Mowing acreage.

[Omega Woods]

I mow 4 acres, some of which is bumpy as heck, with a Scag Cheetah with a 61" deck. Not cheap but the seat is double mounted (suspension seat mounted on a movable platform) which keeps me from getting beat to death. I haven't had it very long but I don't know what I did without it.

 

[steve tym]

Why don't you want to drive on it? You have a tractor, use it. Get something that you can use to cut it in a fraction of the time. I've been cutting about 5 acres with my 21' FM for 10 years. I run ag tires. Never seen the issue with that setup. I would never try to cut all that grass with one of my ZTs.

I'm concerned about the R1's tearing it up.

 

[mikester]

 

[workinonit]

The only time ag tires even remotely cause an issue is when it's wet. I never tear up turf with them turning. And they don't mash grass down as bad as turf tires do. Less surface area. Now if you are maintaining a golf course I might understand the issue.

 

[steve tym]

If you want an acre ease rotary mower with an offset hitch that is one option;
but it is just one more piece of equipment to own and maintain.

Your mule is going to give you a better ride than the rider or the quad and it has
more power as well.

Hard sod is not going to dent even with loaded tires if that is what your worried about.

A rotary mower is going to leave cut grass on top of the sod and create dead spots if it
is very long.

A finish flail mower will leave very small clippings and you will be able to recut
those clippings the same day to may them dissolve faster.
You would be able to mow once every 2 weeks with a finish flail mower and keep the sod grass
at a 2 inch height.

Good point about the cuttings sitting on top.
If I don't get to it soon enough, and it gets too long.......
I hadn't considered a finish flail mower. How big can you get them?
Still worried about my R1's, they leave tracks in my hard packed gravel driveway.

 

[Yander]

I'm about to make about 4 acres mowable.
Brush hog?
Tow behind for my lawn tractor?
Something else?

Yes

 

[lman]

I figured they use big tractors to make hay and it looks good when it grows back, so why wouldn't grass that you mow with a tractor be the same way. Of course there are only a couple of cars that go down my road daily so I'm not trying to maintain a golf course. I mow in a different pattern each time so the tracks would be at different locations. It seems like I always have other things to do besides mowing grass, so I just want to git-r-done. The 12' mower helps me do that.

 

[Yander]

I'm concerned about the R1's tearing it up.

Now the details are coming out. R1s won't tear up dry ground and if you are only wanting to keep vegetation down use a bushhog 3 or 4 times a year when it is dry. Easy problem solved.

 

[D&D]

He passed about 6 months back and this last week I finally decided I was going let about an acre of my yard grow to see what develops with the idea of slowly managing that section into a wildlife food plot, native grass/forbes patch (lots of wildlife in the neighborhood - deer/turkey/rabbit/fox/flying squirrels/birds/etc).

Adding some wildflower mix wouldn’t hurt, especially in the aesthetics dept.

 

[Brown Dog]

It depends how smooth the ground is. It's a lot to do with a 60" zero turn or even a 72". …

I mow 15 acres a week with a 72” 4cyl Turbo Diesel Zero & Bush Hog another 7 acres every other week all here on the Farm.

 

[bdhsfz6]

FWIW, I mow 5 acres of former pasture, which is a bit rough in spots. It takes around 2.75 hours to cut with an 84" 3pt finish mower behind my 60hp tractor. The R4 tires do not tear up the turf as long as I don't make tight turns using 4WD when the grass is wet.

It doesn't produce a golf course quality cut but I don't play golf and it looks fine to me.

 

[fatjay]

I mow 15 acres a week with a 72” 4cyl Turbo Diesel Zero & Bush Hog another 7 acres every other week all here on the Farm.

How long does 15 take you with 72"? I haven't seen a 4cyl turbo diesel zero turn, care to share some pictures? I have my kubota zd21 with 3cyl diesel and 60" deck and 2 acres takes me a solid half hour.

