only dealers close to me, and the one with Kioti and Cub was a plesure to deal with, showed me his service and parts area when I asked to see them, and introduced me to the Service Mgr, who filled me in on what they see from both tractors for both warranty and after-warranty work.  The Kabota guy was probably new, as he knew less about tractors than I do......The only other possibility is a Challenger MT 265B, but I got deflated when I found that I don't get a Cat engine with it.  My understanding is that they sell at rack rate only and are basically a re-badged MF.

I suspect that I would be fine with any one of these, but would like to hear if my methodology is correct, and if I am missing something.  Are my assumptions correct on the PTO horsepower?  How much hp do I need and how much PTO hp for wide attachments (72" if possible)?

Thanks in advance if you are still here.

Hello, I am a Kioti dealer out of central florida.  There are quite a few differences between the CK35 and the DK35.  The CK is in Kioti's Compact line where the DK is built off of a larger heavier duty frame.  The DK35 is also 38hp instead of 35hp like the CK35.  The DK35 does offer a few options that might be of benifit to you.  One is the quick attach bucket on the loader, you can remove it and add other accessories like a hay spear or forks, etc.  The DK35 also does offer you a few hunderd extra pounds capacity to the front end loader.  In our experience the tractor that we would try to sell you if you came in not knowing what you were wanting with what you are looking for would be the CK35, or even the CK30 if you did not need the extra horsepower.  With only having 5 acres it is easy to get too big of a tractor and have that work against you to your advantage. 

With looking to buy the required tractor based on your attachments width there are a few more things that you would need to know.  Take mowers for example, a CK35 can handle a lighter 72" bush hog type mower but can handle up to a 84" finish mower, but the CK30 can handle a 72" finish mower fine but only a 60" bush hog type.  In our store we sell the 66" rhino box blade to go with the CK35 tractor instead of the 72", you do loose a few inches but it does allow you to get closer and work faster due to the fact that it is not sticking out as far.The 66" only sticks out past the tires and inch or two so you can judge the position based on the rear tires instead of having to turn around and look at the box blade.  One attachment that does require more horsepower is the tiller depending on your ground conditions.  The CK35 will handle Kioti 65" tiller fine but the 73" tiller is just a little too much on hard ground. 

I think you really answered your own quesiton. You should buy from the dealer that you feel the best about. You'll be going back there for parts, service and implements. That relationship is important. Check out the equipment as well and let that guide you to the right place.