Zero turn vs. 4X4 tractor for mowing

[Little Red Tractor]

Depends on how steep and how the wetness affects traction.

Cub Cadet makes a line of zero turns with front wheel steering for slopes as well as another line that have decent slope mowing capacity. Not sure if you'd want to change out the turf tires for higher traction ones....

I suppose someone will ask why you don't buy a new rear PTO finish mowing cutter if everything else is working for you except for mower breakdowns? 7 acres is a lot of mowing any way you look at it. In most instances, cutting width determines mowing speed because you can only travel so fast on slopes without increasing the risk of rollover.

Mowing Calcuator | How many acres can I mow in an hour

www.landscapecalculator.com

Another potential option to consider is one of the Power Tracs like the PT 425. T8 Class But it will take a lot of time to cut 7 acres with only a 4' cutter.

A zero turn can save time because it is easier to mow around obstacles, but if you are mowing open areas, cutting width is still going to be the primary factor in reducing your mowing time.

I have to agree that the most economical choice would likely be a high-end rear-mounted, PTO driven mower. You can choose the width that best fits your property and is within the power rating of your tractor.

 

[Hexa Fox]

This site really does have a community that gives great feedback. I think you have already gotten great feedback. I think if you have a Ferris and Cub Cadet dealer near you it is time to demo them. Also I would highly recommend you step up to a Ferris ISX2200 Z as it comes with a true commercial engine if you go with the Vanguard 810cc. You will also get larger transaxles for faster mowing and an all around better longer lasting machine. Ferris really is the way to go for comfort hands down. Having that said, my Ferris is not good on slopes. I mow a lot of properties with slopes and it took me years to learn to mow with it and it is still dangerous.

As another user recommended you should also look at a steering wheel (Synchro Steer) Cub Cadet. They are much better on hills. You obviously need to be looking at the Pro Z line and not the residential big box steer line. I don't think I will ever own anything other than a Ferris because of the comfort but it honestly does leave something to be desired on hills. Sometimes I find myself spinning out on the the most embarrassing places, especially if wet. So if you plan to keep your butt on on your machines seat as much as possible for that 7 acres then the Ferris may have drawbacks.

 

[PapaBob]

For the past ~10 years I have been using my Ford 1620 HST 4x4 with 60" 914 deck to mow about 7 acres. I'm at the point now where I don't look forward to mowing due to many mower deck breakdowns (tractor is great) along with the the time required to mow all 7 acres. It basically kills one whole day of my weekend. I think the top speed of the 1620 in MED gear (fastest I can go due to blade speed and cutting) is something like 1.5 mph.

I have been hesitant to get a zero turn due to the fact I have a decent strech of mowing along ditches & pond banks (~1200ft of pond banks, ~ 1000ft of ditches), where sometimes it can be a bit wet. I have never gotten my 1620 stuck to the point I needed another piece of equipment to pull it out. The rest of the mowing is very flat.

I have been looking at thie Ferris mower: Ferris 5902073

I assume my cutting time will decrease, but it also seems like I am going to not be able to cut some areas, especially on the steep ditches?

Sounds like you are describing my property! I too mow seven acres of mostly flat grass/mix with slopes around the pond and trees scattered throughout the property. I use a Kubota Z122EBR-48 to mow around the house, shop and fence line and a Kubota L3700 SU with a 6' finish mower for the larger open areas which includes 600+ feet of highway easement out front.
I read several posts that talked about getting their Zero-turns stuck and or sliding on hillsides and I too had that issue with my first Zero-turn which was a Huskavarna 42". It was constantly getting stuck on flat ground when a little damp and then started having hydraulic problems with the drive system. I convinced my least favorite brother-in-law that he needed it more than I did and I bought the Kubota. (LOL) I don't want to sound like a Kubota salesman but I can't tell you how much different it was going from one to the other. The Kubota is much more comfortable to run and has only been stuck once in 7 years when I ran it into mud that was so deep the deck was plowing mud.
People ask me why I mow seven acres and I can only justify it by the fact I was a military brat who also served in the military and a fireman for nearly 40 years, it's in my DNA lol.

 

[LindaK]

Damn! Even at 2 acres/hour, that's a lot of hours.

I mow every 4th day in spring, trailing off to weekly for most of the season after that, except a little break we usually get in the July heat and drought. Mowing every 4th day at 15 hours/mowing would be 4 hours per day on average, for 30 acres.

The front 15 acres takes me 3 1/2 hours but its an open field. We mow it about every 2 weeks in spring. Around the house and buildings (5 acres) more frequently. And the remaining (minus buildings, arenas, drives) is in paddocks that are mowed as needed to neaten them up. So... not to bad.
Ferris is known for the comfortable ride. I do use the seat belt, lol.
It gives a great cut. Love the machine. Only negative thing I would say is that the underside of their mower deck holds to much grass. Probably could be designed a little better. Other ZTR we've had haven't held as much.

