May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please

   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please #11  
See that's just it. Yeah I might need a post hole digger once or twice, but I could rent one.

I could use the TLB for heavy lifting, digging much faster and deeper, moving around whatever needs to be moved, grading, etc. I see 580E and the like for cheap money all the time. Doesn't have to be pretty, just work.

While you can use it for grading, not really practical, much much better and faster to use some sort of rear blade. You don't normally see professionals grading with a back hoe.

I suppose you can get the back hoe and if it doesn't work out for you, you could sell it and get something else.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please #12  
See that's just it. Yeah I might need a post hole digger once or twice, but I could rent one.

I could use the TLB for heavy lifting, digging much faster and deeper, moving around whatever needs to be moved, grading, etc. I see 580E and the like for cheap money all the time. Doesn't have to be pretty, just work.

Consider whether you want a tiller, disc, etc. in the future. A three point hitch is handy but a bh may well be suited to your needs.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please
  • Thread Starter
#13  
Consider whether you want a tiller, disc, etc. in the future. A three point hitch is handy but a bh may well be suited to your needs.

Not needing a tiller or disc. While the 3 point may come in handy for certain things, I don't know if it outweighs the TLB's heavy duty uses.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please #14  
How much backhoe do you really need? You can get up about 9' or so on a CUT. And that size CUT will also give you very good load capabilities and capacities.

There is no one machine that is best at it all. But, I would think a ZTR would be useless on cow pasture, at times, say during wet spells.

If I were in your shoes, I'd look for a big used CUT with the biggest backhoe I could find (if you really need this), and a used SCUT for the yard and tight spots, or even a high quality GT for that purpose. The CUT will let you use all those other attachments that you will find you need for other chores.

The problem with tow-behinds on ATV's is that they aren't all that maneuverable and it's just one more engine to maintain.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please
  • Thread Starter
#15  
If I were in your shoes, I'd look for a big used CUT with the biggest backhoe I could find (if you really need this), and a used SCUT for the yard and tight spots, or even a high quality GT for that purpose. The CUT will let you use all those other attachments that you will find you need for other chores.

A SCUT for the yard? The "yard" is 11 or so acres, a SCUT or GT is not going to be any help whatsoever.

That would also defeat the purpose of spending as little as possible on the 2 machines. A new ZT can easily be had for under $10K, and a used TLB can easily be had for around $6-8K. If I got both a SCUT and a CUT, we are talking major bucks. ($25K easy)

The other factor is that since this is the Mid South (TN), land of the red clay, where water sits for days before drying up, an L series is more than likely going to leave huge ruts in the lawn as where a ZT won't be nearly as bad.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please #16  
Take 5-6 acres of your lawn area and convert it into a wildflower patch. It will be prettier and you will spend less time mowing. Get some honey bees after you have a good stand of wildflowers. Put some bird nest boxes up in the wildflower patch.

I keep on recommending these lawn mowing 'solutions', please don't be offended. :)
Dave.

That is what I would do. 11 acres of lawn???? Either you are a king and therefore should have servants do the mowing, or that is way too much land IMO to finish mow weekly or even biweekly. Six to eight hours of mowing per week is a job and not the way I'd like to spend weekends.

I got sick of mowing even 5 acres regularly so I decided to let wild grasses and flowers grow. I now mow about once a month (starting after the wildflowers are done) and it really looks very nice with wildflowers and tall wavy grasses of different types. The downsides are that when I do mow I have a fair amount of "hay" so I need to mow more than once/month in early summer to avoid the mown hay look (which quickly turns to a thick mulch over the remaining grasses). I use a flail mower which naturally mulches the clippings so I just need to watch that I don't go too fast.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please
  • Thread Starter
#17  
That is what I would do. 11 acres of lawn???? Either you are a king and therefore should have servants do the mowing, or that is way too much land IMO to finish mow weekly or even biweekly. Six to eight hours of mowing per week is a job and not the way I'd like to spend weekends.

Not a king :). A good deal of the lawn is what used to be a small orchard and now only has a few trees left. I guess over the years, the grass (and weeds) took over and it just became lawn. I don't mind spending a few hours a week mowing, just not all day.

A wildflower patch while a nice site, is not going to happen at this property.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please #18  
A large consideration for me was the rough areas. I needed to seriously consider the size of the holes and ruts versus the size of the wheels. Not an issue on flat grass area. Ended up with a CUTRFM and it has done well for me. If I were in the "considering" mode I'd try the ZTR on the rough parts.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please
  • Thread Starter
#19  
A large consideration for me was the rough areas. I needed to seriously consider the size of the holes and ruts versus the size of the wheels. Not an issue on flat grass area. Ended up with a CUTRFM and it has done well for me. If I were in the "considering" mode I'd try the ZTR on the rough parts.

Thanks, but holes and ruts are a non issue on this piece of land. (except maybe in the pasture) It is just a wide open giant piece of lawn.
 
   / May Be Rethinking My Needs, Little Help, Please #20  
I had the same problem. My answer is an old 48" finish mower that I built a frame for and ganged it with two Swisher 60" tow behind mowers. I mow a field and lawn with it. Cut an 8 hour job down to less than 2 hours. My BX handles it with no problem.
 

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