Grass Work: Tractor or ZeroTurn Mower?

I use a Hustler zero turn with a 60" deck. I mow our 6 acres in just over 2 hours. It does an excellent job and I would get another if I would ever wear it out.

If he already has good tractors, it's a no brainer, get a mounted mower.A 5 footer would be all he would need. trim cut with the Snapper. He really doesn't need a humongous big mower, because the bigger the clumsier. 

depends on the number of obstacles. I use a rear mount 5' mower on my CUT, but if I had a lot of trees then a ZTR would be my first choice.

He won't be able to do pastures with a ZTR.  If he gets one he would need the kind that has suspension, or he can kiss his back and kidneys goodbye.  I run a six foot WSoods finish mower behind a D14, and could have gone bigger.  I would sugget a 7 or 8 foot with rear discharge for optimim capability.  If you have a lot of narrow areas you may want to go with a six foot.

Unless you have small trees or brush, you can lift the finish mower and do the pastures.  I have done that and it does not seem to have hurt my woods mower. 

I used to mow 3 acres with a D17 III D with a 6 ft JD finish mower (barely wide enough), now mow it with an Exmark ZTR 5 ft cut. The Exmark is a little faster cutting but a lot less trimming time. But if the ground is not pretty smooth, I can cut just about as fast with the finish mower and have a lot better ride. Also as my trees grow, i can mow under them better with the ZTR.

I have a Country Clipper ZTR. I was using a 446 Case with a 48" deck that has been repowered with a 20hp Onan. The Clipper will handily out run and mow the Case. I can mow my place in about 1 1/2 hrs where it takes almost 3 on the Case. I keep the Case because it has a Trac Vac on it. The only thing limiting the Clipper is ground terrain. The Clipper is easy to run with it's joystick control. One hand to drive, the other to lift tree branches and refreshments...

I have a Snapper built by Country Clipper with the joy stick, had it 12 years. It beats the tractor by 1/2 the time on 3 acres. Right after I got  my wife asked how the heck do you steer it. I showed her the joy stick and how it worked and I have'nt seen the mower  since. and she says" It's mine and I'd better not catch you on it".

Roundup herbicide. I absolutely loathe mowing lawn. I don't know if any machine has been invented to make it tolerable. I have a CA with a 6ft. woods belly mower, a 1920 Agco-Allis and neither is very handy around all of these trees. I am giving serious consideration to a zero turn myself.  Or roundup.

There is a round up rate for stunting grass without killing it on the label.

Gerald J.

I bought a cheap zero turn about five years ago and hated it. I bought a real one last year with a fabricated deck and real hydrostat drive. It is really the only way to go unless it is wet. The speed alone is worht it, but the finish is great. I bought a 48" Cub Cadet ZTR (needed the narrow width to get thru areas without having to trim) and 23HP Kohler engine. It is worth it's weight in gold many times over. A neighbor has one with the 72" deck and diesel to mow his 7 acres and does it in two hours. Cost wise it is more, but I really feel the time savings and quality of the newer zero turns make up for it. When it is really wet, you do need to be careful or you will tear up grass, otherwise you couldn't get me to give the unit up. I bought it last April with one year free financing and paid it off last month and I have absolutely no complaints, except that I wish it was an AC!

About 12 years ago I bought a Ransomes Jag 4000 (made by Bobcat) with 6ft front deck, 50" snow blower, and cab on it too. It's got a little 31hp diesel for power. I have mowed in a rain storm that would have stopped other mowers. All I saw was a green fog coming out of the discharge shute. I watch all the time for a brother to it for a parts mower. No luck yet. A ztr is best for trimming close to things, but a tractor with a belly or finish mower is best for long mowing runs. Turf tires are a must on most lawns too. Like others on here, I can't see paying 5 to 15 thousand $ for something that wii only mow grass also. But you should do whatever make you happy..........  FredinInd

I have THREE Dixon ZTRs... all mechanical drive... a 30", and two 42"... one with stock 14hp Kawi, and one little monster with an 18hp twin-cyl B&S... THEN... I have a 62" Bobcat with 27hp Kohler Command.  I also have a bunch of IH Cub Cadets with typical fabricated and stamped decks from 42-50", and an IH Cub 154 with narrow turf tires.  I have a JD #5 sickle mower and a 5' rotary that I use behind the Allis B and the D17.  I have a 21" self-propelled walk-behind and a Stihl FS-80 brushcutter for fine details.   We live on 5 acres that has a combination of flat open space, as well as buildings, single trees, a grove of catalpa trees, two grain bins, four propane tanks, 9 flowerbeds, a small pond, and all sorts of other stuff lying around.  We're bordered by corn/beanfields, and a gravel road with ditches.