 

[DieselBound]

My two cents (now 5 cents due to tariffs [govt taxes])...

A gas-powered zero-turn is going to burn a lot more fuel than what you're used to, a diesel.

A 6' side-shift flail may be a solution: might have to go 5'. You can mow near edges pretty well with a side-shift. I find that my flail mows around trees very well. Also not too bad mowing around fences but the side-shift has me all too often playing chicken with the fence: spend the time with the trimmer or repairing fencing, seems there's no win here!

I've contemplated a zero-turn for around the house but cannot justify it (I'd want a diesel - $$$) so I just continue to use my riding gasoline mower for most of this. I've also contemplated a small flail for my B7800.

I probably mow somewhere around 25 acres in total*. Ditches, trees, fencing and even a pond. Some areas with slopes but not very significant.

*Because? Because it keeps me off the streets!

 

[akadave]

Everyone has strong opinions on this topic and is pretty well set in their position and unlikely to be swayed.

I fall into the ZTR camp. I've been mowing with mine for 20 years and am very pleased with the speed and cut quality. Much better than a tractor or rider. I do have fairly steep pond banks and have successfully learned to mow them by actually using the tendency of the mower to slip down the hill. It's a bit sketchy until you get the hang of it and I'm not recommending it. Just saying it can be done. As for getting stuck I don't mow the pond if it's at all wet but do sometimes mow the flat areas before they are completely dry and that's the only times I've been stuck. Easy to pull out with anything that can get traction. I have used my tractor, gator, and small SUV.

Maybe keep mowing the steep banks as you have but get a ztr for the flats. I would guess you'll cut your mowing time by 30 percent, maybe more once you get used to it.

 

[Bobrown14]

For the past ~10 years I have been using my Ford 1620 HST 4x4 with 60" 914 deck to mow about 7 acres. I'm at the point now where I don't look forward to mowing due to many mower deck breakdowns (tractor is great) along with the the time required to mow all 7 acres. It basically kills one whole day of my weekend. I think the top speed of the 1620 in MED gear (fastest I can go due to blade speed and cutting) is something like 1.5 mph.

I have been hesitant to get a zero turn due to the fact I have a decent strech of mowing along ditches & pond banks (~1200ft of pond banks, ~ 1000ft of ditches), where sometimes it can be a bit wet. I have never gotten my 1620 stuck to the point I needed another piece of equipment to pull it out. The rest of the mowing is very flat.

I have been looking at thie Ferris mower: Ferris 5902073

I assume my cutting time will decrease, but it also seems like I am going to not be able to cut some areas, especially on the steep ditches?

I have that exact mower and cut about 17 acres. I can cut at full speed, significantly faster than your tractor. I can do 17 acres in about 5 hrs. As far as ditches and steep banks, this tractor is heavy. Its a pro zero turn. Its not really meant to cut steep banks and it gets sketchy AF close to the edge of a ditch (we have about 1200ft ditch) on wet grass. Again its heavy so wet grass we dont mow. period. We bought mud rear tires that help a little bit with the wet areas that we can get stuck in but we just stay out of the wet areas in the spring so we dont dig up the grass or get stuck. Its a dream to ride tho - VERY comfortable. 7 acres is probably 2-3 hrs not even a full tank of gas. Just stay out of the wet and give the ditch and the steep banks a wide path and youre good.

 

[CubCadetGuy]

The only thing I would add to these many fine comments is to consider who is going to service the deck (lube, blade sharpening, and cleaning). If that is you, make sure you are comfortable with what is involved in your final choice(s).

 

[Rhorn4400]

I would look at a new mower attachment instead of a ztr. Losts of moving
Parts on zero turn you maybe back to breakdowns in a few years. I have a similar setup
with a rear discharge finishing mower and love it

 

[dsl4me]

When we had flat, minimal obstructions the 60" finish mower worked fine behind our 4220i branson. Now we more challenging terrain and obstacles. Ended up selling the finish mower and bought a Diesel kubota ZD326 ZRT with 60" deck. Added Carlisle WT300 traction tires and we love it. The dry side of pond bank is 30* and I can mow it....wife will not. It is sketchy but will do it. I've considered doing the front brake upgrade to it over the years. Liquid cooled diesel engine is so much quieter than a gas ZRT.

 

[LindaK]

The school now uses a tractor with a large batwing to mow the wide open areas. It mows the large areas a lot faster. A batwing is the only way a tractor can keep up with or outpace a ZTR for mowing.

I would agree... on another farm we had a 15' Woods batwing and that was probably close time.

 

[Tbone07]

I had a problem similar to this a couple years ago. Debating different implements, new equipment purchases, etc. I finally just said to myself.....why am I spending this much time, fuel, effort, and money on mowing all this grass? For what?

I finally just bought a bunch of native grasses and pollinator wildflower seed from Pheasants Forever. Prepped the site and let it grow. Best decision I ever made.

