Choosing A Mower - Where Do I Begin?

[Yankee]

I have recently purchased a home on 5 acres, nearly all of it will need to be mowed. There are few obstacles to mow around right now, but I will probably be planting some shade trees in the near future. ... As far as a budget, I'm not sure what is even reasonable. Is $5000 way to high? Or maybe that's way too low for that size of a lawn. Thanks for everyone's help.

That, my friend, is a lot of mowing. Unless you really, really like mowing for hours on end, you need both big (wide) and fast. If I had that much to mow and your budget, I'd be looking at used commercial ride-ons, 72" minimum. Two things worth considering also: canopies, and converting some of that property into wildflower field.

 

[kwolfe]

For $5k I woud definitely look for used. Also, don't be afraid to look outside of your local area. You might be surprised what you can buy out of state and have shipped.

I might look at a Simplicity LEgace (2wd version) with a 60" deck. They are built like tanks, have hydro lift deck, locking differental and are known to be good fast mowers. With a plow, you should be able to stay within your budget.

 

[Redneck in training]

We have Grasshopper 725 ZTR. We paid 7000 for used one and got a snow blade with it. If you plan planting trees the ZTR is a way to go. We mow about 8 ac so I wish we bought a diesel.
Before we bought our tractor we used to pull a trailer behind the ZTR. It will push snow as long as it is less than 6" or it is light. The problem of ZTR as a tractor is not lack of power but lack of mass (traction).