New to forum looking for help

[Matt74]

Hey Everyone,
We are buying a house that sits on 4.5 acres. Only about 4 acres will need to be mowed. Wondering if a garden tractor, zero turn, or tractor with a finishing mower would best serve our needs. We do not have much of a budget right now (about $4k or so) but could use some real world feedback as to what held up and what didn't

 

[NewfieDan]

We have both a ride on and a sub-compact tractor. Had just the sub-compact but found it too heavy for mowing with the mid mount mower. The weight of the tractor just flattened the grass. Ended up buying a ride on for mowing. Kept the tractor for other chores. Use it for clearing bushes/small trees, plowing snow etc.

I have never used a zero turn mower so I can't comment on them.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Depends on the place more than the acreage. How smooth is it. Is it flat or hilly. Are there many trees and other things to mow around? All thease things factor in.

 

[mddorange]

I have both a CUT and a V-Twin 22HP riding lawn mower. For cutting around buildings and trees in the closer areas, about an acre, it is the ONLY answer. The CUT is great for field cutting, bush hogging, etc.

 

[bcp]

...Only about 4 acres will need to be mowed. ...

I see your problem. You left off the 1/ in front of the 4.

In rural areas they are called "fields," not "lawns."



Bruce

 

[deerseeker001]

Welcome from Wisconsin

 

[Matt74]

Well turns out we lost the house due to title problems. So now we are looking at a house with 7.92 acres. Only about an acre at this time is lawn. Hilly. We are planning to clear another acre and 3/2 for a bigger back yard and a shop. So will need something to mows mostly but could pull a small tiller and aerator.

 

[MH8675309]

4 acres is more grass to cut than you think its. Making your yard look like a golf course when it's 4 acres (or bigger) could be a ball and chain after awhile,, Good luck with the new place.

 

[boggen]

push mower (ya walk behind and push), riding lawn mower, garden tractor, SCUT (sub compact utilty tractor)

difference between garden tractor and scut. is SCUT's you get a FEL (front end loader), and a 3pt hitch on the rear.

garden tractors, you can still get some basic stuff, tiller, snow blade, finishing mower, maybe a snow blower. but anything beyond that requires say a 4 wheeler / atv / utv pull behind attachment with most likely its own engine.

with scut and 3pt hitch, you can get PHD (post hole digger), possibly a backhoe with subframe, rotatory cutter (to cut tall weeds), rear blade, box blade, and many other things for 3pt hitch.

zero turn mower = just mowing nothing else. but possibly faster mowing, (high ground speed / mph) while mowing. different controls = good vs bad.


i would say a SCUT granted higher price. but lets ya reshape the land, deal with driveway, and get other tasks done. garden tractor second, then zero turn mower last choice. for current property ya looking at.

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

If you are on a tight budget and only really need to mow look into a lawn tractor with a 52 inch or larger deck. Craftsman has some that are priced really reasonable or get a used one. Try it for a year and see what you think you really need. Sell the tractor if you think you need something else. My guess is if all your doing is mowing an acre or two a decent lawn tractor will work fine. SCUT's will cost you $10k, CUT $15K and up. A good zero turn will be 5k to 10k but will mow circles around anything. You didn't really get too specific what you want to do except take care of a yard. If that is all you want to do and are on a tight budget you will be able to get by fine with a yard tractor. That is what I did for seven years before I bought my MF 1529. I used a small lawn tractor to mow the lawn, trails in my woods and even cut food plots. I did have a Polaris Sportsman to plow snow and pull a disk but I got by really well until I could afford a bigger tractor.