New Member Introduction

[EddieWalker]

I don't know about the JD tractors, but I've done some mowing and can tell you that for mowing that much land, you really want to get a Zero Turn mower. I'm looking around for one myself and even though it's more money, diesel seems like the route I'm going to take. Tractors are just slow at mowing. Unless you are running a massive batwing, it's going to take a very long time to mow your lawn. I also don't think the results with a tractor are comparable to what a zero turn mower will give you. They are so much faster, that even a smaller cutting width isn't that big a deal. You can drive four times faster, get a much better cut and still cut four to five feet wide at a time!!!

Tractors are good for there jobs, but sometimes a better machine is much, much better for the job, and it's not a tractor.

Eddie

 

[Runner]

Eddie,

I see where you're coming from, and if all I needed was a finish mower, I'd be all over a ZTR like a cheap suit. However, there are compromises either way. I need/want to have a tractor to do the "tractor stuff" like loader work, grading, drive maintenance, etc. Also, I'd like to have the option to let the pasture go for a month or two and just mow it with a cutter, rather than having to keep up with it as I would have to with a finish mower (or ZTR).

Therefore, since I can't really afford both right now, I guess the compromise for me is taking a little longer to do the 2 acres of finish mowing, but still having one machine that can do it all. One other thing, not sure how durable ZTR's are, but my pasture and even a portion of the finish-mowed area are pretty rough, and I'm just not sure anything but a tractor and rotary cutter could hold up for long-term use.

Maybe one of these days, I'll be able to go the ZTR route for the "yard" area and just let the tractor do it's thing. But for now, one machine will have to do it all.

Runner