Zero turn vs. 4X4 tractor for mowing

[LindaK]

The school now uses a tractor with a large batwing to mow the wide open areas. It mows the large areas a lot faster. A batwing is the only way a tractor can keep up with or outpace a ZTR for mowing.

I would agree... on another farm we had a 15' Woods batwing and that was probably close time.

 

[Tbone07]

I had a problem similar to this a couple years ago. Debating different implements, new equipment purchases, etc. I finally just said to myself.....why am I spending this much time, fuel, effort, and money on mowing all this grass? For what?

I finally just bought a bunch of native grasses and pollinator wildflower seed from Pheasants Forever. Prepped the site and let it grow. Best decision I ever made.

 

[jk96]

Pic for reference. I mow 6 acres for our wedding venue every Thursday. 72" Exmark Lazer Z X-series. It takes me 1 hour 45 minutes to mow everything, there's more not showing in the pic. It will throw grass evenly no clumps even in damp conditions. I have never had to clean out the underside of the deck. (one of the great things about exmark mowers) It has turf tires and will climb any slope when dry. You will raise the front tires before you run out of traction uphill but it will not climb worth a darn when wet. It will also not back up a slope in either condition and is worthless in muddy conditions. I was also amazed at the difference in time when switching from a 60" to 72" deck. When considering a zero I would highly recommend looking at the difference in speed between the homeowner and commercial versions if they have both. Dad had a 60" exmark pioneer (homeowners version) and it was painfully slow the time I had to borrow it.

 

[jk96]

I had a problem similar to this a couple years ago. Debating different implements, new equipment purchases, etc. I finally just said to myself.....why am I spending this much time, fuel, effort, and money on mowing all this grass? For what?

I finally just bought a bunch of native grasses and pollinator wildflower seed from Pheasants Forever. Prepped the site and let it grow. Best decision I ever made.

Would love to see some pics if you have any. What type of maintenance do you have to do year to year? I've thought of doing something similar at home.

 

[Tractor2011]

I own about 10 acres, about 7 acres to mow. My initial plan was to mow in comfort so I purchased a Kubota L3940HST with AC/Heated cab, and a 72" finish mower. While this setup mows fairly well, and it's comfortable reqardless of weather conditions, the downside is turning and maneuvering around trees and such slows the mowing process down considerably.

Eventually I decided to trade off comfort - for decreasing my mowing time and purchased a Bad Boy Renegade zero turn mower. This ZT mower mows up to 13mph with the typical manuverability of a ZT. The Renegade cut my mowing time down by about 60% compared to using my Kubota setup.

The BB Renegade is probably over-kill for my lot size but I wanted commercial grade mower. When shopping for ZT mowers, do your homework. The higher end ZT mowers are typically built with stronger transmissions, and the ZT transmissions are the most expensive components on these mowers. GL

 

[ETD66SS]

You don't mention type of grass you are cutting - lawn, fields, pastures, etc... You are asking the right question and I can definitely give you some good advice! We have a 30-acre horse property in eastern TN - all grass in 7 different pastures plus grazing track and large lawn. I have an ABI 6' finishing mower for my Kubota tractor and a Skag 61" Turf Tiger2 zero-turn mower. For the first couple of years I used the finishing mower for the pastures and the Skag for the lawn - non-pasture areas. It became apparent to me that I can mow much more quickly with the Skag - even being 1' less cut width - plus the Skag can cut as high as 6-1/4" which is great for the horse pastures! I can mow 1-acre in less than 1hr. It takes me about 3-1/2hrs to mow my 5.5acre pasture as long as I don't have to backcut it because it got too tall. We have nice, thick pasture and lawn grass and if you have same - make sure you go with a nice powerful zero-turn like the Skag Turf Tiger2. That thing is a beast and powers through rough pasture grasses in late summer like butter! I hope this helps

Lawn: (not all of it in these pics, but most of the 7 acres looks like this).

My building has decreased the mowing acreage a bit. And I am going to be digging one more pond. All said and done I'll still be mowing ~6 acres of lawn, not field. But a lot of mowing around ponds and in ditches.

I'm going to sit on the ZTR idea for a bit, not looking to make a rash decision.

 

[PaulL2]

I've never particularly liked zero turns, I think they ride rough, and are much better around lots of obstacles than in more wide open areas.

My choices for what you're doing would be:
- A Kubota F series or equivalent JD. Mowing weapon, there's a reason commercial contractors use them
- A rear gang mower. These let you mow wide undulating areas, whilst conforming to the terrain, and don't require a lot of HP. You could get one for your existing machine

I'm in NZ, I don't know where you'd get a gang mower in the US. Here's an example of what we get in our part of the world - hydraulically driven. For the 5 gang they claim 55 acres in an 8 hour day....

NZ Mowers makes of gang mowers for over 40 years

NZ Mowers, based in Kawakawa in Northland's Bay of Islands, has been specialising in the manufacture of gang lawn mowers for over 40 years.

www.nzmowers.co.nz

 

[2manyrocks]

Those pictures look like mostly flat areas with obstacles where a ZTR would do fine. What about the steep areas?

 

[ETD66SS]

Those pictures look like mostly flat areas with obstacles where a ZTR would do fine. What about the steep areas?

The worst slope is about 700ft of ditch at the road, maybe 25 degrees The pond banks slope is about 4:1, and another 1400ft of drainage swale that is wet all the way up until July.

 

[WinterDeere]

Hey @ETD66SS, mind posting a link to that sod cutter attachment? I’ve been meaning to find something very similar to that.

Also, how well does it work?