Choosing A Mower - Where Do I Begin?

[gar2376]

I have recently purchased a home on 5 acres, nearly all of it will need to be mowed. There are few obstacles to mow around right now, but I will probably be planting some shade trees in the near future. I am wondering if anyone can give me some direction on where to start when it comes to picking out a mower. It also has a decent sized paved driveway, and ideally I'd like to be able to put a blade on the front of whatever I purchase to push snow. It seems like lots of people love Zero Turn mowers, but they seem very one-dimensional. Are they able to multi-task in the winter, or do they not have the weight needed to move snow around?

This is my first acreage, and I'm very excited, but feeling overwhelmed by all the choices. As far as a budget, I'm not sure what is even reasonable. Is $5000 way to high? Or maybe that's way too low for that size of a lawn. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[bontai_Joe]

A 5 acre lawn would in my opinion should have you looking at the better grade Garden tractors or even sub-compact utility tractors. The typical box store lawn tractor at $2000 will self destruct fairly quickly. Just to toss out some garden tractor models at you for now:
Deere X-500 series
Cub Cadet 3000 series
Simplicity Prestige (aka Massey Ferguson 2800 series)
Ingersoll 4000 series

As to a budget? Your $5000 will get you a basic garden tractor for a large lawn, but snow removal attachments will add to that.

 

[6thgpSF]

The front mount Grasshoppers and Walkers have options like snowblowers and cabs,dethatchers,rotary brooms,sprayers,blades however you will pay considerable more than $5,000.00 just for the tractor.not sure what all the add ons cost but I'm sure it's up there. I'm sure there are other brands that sell options for the front mount models ,those were two I've looked into .to tell you the truth I'm not sure how good they perform using for something other than cutting grass. russ

 

[Wesdor]

There are a lot of good mowers out there, but like others have said, stay away from the box store specials.

In my opinion, the most basic place to start looking for a good mower for your 5 acres is with the dealer who will be taking care of any problems. Dealers come in all colors, but a good one will help you find what you need.

It may not be within your budget, but a commercial ZTR will save you lots of time and make the grass look much better. The only problem with most ZTRs is that they don't multi task very well (or at all)

Have fun finding what works best for your situation.

 

[Will_C]

You can use every bit of your $5000 for your purchase.I would not want to mow 5 acres with any less than a full blown garden tractor with a 60"deck. Add a snowplow attachment, and I'm not sure you can find anything less than $9-10,000 that will not be over taxed with your usage.

Here are some thoughts-
1. Consider used-I think for your budget, you should be able to find a 5-6 year old garden tractor in good shape-20-25 hp, 60" deck, and a plow.

2. Consider buying a ZTR for your mowing-your budget will get you a high end residential model or a nice used commercial model (my choice.) You could then buy a walk behind snowblower for your drive, or find a used tractor with a plow- I would be more comfortable with an old tractor for plowing than mowing.

3. I mow a total of 10 acres on three properties-if you want to mow regularly, you'll find you get what you pay for-if the mowing is imporatant to you, spend as much as can-you won't regret it!!

Will

 

[gar2376]

2. Consider buying a ZTR for your mowing-your budget will get you a high end residential model or a nice used commercial model (my choice.) You could then buy a walk behind snowblower for your drive, or find a used tractor with a plow- I would be more comfortable with an old tractor for plowing than mowing.


Will

I'm starting to think this might be my best starting point. Mowing will really be the most important job, so I feel like I should be focusing on something that will handle that job the best. I should be able to find a used walk behind snowblower at least for the first winter and see how bad that really is. We just had an unusually precipitous winter, and I would have had to snowblow/plow only about 6-7 times, while I'm going to probably be mowing almost every week.

All that being said, it sounds like lots of folks love the Grasshopper ZTRs. Can anyone give some guidance on which models/deck sizes to start looking at for 5 acres.

By the way, this forum is a wealth of information! Thanks guys!

 

[2manyrocks]

I thought someone posted a link to the relationship between mowing deck width and ground speed that tells you how long it takes to cut an acre. There's a certain tradeoff between manuverability and absolute theoretical cutting speed. If you have a lot of trees and things to go around, also need to consider how easy the machine will do that. My guess is that you would at least want a 5'-6' deck for mowing 5 acres.

If I had to cut 5 acres, I'd be thinking about how to reduce the area I had to cut.

 

[keyman1808]

I would be looking at a SCUT like a Kubota BX series or equivalent. I have a Husky YLT1848XP and it works plenty good and set me back 2700.00 in 04 I now have a Kubota BX24 that I am setting up with a 60" mowing deck as it will be quicker. I only have about 1 acre to do but I would not waste my money on a lawn tractor, go straight for a SCUT at least. Sorry I didn't

 

[stevem5215]

With 4 acres to cut I use a 72" mower deck on a Ford 1900 . This takes about 3 1/2 hrs. It is hilly and rough ground and would beat anything lesser to death. Around the house I usually use a Lawn tractor for the 3/4 acre or so of real lawn grass. A cheaper Craftsman with a 42" deck works fine for that. You need to consider what you'll do if the main machine to cut is down for weeks at a time. It has happened to some on here and they've had to hire a service or someone to do the job. I have backup machines just in case.

Steve

 

[Baucom]

5 acres is a lot to mow, and if I had to mow that much I would want a large, fast mower to do it. If mowing and snow removal are the only things you want to accomplish, I'd go for a front mount Grasshopper mower with a blade or snowblower attachment. Plus, with 5 acres to cut, the blades will probably need to be sharpened more often than average and Grasshopper's power fold deck makes access to the blades very easy. Walker and Exmark also make nice front mount mowers that accept blade or snow blower attachments.

I missed the part about ~$5000 budget. I don't believe you will mow 5 acres for very long with anything you can buy for $5000 before you either: A) look for ways to cut down on the amount you mow, or B) wish you had bought a larger, faster, and/or heavier duty commercial mower to begin with.