I have 18 acres and went with the
L3130. While we haven't fully explored all the possibilities that we have for the property, we have done some research on both an equestrian setup and small cattle setup.
To maximize the usage of the land, we felt that we would need to cross fence and create several small pastures (or large paddocks). Our best guess was that each pasture would be 3 acres and that there would be five of these. The remaining acres would be for the house, stables, barns, etc. If you follow a strict rotation schedule, then the horses/cattle would transfer to a new pasture once every 10 days. When the horses/cattle leave a pasture for the next on the rotation schedule, we would mow the old pasture to even out the growth. By the time the horses/cattle returned to the original pasture, the grass would have been growing for 40 days and should have replinished itself. As a result, the cutter is only cutting 3 acres once every ten days. In this case, the
L3130 is plenty big enough for the job.
How you divide out your 20 acres will determine how large a tractor you will need. If you're doing all 20 at once, then I think you'd be happier with the larger tractor. If you reclaim some of the remining 40 in the future, then go with the larger tractor. But if you're going to rotate stock on the 20, then the
L3130 should do fine.
By the way. Per a dealer I spoke with, at 4 mph it takes one hour to cut 2 acres with a 5 foot cutter. In the same time frame the 6 foot cutter can cut two and a half acres. I watched my MPH this weekend when I was cutting - my top speed was under 4 mph, about 3.7 at best. But then again, I was knocking down quite a few thorn trees as well. Once the pasture is reclaimed I should be able to "up" the speed a bit. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif In the end, I should be able to do the "mowing chores" on the 3 acre pastures in about 2 hours.