Pls Recommend Mowing Solution for 10 Acre Rural Residential

[JeffinNE]

How smooth is the 7 acres? If smooth I'd go with a Ferris 72" ZT. Not smooth--as others have said you will get beat up on a ZT.

Perhaps look at putting some of the ground into native grasses you would then just need to bush hog each spring one time.

 

[mudking]

I'm mowing about exactly what you are, except mine is hilly and smoother than a pasture but certainly rougher than a typical "lawn".

I mowed it for 12 years with a Case DX45 and a Del Morino 3-point, 5-spindle finish mower, 93" inches wide, it was a good machine and very affordable considering I'd put the quality on-par with a Woods. I'm now using a BEFCO 110" 3-spindle, 3-point, which is about the largest single-deck you can get (I didn't want bat-wing, mainly because of expence). Even with my hilly terrain it doesn't leave many "scalp-lines". A 45hp hydrostatic-drive tractor wouldn't pull the BEFCO up much of a hill though, so now I'm using 74hp of geardrive. I think my 46hp Yanmar geardrive would pull it too. The 110" inches is a surprisingly noticeable time-improvement over the 93".

My 60" Exmark ZT will mow at 9 mph.
Get one with a suspension seat

My Father-in-Law has one of those. Fine machine, but it doesn't clear clippings very well. I'd be skeptical on acreage-lots that may have to be mowed when they're a little long and even slightly wet.

 

[byrondewitt]

20 years ago, I bought my first tractor, a Kubota B7500HSD with a 60" belly mower. It has strained to keep up with my property, which has 7 acres (out of 10 total) of mostly flat mowable land. I've been looking at ZTs, but want to size it right and open myself up to considering other brands, and other formats as well. The Kubota can still handle the lighter front loader and 3-pt hitch needs (or I can hire them out), so the new machine would be dedicated to mowing. What solutions should I be looking at?

I bought a used woods 15’ batwing finish mower and my 40hp tractor performs well, but my terrain is not extremely hilly. I mow about 12 acres and keep it like a finished yard; does a beautiful job! I also have a scag 72” mower but you would wear yourself out mowing 10 + acres with it on a regular basis. The scag mows faster than a 3 pt finish mower pulled by tractor but could never keep up with a batwing from a production standpoint.

 

[Joe Batt]

I've never seen any animal eat enough grass that the area still doesn't need to be mowed.

But it can be mowed a lot less. I mow my pastures 3 times a year and I do that with a high ground speed, mostly taking out thistles.

 

[Eagle1]

We have Dexter cattle the only thing that grows up is Mint and Cedar. Even multi flora rose is eaten, and all trees are pruned up to tallest Dexter's reach.

 

[bcp]

1/4 acre lawn and a lawn mower.

9 3/4 acre pasture/field and a rotary cutter.


Bruce

 

[DaBear3428]

1/4 acre lawn and a lawn mower.

9 3/4 acre pasture/field and a rotary cutter.


Bruce

i'm of the same mind i do about 2 acres of my 11 with a zero turn and the other 9 is RC when needed depending on rain mostly to keep the brush from spreading. I would hate to try finish mowing 10 acres with the zt if it was ruff at all if it is smouth no problem

 

[Martin Roper]

20 years ago, I bought my first tractor, a Kubota B7500HSD with a 60" belly mower. It has strained to keep up with my property, which has 7 acres (out of 10 total) of mostly flat mowable land. I've been looking at ZTs, but want to size it right and open myself up to considering other brands, and other formats as well. The Kubota can still handle the lighter front loader and 3-pt hitch needs (or I can hire them out), so the new machine would be dedicated to mowing. What solutions should I be looking at?

Ferris zero turn mower, a 61" or perhaps a 72", will do a good job and mow at speeds up to 10mph

 

[Gee Ray]

I keep reading these replies and they state that a zero turn can run 10 to 14 mph. And they probably can. But most yards are not golf course greens smooth either.

Even if it is that smooth that you could run at that speed would you want to? The concentration that is required to travel at that speed for hours at a time must be very taxing on you as an operator.

Mowing to me is enjoyment. I mowed a cattle ranch here in Florida that totaled 16000 acres. Much of the land was covered in trees, swamp and a river. It was the best job ever. Ride around in an a/c cab with a 15 foot bat wing while drinking a Mountain Dew and eating for 12 hours per day.

 

[mo1]

I would recommend considering why you want to finish mow 7 acres on a regular basis. If it's a double subdivision lot or something of that ilk where you will be sued if you don't, then you don't have a choice. But if it is in a rural area, you could let the lawn shrink to a more reasonable size and then just use a brush cutter a few times per year to cut the remainder. You could certainly just keep your B7500 if this is the route you go. This is absolutely the route I'd pick if I were you if this were an option. This is essentially what I did, although it was a decision of what to call the yard and finish mow, and where to leave as a hay field and mow hay. I ended up mowing about an acre and a half.

If you really wanted to finish mow 7 acres, I would recommend a good zero turn with a 6' deck or larger. A big multi-deck pull-behind can cover a lot of acres per hour but they require a lot of room to maneuver and that plus the tractor you'd need to pull one are a lot more expensive. If your area isn't completely open and regularly-shaped, you will spend a lot of time jockeying around obstacles and dead-heading to catch tails. You would likely be time ahead in a larger zero turn in that situation as they can very easily and quickly maneuver. I'd figure about 3ish hours in a 6' deck unit going at a reasonable speed that won't bounce you off of the machine if the ground isn't perfectly smooth and flat, if the ground is smooth and flat you could go faster.