Here's my 'take' on it:

Mowing along the fields, through the bottoms of the ditches:  5' rotary behind the D17.

Mowing the wide-open spaces, between buildings, sides of most of the ditches, around most trees and flowerbeds:  the Bobcat ZTR wins.  It wears 23-10.50-12 Titan ag-treads filled 3/4 full with Propylene Glycol, and the front 'caster' wheels have been filled with tire foam.  To smooth the ride over really hard spots, I converted the front casters to a 'knee-action' suspension, but the ride is very good considering most other ZTRs of this size.  For my wife's safety, I built a full roll cage with lights at shoulder and foot level for 360-degree illumination, there's a steel canopy on top, so low branches don't come in and stab the operator in the eyes, also keeps me dry when it rains... or hails.  There's an FM reciever/MP3 player in the canopy, with a cord going to automatic noise-suppressing headphones (the kind you use for sporting clays, etc... ).  I have a piece of PVC pipe on one side of the cage, inside which is a pole-type pruning saw, and on the other side is a scabbard with a machete, for those instances when a low-hanging branch or sapling needs to be truncated (hee hee)... and there's a fire-extinguisher clipped beneath the seat.

I use the really small Dixons for those times when I have really close-in finish mowing to do around the house, buildings, etc., and along shrubbery, inside the tree groves.

I no longer use the garden tractors for mowing.  Period.

Cut quality-  the Bobcat and the Dixons yield the nicest cut.  The 3-point mower slashes through crud along the fencerows, and the sickle...well, if I had 3-4' high grass on flat surface, I'd use it, but it generally doesn't get used otherwise.

If I were to have JUST ONE MOWER... it would be the Bobcat.  Regardless of any other factor, the big commercial ZTR will cut more ground better, in less time, and with less fuel, than any other machine in my arsenal... and even if it DIDN'T have the high top-speed, or ability to cut AT that speed... if the 3-point hog, or one of my garden-tractors could out run it, the big ZTR would STILL out-mow, because it takes no time to turn it, no planning to maneuver, and no muss-or-fuss to negotiate an obstacle.

Tearing up the lawn... our soil and lawn doesn't suffer... even with ag-tread tires.  IF you insist on doing a planted-foot 'pivot', you'll leave a divot, but proper operation doesn't pivot on one tire.

Ride quality?  The D17 and Allis B have larger tires, so they ride better, but you can't drive 'em over the cistern or septic tank, and they won't maneuver through areas as well, or as fast, or cut as thoroughly as the ZTRs.  As far as wide-open space is concerned, I couldn't run the D17's 5' blade through grass any faster than the Bobcat could cut through, and get any better cut quality.  BOTH mowers would require two passes in order to get it done right, and the Bobcat will do it faster.  The D17's only advantage, is that it's tires, footprint, and ballast gives it the ability to climb out of muddy holes that the ZTR will mire within.

Here's my take...neighbour(more money than brains) bought a brand new Kubota 3030(?) with 5' belly mower, this thing has Air conditioning and cd player to boot. Cuts his 2 acres in 1/2 hour....NOT fast enough, so he buys an Exmark ZTR unit, 5', does about 18MPH(?) , I know  it's faster than the Kubota as he cuts grass in 18-20 minutes,also pull wheelies.

A commercial grade ZTR is hard to beat for a lawn.  Open field tractor is OK but before I bought mine I talked to several folks that changed from small tractor to ZTR and all agreed they should have done it long before.
Only part that may bother you is the ride is not the best on rough ground.  Partly because you can cut real fast with the new ones.

Edited by Don(MO) - 14 Apr 2010 at 9:11pm