Zero Turn and the Bushhog put to use

[BrokenolMarine]

Over the last week, we got to put the Spartan Zero Turn and the Kubota and the Bush Hog to use. We finally got some dry weather for a couple days in a row, then rain, then a couple more days of dry weather. Miss Tina mowed the yards and paddock with the zero turn, then worked parts of the pasture, and left some of the flat areas for me. I enjoy the bush hogging, but she says I am not as nimble as I used to be, and doesn't want me on the slopes and in the wooded areas in case the tractor should start to roll.

Since we no longer have large livestock to feed hay, we'll clip the fields a couple times a year. The North Pasture looks pretty good, although not groomed like it did a couple years ago. The weather has been very wet this year so there are tracks in the grass from the cut. This is the view of the North Pasture looking down from the North Fence line.

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The Mid pasture looks pretty good as well... I cut this area, as well as parts of the North pasture... This is a view of the Mid Pasture area looking North from the back of the range berm. This used to be between the range berm and the dam. The pond is gone now. Filled in and planted with winter rye. (We aren't mowing that area, the deer love the winter rye.) That rough area on the left used to be the pond bank. This summer we'll do some more fill and leveling, then plant a final grass and start to mow that area once it fills in.

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You know you have been on the farm too long when you go on about enjoying riding the tractor...
Or you just talk about your tractor(s) in the barber shop.
Wait, if you are all talking about your tractors in the barber shop, you know you aren't in the big city.

[BrokenolMarine]

In the pic of the Mid Pasture, the gap in the trees at the upper right leads to the North Pasture.

[DsGrouse]

Ophf looks great. But now you are reminding me i need to finish mowing my fields.

Ugh.. well at least the 90 finish mower deck is hooked up

[Ernie]

Reading your post I realized mowing my couple acres isn't so bad. I had thought it would be good to own more land but I want to do more with my "not winter" than mow.

[Sir Henry]

I mow about five acres of lawn. My neighbor hays my fields and I get a check for $250. The real money is in real estate tax savings. Farm land is barely taxed while recreation property has high taxes.

Speaking of my neighbor he has $2,000,000 in tractors and lives in a a $150,000 house.

[BrokenolMarine]

That's the thing you see here. The big farmer's will have a thousand acres, two thousand acres... Horses, cows, a million dollars in farm equipment, and the house is either a small frame house around 1500 square feet, or a double wide. These midwest farmers put their money where it counts.

On the flip side, you'll see a small house or single wide trailer on a quarter acre lot with a big fast bass boat, a jon boat for small water, a polaris razor, and pair of jet skis parked in the yard. I'm guessing between work and recreation, they don't spend much time at home.

[Sir Henry]

That's the thing you see here. The big farmer's will have a thousand acres, two thousand acres... Horses, cows, a million dollars in farm equipment, and the house is either a small frame house around 1500 square feet, or a double wide. These midwest farmers put their money where it counts.

On the flip side, you'll see a small house or single wide trailer on a quarter acre lot with a big fast bass boat, a jon boat for small water, a polaris razor, and pair of jet skis parked in the yard. I'm guessing between work and recreation, they don't spend much time at home.

I’m remodeling my home because spend most of my time there. I most likely won’t buy a time share here in Florida because it would only be for a week or two. And I need a bigger tractor.

[DsGrouse]

Did our fields and yard today. The dog came in with dozens of ticks last night. She went galivanting through the tall grasses in the fields.

[BrokenolMarine]

Did our fields and yard today. The dog came in with dozens of ticks last night. She went galivanting through the tall grasses in the fields.

Dog gets monthly stripe down her back. Any fleas that get on her, drop dead. We keep a flock of Guineas free ranging on the property. Usually start with about eighteen, then they dwindle down to three or four, and we have to hatch another batch and turn them loose. The coyotes and feral dogs account for most of the losses over about a twelve month period.

The Guineas will eat the ticks, centipedes, grasshoppers, scorpions, and other bugs, and most importantly, tear up the copperheads. We had a terrible copperhead problem when we first bought the place. Only thing the Guineas don't seem to wanna eat are the tarantulas.

[rickhem]

I have about 5½ acres to mow, and that includes a lot of different "challenges" in different areas. Slopes, soft/muddy areas, trees, bushes, and assorted tables, benches, and other obstructions make it a little slower going than just running long strips like I can in other areas. It really looks nice once it's cut though, and like BOM said, it's not too bad sitting on the mower and driving around.

