I currently have a
B21 and a Zero Turn Mower with Kubota Z722 engine. I just finished up a lot of land leveling and trenching projects with my
b21.
I have several acres that are pretty hilly in parts and would like to consolidate equipment. I will be tilling and maintaining gardens, moving dirt, mowing several hilly acres, installing and maintaining fences, and
planting trees. What would a good recommendation for these type of projects.
We went through the same process many years ago. We had a HUGE tractor loader with box blade and brush hog. And a lawn tractor. Snow blowers, too. Once we got the large tasks out of the way with the large tractor loader, we downsized to a properly sized maintenance machine for the lands we own, and the ballparks and church we were involved with. One main goal was to eliminate as many machines as possible. While dedicated machines are generally better at a given task, like a ZTR mower, there are machines that can do many tasks very well.
If you get rid of the ZTR, you're going to have to spend more time mowing. That's just a fact. How much more depends on the size and lay of the land. If it's only a few acres, depending on the terrain and obstacles, that could be just a few minutes to an hour or even more. Only you can make that call on your land.
Not pushing Power Trac, however, take a look at that type of machine and what it can do. Compared to machines of similar weight (and bare tractor weight seems to be what some want to push as the driving decision on picking a tractor), it outperforms conventional tractors of the same weight in most of the tasks you mention. It will not do well as a pulling machine, so if you have to plow dirt, or pull stumps, a conventional tractor will do much better at those tasks. Otherwise, it's much more maneuverable, more gentle on lawns, tills, maintains gardens, moves dirt much faster than a tractor, does a better job of mowing than a tractor, and is generally safer on hills. A front mounted post hole auger (or post pounder on larger models) will easily outperform a 3pt post hole auger on a scale that's almost ridiculous. Go over to the Power Trac forum and ask owners about their post holing experiences with 3pt VS front mount hydraulic post hole diggers. There's a couple reasons it works so much better; because it's out front where you can see it, and, it has power down-pressure, which 3pt implements don't. You can get tree planter heads and many sizes of tree planters augers as well.
Anyhow, it's worth looking into those types of machines. I can understand you wanting to consolidate. However, if I already had a ZTR, and it does the job well, why get rid of it, unless you need the space or it's near end of life and will cost too much to get back in good working order.
