farming equipment

[plantsnobin]

Not sure this is the best place for this question, but here goes. Does anyone have any firm opinions on suppliers for heavy duty farming equipment? Favorite tractors, and reasons for it? Do you plant by hand or use seeders, transplanters, harvesters? Last year I planted 300 strawberry plants and that just about kicked my ass. As I get older, it seems the ground is getting farther away, and I am starting to have a hard time standing up straight after picking just a few strawberries. My husband is starting to get more into the possiblilty of growing, he just doesn't realize it yet. I don't want to rely on fossile fuels too heavily, but it seems like there comes a time when mechanical is the way to go. Anyone have a diesel tractor that they have converted to vegetable oils? Thanks for any info. Karen

[hoosierheightsfarm]

Karen, I think Mahindra is a great tractor. You can get a decent sized one with a front-end loader for less than $10K. They are the third largest supplier of Ag equipment in the world. Bigger than John Deere. Their small sized tractors (like mine) are actually made by Mitsubishi, you can't hardly go wrong with that!

Another thought might be a David Bradley two-wheel tractor. Although I haven't found a lot of local equipment, they did make a lot of equipment.