How much do you mow, and what with?

[MrSplitshot]

The wife and I are looking at a bigger house, now that we have spawned and the kid has filled our little house with crap. It's out in the country, about 30 minutes from Lexington back in my old hometown, and sitting on 2.4 acres. It has always been my dream to get the heck out of the subdivisions, the homeowners associations, and not have to worry if my blinds are closed when I take a whiz. I can steal this house, so we are really looking at this hard. This is one of those "stay the rest of your life" places.

The 2.4 acres has a few small trees, but is mostly open...was basically a 10-acre farm that was divided up into 4 tracts and sold, so 12 years ago it was a pasture. It is hilly...not particularly flat anywhere, but not über steep either. Typical Kentucky rolling terrain. It's kind of rough, a rock here and there, and one little area that has been bush hogged...so I know that spot isn't even something a garden tractor or zero turn would handle.

Having never owned more than a 1/4 acre lot in the city, I know I would have to invest in a tractor or zero turn.

How much do y'all mow and what with? I'm not particularly a fan of yard work and don't want to spend 6 hours a week mowing. Wouldn't mind a couple hours on a tractor though, if I had a decent piece of equipment.

[Hlleonard]

The wife and I are looking at a bigger house, now that we have spawned and the kid has filled our little house with crap. It's out in the country, about 30 minutes from Lexington back in my old hometown, and sitting on 2.4 acres. It has always been my dream to get the heck out of the subdivisions, the homeowners associations, and not have to worry if my blinds are closed when I take a whiz. I can steal this house, so we are really looking at this hard. This is one of those "stay the rest of your life" places.

The 2.4 acres has a few small trees, but is mostly open...was basically a 10-acre farm that was divided up into 4 tracts and sold, so 12 years ago it was a pasture. It is hilly...not particularly flat anywhere, but not über steep either. Typical Kentucky rolling terrain. It's kind of rough, a rock here and there, and one little area that has been bush hogged...so I know that spot isn't even something a garden tractor or zero turn would handle.

Having never owned more than a 1/4 acre lot in the city, I know I would have to invest in a tractor or zero turn.

How much do y'all mow and what with? I'm not particularly a fan of yard work and don't want to spend 6 hours a week mowing. Wouldn't mind a couple hours on a tractor though, if I had a decent piece of equipment.

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I moved to a place with 5 acres in the stix about 30 years ago from a really small yard in town where I could push a mower for 20 or 30 minutes and be done mowing... I bought a riding mower with maybe a 36 inch deck and the area I mowed with that was maybe a third of the whole area with a house and a small barn in that area and it took me around 3 hours to mow it... Getting the rest mowed a couple times a year was a real struggle... I now have a tractor, a bush hog and a finish mower that I mow the whole nine yards with... Not sure what exactly you meant by not being too particular about your place, myself, don't care much at all, just don't want to spend all my time with yard work.. About all equipment manufacturers sell those compact tractors that are designed for folks like yourself and I'm guessing they do a great job... When I bought my tractor, they had these there also but I wasn't sure it was what I needed so I bought a farm tractor, both were about the same price... The tractor I bought is a 40hp, which is the smallest farm tractor I could find, and is really a bit too big for the job but it does what I needed it to do... I did speak with a fella who bought a compact and he said it was under powered for what he needed it for, 17hp, so if you go that route be sure you are getting a tractor that will do what you need it to do.

[kygorski]

We had 26 acres of "typical" ky rural property, 29 acres was gulley and hills, and trees, the remaining part was a lot of work, my 17 HP cadet did a nice job, and had a self propelled hand mower for close up, BUT get a real good string trimmer, you'll appreciate it.Later you can add tree trimmers and lots of other doo dads.I spent approx. 3 grueling hours a week, with yard work. Before the wife died she took care of the flower beds and shrubs, later I just cut most of it down.Now I dont think I could handle even half of it.

[kygorski]

Had a little over 4 acres to mow, trim and take care of.

[MrSplitshot]

Thanks Hlleonard...I meant that I wasn't particularly fond of yard work. I don't mind it for a couple hours a week of mowing and trimming, but its not something I enjoy or want to spend 6 hours a week on manicuring like a golf course. I mow it, trim it, and grt on with life. Considering that this land is lind of hilly and that I'm a big boy, I think your statement about not getting an underpowered tractor are spot on.

I've heard that zero turn mowers can be bad on hilly terrain, especially with an inexperienced driver, so I tend to think a traditional garden tractor, something 50"+ cut, with some horsepower...

[MrSplitshot]

Thanks kygorski...I definitely don't want that much land to take care of the rest if my days.

A couple acres is my max...

[waterdog101]

I just went through this, back in the summer. I had a 38" cut John Deer tractor mower. it took me 1 and 1/2 hours to mow as fast as it would cut the grass. I have a Daughter that got married and they bought a house, she asked me what type of mower they should buy. I told her not to buy one and she could have my John Deer, and I would buy a new one. well I bought a new zero turn, Ariens brand 60" it is without a doubt the best mower I've ever been on. it don't work well on my back yard, as it is sloped on about a 4 to 1 grade. I can still mow it. but if I had tried one on a sloped yard before buying it. I would have went with the tractor type. it does save me 1 hour mowing time to cut the same yard. if you have a sloped yard, and want a zero turn. borrow one from someone you know and see how it works on your yard before, you tie a lot of money up in one like I did.

[Hlleonard]

The zero turns are a bunch faster and I was lucky enough to have been able to use one that a friend of my son had when I was trying to make up my mind, xmark I think was the name , it did a great job and in a much shorter time, the only problem I saw with it was that it rode kinda rough as my yard is everything but flat and smooth and as Mr. Waterdog said, it was affected by the slope somewhat... It seems the faster you mow, the rougher the ride, was the major reason I bought a tractor but was also influenced by being able to mow the rest of my place instead of trying to get somebody to mowing it for me ... The ZTR was probably faster than the tractor mowing the same ground.

[DJD]

Congrats man! I hope to do the same one day. How did the .45 rounds turn out??

[MrSplitshot]

Congrats man! I hope to do the same one day. How did the .45 rounds turn out??

Still a lot up in the air, so definitely not a done deal. It's out of our price range right now and we haven't agreed on offers yet. If it happens, it happens...but something we kinda had to try.

45 loads were decent for first batch...needed a little more crimp, because every now and then they would hang up in cycling.

[DJD]

Still a lot up in the air, so definitely not a done deal. It's out of our price range right now and we haven't agreed on offers yet. If it happens, it happens...but something we kinda had to try.

45 loads were decent for first batch...needed a little more crimp, because every now and then they would hang up in cycling.

Gotcha....I hope it works for you man!!! The only thing better than you getting that would be ME getting that!

[mhall]

I mow a little over an acre at my own place. Just a 48 inch cut rider with a 17.5 hp, a push mower and weedeater. I do however take care of another 5 acres that I use a medium sized Kubota with a pretty large finish mower behind it. I have buddies that take care of alot more on their places. If plan on mowing more than 4 acres on a regular basis go buy you a Dixie Chopper with a large deck. Biggest you can afford..
With that coin you make, shouldn't be an issue. DC are Fescue slingin son of a guns and they can take the punishment to.

They are also made IN USA!!!