 

[leonz]

Good point about the cuttings sitting on top.
If I don't get to it soon enough, and it gets too long.......
I hadn't considered a finish flail mower. How big can you get them?
Still worried about my R1's, they leave tracks in my hard packed gravel driveway.

Your mules R-1 tires will not damage the
sod if it is dry.

You can purchase a finish flail mower in an
3-8 foot plus cut if you wish to have a wider one.

You can also purchase a Rammy finish flail
mower for your quad/four wheeler for much
less money than a finish flail mower with side
slicer knives.

If you do not have a winch for your quad bike/
4 wheeler you will need to purchase one.

I have a 48" towed Mathews Company Lawn Genie
with an original Briggs & Stratton 16 horsepower I/C
engine with the cast iron piston sleeve that I wish to sell.

 

[chim]

Based on actual time spent on my 3-1/2 acres of YARD (BIL next door has a real LAWN), Mowing takes me 18 minutes/acre at full boogie or 25 minutes/acre lollygagging* That's with the L4240 / 7-1/2' RFM / loaded rears / R4's / no loader or frame.

*Lollygagging:

Week one pattern////////////////
Week 2 pattern \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Week 3 pattern |||||||||||||||||
Week 4 pattern==========

 

[TractorNoob85]

I'm currently mowing 8 acres of old hay field and horse pasture. For the past 3 years, I've used a 61" Scag Turf Tiger. If I cut it every 2 weeks, it takes me about 5.5 hours. If I cut it every 4 weeks, it takes closer to 7 hours since I will need to slow down a lot to allow the mower to process all the grass. The real question is how often do you want to mow? I love the clean-cut look but it's pretty expensive in fuel to cut large areas weekly to keep it that way just for aesthetics. I'd rather let it grow out, go to seed, and then cut it down. That would be a job for a tractor and flail or rotary mower.

 

[steve tym]

It's really just for maintanance. Keep the trees down. Couple times a year.
Looking like a flail mower will be the way to go. Now to decide who's.

 

[Torvy]

It's really just for maintanance. Keep the trees down. Couple times a year.
Looking like a flail mower will be the way to go. Now to decide who's.

I'd go with the goats. You can have people bring/rent their goats out. This seems to be good for rocky or uneven terrain. I'm looking into having some clear out the understory in our trees.

You gotta be you, but I'm that guy that just doesn't understand having more than an acre or so of 'lawn'. Anything more and I would plant something useful, even if it was just aesthetic. A bunch of bee fodder?

 

[Brown Dog]

How long does 15 take you with 72"? I haven't seen a 4cyl turbo diesel zero turn, care to share some pictures? I have my kubota zd21 with 3cyl diesel and 60" deck and 2 acres takes me a solid half hour.

Your yard must be butter smooth if you can mow 2acres in 30 mins with a 60” ?

It takes me 9hrs a week to mow.
I mow 3-5hrs at a time weather & farm work permitting.

Kubota ZD1511 72 SD deck 1505cc 4cyl Turbo 30.8hp
& it still bogs pulling my steep hills & banks

I’ve currently bought a front deck F3710 36.9hp with same 4cyl Turbo engine & 4wd for traction.

Zero with front weights

Fluid Filled rear tires & 140lbs of brackets & weights up front.
Rides way better, doesn’t rare up & helps with traction on banks

 

[Brown Dog]

…
You gotta be you, but I'm that guy that just doesn't understand having more than an acre or so of 'lawn' …

Here in North Georgia : you’ll be Invaded with Field Rats IF you let grass grow tall & thick.

Keep it mowed weekly or Bush Hogged monthly & you won’t have a rat problem.

 

[Yander]

I had my 5.7 acre lot at my last house planted half in switch grass. It is a great wildlife habitat and it controls noxious weed growth. It will get pretty tall and it is meant to be burned off every 5 years and it burns HOT. You would probably need a permit and would want to do it when it isn't too dry.

I liked having it and the deer, pheasants and other wildlife loved it. You can mow it as an option other than burning it.