 

[jk96]

Pic for reference. I mow 6 acres for our wedding venue every Thursday. 72" Exmark Lazer Z X-series. It takes me 1 hour 45 minutes to mow everything, there's more not showing in the pic. It will throw grass evenly no clumps even in damp conditions. I have never had to clean out the underside of the deck. (one of the great things about exmark mowers) It has turf tires and will climb any slope when dry. You will raise the front tires before you run out of traction uphill but it will not climb worth a darn when wet. It will also not back up a slope in either condition and is worthless in muddy conditions. I was also amazed at the difference in time when switching from a 60" to 72" deck. When considering a zero I would highly recommend looking at the difference in speed between the homeowner and commercial versions if they have both. Dad had a 60" exmark pioneer (homeowners version) and it was painfully slow the time I had to borrow it.

 

[jk96]

I had a problem similar to this a couple years ago. Debating different implements, new equipment purchases, etc. I finally just said to myself.....why am I spending this much time, fuel, effort, and money on mowing all this grass? For what?

I finally just bought a bunch of native grasses and pollinator wildflower seed from Pheasants Forever. Prepped the site and let it grow. Best decision I ever made.

Would love to see some pics if you have any. What type of maintenance do you have to do year to year? I've thought of doing something similar at home.

 

[Tractor2011]

I own about 10 acres, about 7 acres to mow. My initial plan was to mow in comfort so I purchased a Kubota L3940HST with AC/Heated cab, and a 72" finish mower. While this setup mows fairly well, and it's comfortable reqardless of weather conditions, the downside is turning and maneuvering around trees and such slows the mowing process down considerably.

Eventually I decided to trade off comfort - for decreasing my mowing time and purchased a Bad Boy Renegade zero turn mower. This ZT mower mows up to 13mph with the typical manuverability of a ZT. The Renegade cut my mowing time down by about 60% compared to using my Kubota setup.

The BB Renegade is probably over-kill for my lot size but I wanted commercial grade mower. When shopping for ZT mowers, do your homework. The higher end ZT mowers are typically built with stronger transmissions, and the ZT transmissions are the most expensive components on these mowers. GL

 

[ETD66SS]

You don't mention type of grass you are cutting - lawn, fields, pastures, etc... You are asking the right question and I can definitely give you some good advice! We have a 30-acre horse property in eastern TN - all grass in 7 different pastures plus grazing track and large lawn. I have an ABI 6' finishing mower for my Kubota tractor and a Skag 61" Turf Tiger2 zero-turn mower. For the first couple of years I used the finishing mower for the pastures and the Skag for the lawn - non-pasture areas. It became apparent to me that I can mow much more quickly with the Skag - even being 1' less cut width - plus the Skag can cut as high as 6-1/4" which is great for the horse pastures! I can mow 1-acre in less than 1hr. It takes me about 3-1/2hrs to mow my 5.5acre pasture as long as I don't have to backcut it because it got too tall. We have nice, thick pasture and lawn grass and if you have same - make sure you go with a nice powerful zero-turn like the Skag Turf Tiger2. That thing is a beast and powers through rough pasture grasses in late summer like butter! I hope this helps

Lawn: (not all of it in these pics, but most of the 7 acres looks like this).

My building has decreased the mowing acreage a bit. And I am going to be digging one more pond. All said and done I'll still be mowing ~6 acres of lawn, not field. But a lot of mowing around ponds and in ditches.

I'm going to sit on the ZTR idea for a bit, not looking to make a rash decision.

 

[PaulL2]

I've never particularly liked zero turns, I think they ride rough, and are much better around lots of obstacles than in more wide open areas.

My choices for what you're doing would be:
- A Kubota F series or equivalent JD. Mowing weapon, there's a reason commercial contractors use them
- A rear gang mower. These let you mow wide undulating areas, whilst conforming to the terrain, and don't require a lot of HP. You could get one for your existing machine

I'm in NZ, I don't know where you'd get a gang mower in the US. Here's an example of what we get in our part of the world - hydraulically driven. For the 5 gang they claim 55 acres in an 8 hour day....

NZ Mowers makes of gang mowers for over 40 years

NZ Mowers, based in Kawakawa in Northland's Bay of Islands, has been specialising in the manufacture of gang lawn mowers for over 40 years.

www.nzmowers.co.nz

 

[2manyrocks]

Those pictures look like mostly flat areas with obstacles where a ZTR would do fine. What about the steep areas?

 

[ETD66SS]

Those pictures look like mostly flat areas with obstacles where a ZTR would do fine. What about the steep areas?

The worst slope is about 700ft of ditch at the road, maybe 25 degrees The pond banks slope is about 4:1, and another 1400ft of drainage swale that is wet all the way up until July.

 

[WinterDeere]

Hey @ETD66SS, mind posting a link to that sod cutter attachment? I’ve been meaning to find something very similar to that.

Also, how well does it work?