Zero Turn Mowers - The tractor thread... with a twist

[Mephistopheles Janx]

I'm moving onto a 10 acre farm. The land isn't hilly... it is mostly flat. I have about 5ish acres to mow and the back of the parcel is hayed by a local farmer at the moment.

I've been researching zero turn mowers for the past month and am almost sold on an Arien's Ikon XL 60 with the Kawasaki motor.

https://www.ariens.com/en-us/lawn-pr...saki-zero-turn

I understand Ariens to be a great brand and they are currently offering 0% for 48 months putting this around $100 a month.

https://www.ariens.com/en-us/financemymower

Is this the mower I should be buying for my land or should I be looking at something else?

Land:

[Tonka83]

I had 24 acres 6 of which I cut with a zero turn. Ariens is made by Gravely which is what I had. With a 60" deck I could do the 6 acres in a little over an hour. The Kawasaki motor is outstanding. Get water cooled if it's an option.

Truthfully any of the brands listed will do you well. They are all good. But that Areins is a bargain. I did not realize it was an almost identical unit as mine until after I bought the Gravely. Could have saved a couple of grand.

[neech]

Originally Posted by Holladay

Looking at that Badboy site, I think is something to look into. Seems a tad pricey but that is what you get for quality.

Yeah I'd be interested in one of those but I have a Gravely zero turn I'll run until it drops.

[Holladay]

We bought our place in '92. The yard was crap: rocks, nasty dips, roots, killer slopes. It sucked. I didn't know better and bought a large garden tractor made by Craftsman from Sears. For such a large mower it was cheap and cheap it was. It lasted a year. Beat it up badly.

I traded it in and got $500 which was a steal and bought a '74 Ford Lawn Tractor with a bunch of attachments. That thing was a BEAST. Ran like a tank and rode like one too.

I traded it in and got another $1000. I bought the largest Cub Garden Tractor for 8k. I paid $100/month for 5 years. 10 years later, it was long in the tooth.

I got 2k trade in and bought the Land Pride. Possibly the last tractor will buy.

So, quality will hold a bit of value for later.

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by Holladay

BTW, ask how easy is it to drop the deck.

I just did that last night to clean out all the crud under the deck. It sucked.

I also wouldn't worry too much about max HP...especially on flat ground.

I would also suggest you test drive a few. Cub came out with a zero turn, high priced mower and it was terrible.

I am not sure, but 4k for a 60" mower seems too good to be true. Do you need residential or commercial? I use the heck out of mine. I am glad I got the commercial grade.

The better the mower, in 10 yrs, the better the trade in value.

Originally Posted by Holladay

Looking at that Badboy site, I think is something to look into. Seems a tad pricey but that is what you get for quality.

I've looked at Bad Boy buy holy shit are they expensive and they don't offer any sort of deals on financing ATM.

As for use... it will strictly be a mower of large area. If I need to pull a trailer I have an SUV to do that with.

Originally Posted by Tonka83

I had 24 acres 6 of which I cut with a zero turn. Ariens is made by Gravely which is what I had. With a 60" deck I could do the 6 acres in a little over an hour. The Kawasaki motor is outstanding. Get water cooled if it's an option.

Truthfully any of the brands listed will do you well. They are all good. But that Areins is a bargain. I did not realize it was an almost identical unit as mine until after I bought the Gravely. Could have saved a couple of grand.

I thought it seemed like a great deal as well. Is your Gravely 10 gauge steel or 11? Does that make that big a difference? They have one model above this one but for 1k more the only difference I see is the thickness of the steel.

Originally Posted by TribalElder

Congrats

Fence + goats will be cheaper in the long run than mowers + gas + maintenance

Goats are definitely going to be added after some time in that middle rectangle section. That said... I have 12 kinds of apple and 7 kinds of pear and I understand that goats love to eat the bark off trees effectively killing them.

I don't know that I want to manage the amount of goats it would take to keep everything trim either. I'm thinking no more than 3 goats for meat.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Holladay

I have 10 acres as well. I bought a Land Pride mower 54" deck Kaw motor 5 years ago in, of course the best time to buy a mower, in December. 2 Gravely engineers that were disgruntled left and started Land Pride. Quality mower.

ZSR Razor 54

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listings/farm-equipment/for-sale/list/category/464/farm-equipment/manufacturer/land-pride/mode
I tl/zsr54

I think Land Pride discontinued their zero turns.

[Perineum Ripper]

https://www.cubcadet.com/equipment/c...zt-17RIEAC5010

[Dunerdr]

I’ve got a snapper with the kawi tough little motor. Honestly there’s a ton of mowers, just make sure what ever you buy you can get some local support. It’s nice running down the road and getting parts of you need them.

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

I’ve got a snapper with the kawi tough little motor. Honestly there’s a ton of mowers, just make sure what ever you buy you can get some local support. It’s nice running down the road and getting parts of you need them.

That was something I took away from the tractor thread that was on here.

My local dealer would be in Kearney, MO... 31 minutes away from my home. They are a "preferred" dealer whatever that means.

[mlyonsd]

That's an interesting looking house. Decks on both sides? It looks like an arrow pointing up.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by MephistophelesJanx

I've looked at Bad Boy buy holy shit are they expensive and they don't offer any sort of deals on financing ATM.

As for use... it will strictly be a mower of large area. If I need to pull a trailer I have an SUV to do that with.




I thought it seemed like a great deal as well. Is your Gravely 10 gauge steel or 11? Does that make that big a difference? They have one model above this one but for 1k more the only difference I see is the thickness of the steel.



Goats are definitely going to be added after some time in that middle rectangle section. That said... I have 12 kinds of apple and 7 kinds of pear and I understand that goats love to eat the bark off trees effectively killing them.

I don't know that I want to manage the amount of goats it would take to keep everything trim either. I'm thinking no more than 3 goats for meat.

Don’t write off the trailer business just yet. There are some decent little sprayers that pull behind mowers and are handy as hell. I wouldn’t spray with a 4 wheeler unless it is mounted and is wide enough to fit the turning radius.

[Iowanian]

I have a 60" bad boy. It's reliable and has required very little maintenance but it doesn't do as well on hillsides as I would like. It does t handle tall or wet grass as my brothers JD.

It's a good value for the money though.

If I had money to burn I'd probably look at the front deck grasshopper.

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

That's an interesting looking house. Decks on both sides? It looks like an arrow pointing up.

Decks on both sides... each side faces east and west meaning you can get shade on the porch regardless of the time of day. Also, the windows open up on those sides meaning I have sunlight in the house all day long.

We also thought it looked like an "upvote".

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Don’t write off the trailer business just yet. There are some decent little sprayers that pull behind mowers and are handy as hell. I wouldn’t spray with a 4 wheeler unless it is mounted and is wide enough to fit the turning radius.

Not at all... the Ariens can have a trailer ball attached to it to pull a trailer or other attachments. Just thinking if I need to haul rocks or something super heavy... I don't have to rely on the 24HP Kawi motor to do it.

[LoneWolf]

Is that an herb garden in the front?

[Mephistopheles Janx]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf

Is that an herb garden in the front?

Yup.... this is everything that is currently growing there.







I plan to grow our food there as well. It is my goat to farm/tend 85% of what we consume. The other 15% being dairy products, flour, pepsi, and random snack food.