I'll use the tractor and brush hog to cut strips around the fields, and to keep some trails through the woods open. Sometimes I'll take the mower along those strips, but not when it's still growing fast in the spring. We also have a neighbor that hays our fields, like Sir Henry, but we only get the discount on property taxes from the agricultural exemption from that. They usually make the first cut around Memorial Day, so a couple weeks out for that.

One of the running jokes about the houses up around my area is that there's almost always another building, a garage or a barn, or both, that are all bigger than the house. I have a 2-bay morton building, and an amish built 2-car garage on the property, along with the attached 2-car garage on the house, so I guess I'm in that club too.

A co-worker that I had a long time ago used to laugh about how Avogadro's Gas Law also applied to computer hard drives, and that no matter how much space you have, somehow you always fill it. I think that also applies to garage space too.

[Hatchdog]

“ The Guineas will eat the ticks, centipedes, grasshoppers, scorpions, and other bugs, and most importantly, tear up the copperheads. We had a terrible copperhead problem when we first bought the place. Only thing the Guineas don't seem to wanna eat are the tarantulas. ”

Man that’s a lot of ugly critters. I feel like it’s Sunday night and I’m watching Wild Kingdom like back in the day.

Talking about tractors is as much fun as talking about guns. Currently I’m using one of those DR tow behind brush cutters to mow my trail thru the trees that leads from the house and makes a loop and back. I’m on a small ridge and have about a 100’ drop in elevation that’s pretty steep. I do drive my tractor on the trail but it’s a bit uneven sides to side and I don’t like driving the tractor on it and only do so if needed. I tow the DR with a quad atv.

[BrokenolMarine]

Hatch, I didn't mention the critters that eat Guineas..
We have coyotes and feral dogs, plus foxes, coons, possums, bobcats, armadillos, hawks, eagles, and other raptors... It's circle of life here.

It's why we keep both a shotgun and a rifle handy. It's also the reason we had a guard donkey in the pasture when we had cows. We could watch him on the security cameras "Standing Guard" at night while the cows slept safely in the barn. He would doze with them as they grazed in the pastures, still on duty. Predators didn't come near his herd but once... they never got another chance.

[Hatchdog]

^^^^^^^^^^^

Yeah, I have no problem with critters I can see and shoot if needed. It’’s those little un’s hiding that spook me. (Mostly due to the fact that I have really never been around any). Cougars, Bears, Wolves, Meth-heads………bring them on!

[BrokenolMarine]

Reading your post I realized mowing my couple acres isn't so bad. I had thought it would be good to own more land but I want to do more with my "not winter" than mow.

With the pastures, we only clip them (I think Tina calls it "topping",) a couple times each summer to keep the weeds down. I like the look of the 24" tall grass swaying in the Oklahoma winds. Don't want to cut the pastures too short. If we were cutting them for hay, we wouldn't do that.


With that Spartan Zero Turn Tina can mow the yard and coop area, plus my ranges in about ninety minutes. She likes zipping around on the mower, and even though I offer, nope. It's her thing.

[Hatchdog]

Okay, reading this thread along with seeing my neighbor bring a new zero turn home to mow his level field makes my ask this question.

I currently have a large non lawn but grassy/brushy with many trees area I mow. Also I have a half mile trail thru the property I mow. For the level areas around the house I use a cheap Home Depot special Cub Cadet rider mower. For the trail I use a tow behind DR brush cutter behind a quad atv. The trail has a pretty steep hill I go up and down.

If I decide to switch to a zero turn mower for better maneuverability on the level areas and less hassle to mow the trail will the zero turn work? Will it have enough traction to mow up the hill on my trail? Never been on one but they sure look like fun.

Thanks for the input.

[BrokenolMarine]

It would probably depend on the actual angle of your hill, the length of the hill, and the power of the mower and it's tires. Since the area you are mowing is non-lawn, you could buy the ZT with better traction tires, and NOT spin the mower harshly on the turns to avoid ripping the grass or ground cover, which would give you better traction both uphill AND downhill.

Tina has maybe thirty degree slopes to mow and the Spartan mows right up and down no issues. The first ZT, a Kubota, struggled on some of the slopes. But, to be honest, we felt the dealer never got that mower tuned correctly. If they had it might have handled the job as well. We traded it in on the Larger Spartan about a year later and never looked back.