Newbie needs a hand deciding on a tractor............

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.

What is a FEL, BH and a CUT?  Some times bigger is better.  I have a 362 MF (62HP) on 9 acres and it has never been too big. If a loader is a consideration go with 4 wheel drive.

Hey, is there a newholland dealer close to you. Sorry but Iam partial to blue tractors. To answer some of your questions, you will not be sorry for purchasing a front end loader, it is amazing how often you will ou use it. In regards to your question about hp, it is rated by engine and then by pto, the difference is how much hp you lose from the engine to the pto, a hydro trans will take more hp from the engine giving less to the pto. If there was a nh dealer near you i would ask to see a tz25 and then a tc30, there is not much hp difference, but it will help you decide on the class of tractor you need.