Time to mow an acre. Zero-turn vs Tractor

tallguy104 · Nov 13, 2020

Got a bit of a newbie question for y'all.

We've got 3 acres of land to look after.

I keep hearing that zero-turn mowers will mow an area faster than other types of mowers.

Why is this?

Is it just that zero turns are faster where you have a lot of obstacles to manoeuvre around? Or are they just faster generally?

i.e. would it take a 52" zero turn mower about the same amount of time to mow 3 acres of unobstructed grass as say a subcompact tractor with a 52" mid-mount mower?

rademamj1 · Nov 13, 2020

#1. Speed. My Gravely 60" Zero-turn mower, has average mowing speed of 12 mph and a top mowing speed of 15mph. My HST tractor mows with a 60" rotary cutter at 5 mph.

#2. Turn Around time. A zero-turn will turn around in a very efficient 3 to 4 seconds, and begin mowing again, compared to my tractor, which reverses and commits very wide turn around in 20 seconds.

So I have mowed a 3 acre field with no trees in about 1 hour 50 mins with a tractor, and then mowed that same 3 acres in just 25 minutes with my zero-turn.

RalphVa · Nov 13, 2020

We had about 5 acres of church property in Whippany, NJ with lots of mature oak trees. It took about 7 hours to mow it with some Sears garden tractors with underbelly mowers. Got a Scag ZTR and cut the time in 1/2: 3 1/2 hours. Could go ZIP right around every tree at full speed.

Ralph

MF243RedTop · Nov 13, 2020

Likes been mentioned above ZT are just very efficient at what they do. When you're mowing on a weekly or biweekly basis, it's wide open cutting. Zip around turns, wigs and wags around trees, shrubs and buildings... Knock out the valley of a ditch in minutes.
Commercial rated ZT are the bomb, when I trim my shrubs I just
Throw it out in yard and mulch it up. No picking up and hauling and dumping.

^^^^^
The one that started it all
Everyone needs to thank this guy for this awesome invention.

tallguy104 · Nov 13, 2020

In our case we've got very few trees, ditches, or other obstacles, just a few acres of open grass.

Will a zero-turn mow this much quicker than a tractor (assuming same sized cutting deck on both)?

tallguy104 · Nov 13, 2020

More specifically we're considering something like a Kubota BX1880 with a mid mounted 54" cutting deck, versus a commercial zero-turn with roughly the same size deck.

I know, I know, there's lots of other considerations, like the other tasks a tractor could do....but for now I'm just interested in the relative speed at which each of the above would be likely to knock over 3 acres

BoylermanCT · Nov 13, 2020

Whatever time it takes you to mow with a lawn tractor, a residential zero turn will cut that in half. A commercial zero turn will take a third off that. Don't do what I did when we started out mowing 5 acres. I bought a good lawn tractor for $3K, then 5 years later bought a residential zero turn for $4K and then 2 years later bought at commercial zero turn for $7K. If you are mowing an acre, go with a good residential mower.

Deere Dude · Nov 14, 2020

I mowed a church lawn with a JD X740 2 WD with 25hp diesel and a 62" deck with a nice turning radius.
Then for various reasons I used their 22 HP commercial 60" JD FMM quite often. 5 acres, maybe 25 trees, a big building and parking lot to go around.
Could mow with each one almost wide open at maybe 4-6 MPH max. Not golf course smooth.

I don't really recall myself thinking, "Boy, this FMM is really fast and nice." Maybe I could shave off 20 minutes on 2 hours with the FMM. If all I wanted to do with it is mow, most people around here would get a FMM.

jaxs · Nov 14, 2020

tallguy104 said:
More specifically we're considering something like a Kubota BX1880 with a mid mounted 54" cutting deck, versus a commercial zero-turn with roughly the same size deck.

I know, I know, there's lots of other considerations, like the other tasks a tractor could do....but for now I'm just interested in the relative speed at which each of the above would be likely to knock over 3 acres

Yes,a commercial zero-turn will run circles around the BX1880. You are wise for thinking through this before spending money on something that only does secound rate work. Many newbies run out and buy a compact tractor and all the impliments then realize it just won't cut it in the real world. If you eventually decide to buy something to do dirt work,land clean up,handle hay bales,dig post holes and that sort of stuff,buy a skid-steer. A skid-steer not only does things faster,it does things that compacts find impossible and force's you to hire someone while the compact rest's.