How fast can you mow w/ a compact tractor?

[MossRoad]

For 10 acres, I'd buy a nice compact utility tractor with a finish mower or rough cut mower, depending on your desire for a finished look. Then I'd buy a self powered tow-behind finish or rough cut mower from http://www.kunzeng.com/. It effectively doubles your cutting width when you run it offset and cuts your mowing time in half.

 

[Nasty135]

Nate22, My initial advice would be a tractor because of two things 1: It sounds as most of you ground is open & 2: the tractor will come in so handy during and after building a house you won't be sorry....

For some of the more detailed advice ,IMO Which ever unit I decide on I would look for a suspension seat for sure , That accessory in itself will allow more comfortable ground speed ... I would probably also look for a hydro because you can adjust the ground speed on the fly due to ground conditions which would allow you to mow as fast as a ZTR in a straight line ... (blade tip speed on ZTR & a RFM are comparable) The only draw back would be making your turns where the Z would allow the super quick turn & the tractor would be a little slower.... And remember you will get easily twice as much fuel economy on a diesel than gas unit or more /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Good Luck...

 

[Newblue]

You might consider a New Holland with a belly mower and the super steer option. It gives the tractor the ability to turn with the inside rear wheel almost stationary. I on the other hand have a three point mower on the back of my New Holland so the super steer only benifits me when using the loader. I mow 4 acres with the tractor and trim around trees and other obstacles with an Exmark ZTR. The ZTR is definately a rough ride.

Mike

 

[genelp]

I'm not sure where you are located, but I was faced with a similar decision when we purchased our current home. I don't have ten acres, and have lots of trees to mow around, so if given only that information, the ZTR seems like the smart choice until you factor in the long driveway to keep cleared out in the winter and leveled in the summer, plus all of the other projects that I found that "I need a tractor for" /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Gene

 

[scott_vt]

Hi Nate,
You really dont state in your post how much of your property is going to be lawn and how much will be open meadow. For the life of me, I dont know why someone would want 10 acres of lawn /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I rough mow about 8 acres of my property and do a little finish mowing around the house. If I tried to use a ZTR out in the pasture I would go airborn after the first bump /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Also as someone else pointed out, the ZTR has smaller diameter tires, not condusive to the smoothest ride and wouldnt work on the real steep grades on my property especially if the grass was a little wet.

My vote goes to a tractor with way more uses than you can imagine, but heck what do I know, I have three allready /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

scotty

 

[LBrown59]

A lot faster than a push mower.

 

[LBrown59]

<font color="blue">If you have 10 acres, you need a tractor. There will be so many jobs that you can't even imagine right now that you can do with a tractor and loader and maybe a backhoe.
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I'd rather spend a little more time mowing and spend a lot less time doing the back breaking work by hand that a tractor would save me from having to do.
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[LBrown59]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( the ZTR seems like the smart choice until you factor in the long driveway to keep cleared out in the winter and leveled in the summer, plus all of the other projects that I found that "I need a tractor for" /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Gene )</font>

Just think if you forfeit the tractor in favor of the ztr you get to spend all that time you saved mowing and a whole bunch more doing the back breaking work that the tractor could have saved you from doing.

 

[genelp]

Where I live, the tractor is a must have. My wife had never mowed the lawn until I got the Kubota; now she discovered that she really likes to mow (of course I get stuck with the wheel horse, mowing between the trees and out by the road). /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Gene

 

[DavidVaTech]

3 of my 7 acres are turf around the house. Additionally I have planted more than 40 shade trees in this area giving me lots of obstacles.

My Kubota dealer let me demo a ZD-28 Pro w/60" deck for a few weeks (about 10hrs of operation). However, I wound up with a B2910 w/72" MMM.

Yes, the ZD-28 is lightning fast (>10mph forward, >6mph backward). Yes, it cuts beautifully at very high speeds. But it did take me quite a bit of concentration to operate. The acceleration is amazing. The Kubota diesel ZTR's are so quick and responsive that I could not just jump on, relax and mow. The darn ZD just wanted to go, and go, and go... I was the limiting factor!

The traditional 4 wheel tractor chassis, combined with a 72" MMM suited my needs better. The trim side clearence of the 72" MMM is awesome. I could relax and mow nearly as fast on the B2910 72" as the ZD-28-60 Pro. Plus I now have all the utility of a loader and 3pt.

Never regretted the B over the ZD. Hope this helps.