How we calculate

Compact tractor size calculator

Open the compact tractor size calculator

1. Minimum PTO power = the highest minimum PTO hp among your implements (each from its maker's spec sheet)
2. Linkage category = the category your implements use (they should all match the tractor's)
3. Rear lift capacity, at least = the heaviest implement on the linkage
4. Loader lift, at least = the heaviest load you'll lift with the loader
5. Models are listed only when every figure is on the tractor maker's UK spec page and we've checked it

Size by PTO hp, not engine hp: some of the engine's power is lost before it reaches the PTO. The tractor maker's spec sheet gives both.

Your acreage matters less than your implements: a bigger area means more hours in the seat, not a bigger tractor. Use the implement matcher to work out the hours.

Makers quote lift capacity at different points, so compare the same figure on each sheet.

This calculator has no built-in defaults: every figure comes from you or the maker's spec sheet.

Implement matcher

Open the implement matcher

1. PTO: the tractor's PTO hp must be at least the implement maker's minimum (and no more than any maximum they give)
2. Linkage: the tractor's category must match the implement's
3. Lift: the tractor's rear linkage lift capacity must be at least the implement's weight
4. Access: the implement's width must fit through your narrowest gate
5. Work rate (ha an hour) = width (m) × speed (km/h) × field efficiency ÷ 10; time = area in ha ÷ work rate (1 acre = 0.4047 ha)

Makers quote lift capacity at different points (at the link ends or a set distance behind them), so compare the figure the implement maker asks for with the same figure on the tractor's sheet.

A heavy implement on the back can lighten the front wheels: the tractor maker's manual says how to ballast it. Ask the dealer before you buy.

This calculator has no built-in defaults: every figure comes from you or the maker's spec sheet.

Smallholding kit planner

Open the smallholding kit planner

1. Your land uses give your jobs (grazing: topping, harrowing, rolling, fencing; livestock: muck, haulage, fencing; and so on)
2. Any job that needs a loader or a tractor's PTO and three-point linkage (moving muck, lifting bales, making hay, field-scale cultivating) points to a compact tractor
3. Otherwise, jobs that can be towed (topping with an engine-driven topper, harrowing, rolling, hauling) point to a quad or UTV with towed kit
4. Otherwise, hand-held and pedestrian kit does the jobs
5. Hectares = acres × 0.4047 (1 acre = 4,046.86 m²)

We don't size by acreage alone. Five acres of grazing and five acres of woodland need different kit; the jobs and the implements decide it.

Contractors and hire are often the better route for jobs you do once or twice a year, such as hay or first-break cultivating.

This calculator has no built-in defaults: every figure comes from you or the maker's spec sheet.

Smallholding starter kit list

Open the smallholding starter kit list

1. Each land use and animal adds the kit it needs (fencing for grazing animals, muck tools for livestock, a tiller for a veg plot, and so on)
2. Buy first: kit you'll use every week from day one. Hire or borrow first: kit for jobs you do a few times a year, until you know you need your own. Later: bigger machines once you know your jobs
3. Your acreage is shown in hectares; it doesn't change the list on its own

This is our suggested order, not a rule: if you already know a job well, buy for it. Chainsaws and quads need training first (HSE).

This calculator has no built-in defaults: every figure comes from you or the maker's spec sheet.