You guys have me worried

[dhvd79a]

I have 5 acres that I mow with a JD260 with a 48"MMM. It takes around 3 hours to mow if I mow once a week. I have been considering a CUT for the past two years mostly because I would like to cut down on the time it takes me to mow but also because of the other users(FEL, Box Blade,etc).

I have read several posts here referencing taking 45mins/acre to mow. If that is true then I'll keep th JD260 and just rent when I need do other chores.

Comments please.

Dave

[Thomas]

Good point..but just think of al the fun you shall be missing in the seat,also getting those jobs done for your wife.[img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Von]

You must be flying to cut 5 acres. in 3 hrs. with a 48" mower! It takes me about 2 1/2 hours to cut my 5 acres with a 72" MMM. and I know that it takes my neighbor over 4 hrs with his 50" JD to cut his 5 acres. Are you sure of the time and the amount of land you are cutting? I guess if you have a flat field with no trees and the ground is super smooth you could go that fast, but I sure can't!

[hazmat]

Lets do the math:

neglect efficiency for now.

5 acres = 200,000 sq ft

/ 3 hours = 66,6667 sq/hour

/ 4 ft per pass = 16,667 ft/hour

/5280 ft per mile = 3.15 MPH

3.15MPH = your "effective speed" you are actually going faster, but this takes into account any overlap on each pass + time to turn around trees etc.

Assume same effective speed, do the math in reverse

60" deck = 2.4 hours or 1/2 hour per acre

72" deck = 2 hours or 24 minutes per acres

[Mrwurm]

Used to take me 3 hours to mow 2.5 acres with a 48" mower on a 5 mph Yardman. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif[/img] Now I cruise on a 60" Gravely at 9mph. I cut all of the 2.5 acres in 50 minutes to an hour [img]/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif[/img]

It's all in how wide you mow and how fast you go (poetry)

[Mosey]

I agree with Von "You must be flying to cut 5 acres. in 3 hrs. with a 48" mower!"

I mow 3 acres in 2 hours with a 72" mower, which is 1.5 acres per hour. I don't mow once a week, ever, even in the spring. I figure it's just going to come right back up again that time of year anyway! So, by the time I mow, it's pretty tall and thick so there's no way I can go that fast. But, even if it wasn't so tall I couldn't go that fast on my property. I have to slow down for roots from maple trees (maples tend to have roots that hang near the surface), steep hills, bumps from all kinds of things like moles and crawdad mounds, and some trimming. If you can go that fast you must not have very thick grass and a really smooth surface. I'd jar me and my equipment to death!

If mowing is all your planning to do with a CUT, don’t buy one though. Buy a CUT if you need a tractor for other things like bush hogging, landscaping, etc. If all you’re going to do is mow, get a zero turn type, front mounted deck mower.

[hazmat]

A couple comments on effeciency,

if you are 80% effecient, your actual ground speed would be 4MPH which is a reasonable number.

I have a 60" deck & if it weren't for the trees, I could cut my 2 acres of grass in 1 hour. It takes me about 1hr 15minutes.

[Mrwurm]

Nice math Steve, you must be a lot of fun at parties [img]/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

(Actually, I once calculated the number of passes to cut my lawn with different size decks)

[snowman]

All things being equal, the only change in equipment that will decrease your mowing time will be an increase in the size of the mowing deck.

A CUT with a 48" deck should take the exact amount of time as your JD260 with a 48" deck. In theory, if you go to a 60" deck, your time to mow should decrease by 25%. If you go to a 72" deck, the decrease should be 50%.

It takes me 2.5 to 3 hours to mow about 3.5 acres with a 60" deck. No real obstacles, but not too smooth; my back can't take too much of the bouncing at high speeds. Need the seatbelt when mowing so that I don't get jiggled out of the seat.

[gerard]

Have you considered a gang reel mower you could tow with your existing garden tractor? If I had 5 acres of relatively open land that's how I'd do it and then use the tractor alone for the "cutting in". You can get the gang sets 7 or 8 feet wide.