Zero Turn for 4 acres?

[knukey]

Get one of these:

 

[davesl708]

Hustler is a brand to look at for long life, Grasshopper has made some great machines.
Figure what you spend on hired mowing for two years and spend that. It should get you very good mower for six acres.

 

[BigBoyToys]

I have a Bad Boy 48" ZT Elite for the main yard which the wife likes to use, and a 72" RFM (Agmate 6') on the back of the tractor for field work. 4 acres I would go with a minimum 60" or 72" deck! The handles on the ZT are the best and take no time to get use to.

At $600/Month for me it would be a no brainer!
1 Year of mowing expenses will get you one of theses...http://www.kubota.com/product/Z400/Z400.aspx
2 Years...one of these...http://www.kubota.com/product/ZD1500/ZD1500.aspx

The ZD1500 would be a real time saver too!!!

 

[LD1]

I agree with your concept of reducing trimming but roundup an most herbicides are not recomended under trees. It can kill them.

I would recomend concrete edgers that can be mowed up to with no need to trim around. An L shaped design that the mower deck can ride over. Sure thats a while lot of work and expense once but better than all that trimming.

Also agree with zero turn with a 5ft deck will cut down that mowing time 40-60%. Another thing to consider to reduce mowing time is to reduce yard space with low maintenance flower/rock gardens with that same trimmer free edging. Use good thick plastic and river rocks the planters with some low maintenance spillover vines and boom, landscape thats no weeding or mowing or trimming.

Good luck.

I spray around all my trees, from mature 30" trees to 1' high trees that are no bigger around than a pencil. Probably spray 4 or 5 times a year. Never killed any of them.

Roundup has to get on foliage (something green). Or it simply wont work. So as long as you arent spraying the leaves, the chances of killing a tree are nil.

In fact, even if the leaves are soaked in roundup, the chances of permanently killing the tree are slim. I have tried to kill ash and maple trees that start growing in flower beds and the garden with roundup. Leaves wilt, turn brown, then come back with a vengeance.

 

[deanocraft]

I would try to minimize the acreage that needs mowing on a weekly basis. Have you thought about letting some of it return to a wilder state? I am not sure what would grow naturally in your area... It would have a benefit of providing wildlife habitat and free up a lot of your time. At our place in NC, I have a field that I let grow up and only clip it maybe twice per year, and I also let part of another field grow up as well. We have plans to plant fruit trees on that section and I only want to mow a single path through that area which will wind through the trees we plant... Hopefully that will happen soon.

 

[Ford850]

61" mower deck is about right for 4 acres.

Use mulch and/or roundup around your trees, fences, etc and never worry about running a string trimmer again. I havent ran one in probably 8 years. If my 61" mower cant mow it....I spray it

I use a 61" deck, and this is how I avoid trimming too. I mow somewhere around 7 acres weekly, consisting of a large lawn, trails, camp site, etc. Well, to be honest my son usually mows at the same time I mow, and we're done with it all in less than 1 1/2 hours. I have hundreds of trees, many mulched beds, and obstacles galore, and our landscaping around the house and barn is curved mulched beds for appearance. But I trim nothing. Everything can be mowed by overhanging the deck or around sprayed trees, and I don't have to trim a thing. I enjoy mowing, and relax while I mow and listen to the radio or music.

 

[Tjdux]

I spray around all my trees, from mature 30" trees to 1' high trees that are no bigger around than a pencil. Probably spray 4 or 5 times a year. Never killed any of them.

Roundup has to get on foliage (something green). Or it simply wont work. So as long as you arent spraying the leaves, the chances of killing a tree are nil.

In fact, even if the leaves are soaked in roundup, the chances of permanently killing the tree are slim. I have tried to kill ash and maple trees that start growing in flower beds and the garden with roundup. Leaves wilt, turn brown, then come back with a vengeance.

Agree with ash and maple saplings. I have killed them with multiple roundup sprays but i did serious damage spraying near a blue spruce once. Not all trees are equally resistant to roundup and there are much more potent herbicides out there that can easily kill trees by accident

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I priced a 60" gravely HD zt for $5k fwiw

 

[Gary Fowler]

I mow 6+ acres yard with my 52" Ferris IS700Z, which has a top speed of 10 MPH, in about 2 1/2 hours and I have well over 100 trees and shrubs to mow around. I can mow my back "pasture" which is about 3 acres, mostly flat and only a few trees in a bit over an hour.Even with the 52" mower, I still scalp the yard sometimes on the hills. Any wider mower would be a real problem for my Arkansas hillside yard.
My weed eating is done about 2 times a year around the trees just to keep the thick grass turf controlled. Every fall I pile the pine needles up around the pines and that controls the grass most of the summer. I don't mind a bit of blade grass around the trees. I do the sidewalks about twice a month. I can get within 2" of my trees with my zero turn so any grass left is not a problem for me. I don't have a putting green for a yard anyway. The amount of time you put into a yard is just dependent on how **** you are about the appearance. This has been a wet year for us and many low lying areas got overgrown with pond grass and weeds. My 21" push mower got used once this year (first time in 2 years it has been cranked) and that was to mow some of the wet area that I was not able to get to with my zero turn all year and was growing up bad.

Personally it's a no brainer, no way would I pay someone $7500 per year to mow. I really like mowing with my zero turn mower and for 4 acres, about 1.5 hours per week would be a good stress relief exercise. I paid less than that amount for all my mowing equipment. My commercial grade Ferris mower was around $6200 3 years ago. I put about 100 hours per year on it mowing my 6+ acres of yard. It holds 4.5 gallons of gas and less than a tank of gass will mow all of my yard plus my 3+ acre back pasture.

 

[4570Man]

If I was buying another ZTR it would be hands down a ferris IS2100. I was sold the first test drive. Just couldn't turn loose if the $$$ when my F-2560 was still going strong.