[special-K]

You can get a used little big tractor within that budget, like the 45-55hp tractors suggested. I ran a Case IH 485 with ez-mount bucket for the uses you mentioned and it worked quite well. It's duties were bush hogging fields, post holes/post removal, firewood splitting/loading/transport, hoisting whatever, snow clearing w/back blade, grading, and driveway/farm lane maintenance. Tough little work horse from +/- 1990. 4wd would be nice, but surely not a must. That's what chains are for. How do you think farmers survived all the years before 4wd came about? With good operating skills you can do quite well without. I never stuck this tractor. Cab? Better have A/C and heat/defrost. How many hours at a time will you spend on it in the winter? These diesels have block heaters. Never had an issue with starting. It had a provision for push button ether starting but I never put a can in it. Never needed it, even in single digit weather. Didn't normally keep it plugged in. This one was bought for $8,500 w/bush hog that was a size up for it, but it ran it just fine.