Homesteading and Hobby Farm/Ranch

Blazin said:

You can come mowing with me for a week to feel better about tackling it. I hope I just did my last mowing of the season, I love operating equipment but it has moved from solidly into the not fun side of the ledger. I really want a 12-15' wide mower next year but it's another $30k attachment and would take up a shit ton of room if I wanted to store it inside.

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Yeah, I have a weenie little half acre. Part of me just wants to keep paying the guy to do it for me. The other part looks at the cost and then does the math on the cost of the mower and knows the right answer is to buy one. Waiting until Black Friday to see what deals I can get is probably the route I will take.

BrutulTM said:

One benefit to the JD if you have a dealership nearby you can go there and get parts or advice on problems and even have mechanics work on it if you're willing to pay the shop rate. Hopefully you won't be doing that a lot but if you get one from Home Depot you're pretty much on your own once you swipe your credit card.

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This but get a Kubota

Sanrith Descartes said:

MTD brands?

The other thing about a tractor is that I am 6'3 and all leg. Even with the seat back they don't seem built for people my height.

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You will hate subcompact tractors at that height… Maybe I missed it but is there a reason you haven’t considered a zero turn? Do you need a rough cut mower?

I only do rough cut but I have no fancy grass lawn. It’s forest and if there’s grass it’s Bahia. Mowing with a tractor wasn’t an option due to rainy season wet soil so I went with a UTV and the biggest EFI kunz rough cut they sold.

I can mow my lawn at 10-12mph ezpz.

Foler said:

You will hate subcompact tractors at that height… Maybe I missed it but is there a reason you haven’t considered a zero turn? Do you need a rough cut mower?

I only do rough cut but I have no fancy grass lawn. It’s forest and if there’s grass it’s Bahia. Mowing with a tractor wasn’t an option due to rainy season wet soil so I went with a UTV and the biggest EFI kunz rough cut they sold.

I can mow my lawn at 10-12mph ezpz.

Commercial Grade Pull Behind Rough Cut Mower AcrEase Model MR55KEI - Kunz Engineering

The Rought Cut Mower AcrEase Model MR55KEI demands your attention. Take a look at this Rough Cut Mower and just imagine what it can do to your property.

kunzeng.com

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I was looking at a zero-turn but just feel it's overkill for a half acre. The Deere ZT entry level model is only about $700 more than a Deere entry tractor (S100) which is the tempting part.

Deathwing said:

idk, tractor(rider?) mower for a half acre seems like overkill. I mow almost two acres with a push mower. Yes, it takes a bit of time(~2.5 hours), but I rationalize it by saying I don't have to workout that day.

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Its really kind of a tweener size. A walk behind self-propelled can do it, but as you say its multiple hours and thats ever week here. I prefer not to spend 2-3 hours cutting the lawn each week.

Sanrith Descartes said:

I was looking at a zero-turn but just feel it's overkill for a half acre. The Deere ZT entry level model is only about $700 more than a Deere entry tractor (S100) which is the tempting part.

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I don’t know your property but you have a lot more flexibility to get close to stuff, between things etc with zero turn so you don’t have to go back and weed eat..

If it’s just straight up lawn with little trees then ya probably just go cheaper option tractor.

BrutulTM said:

If you're poor yes.

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I feel like I’m looking myself in the mirror.

Jokes aside. I had zero financial budget for my tractor. My budget was picking exactly the right tractor for my needs. No more no less. It couldn’t be too big or too small. It needs enough PTO hp for future implements. I researched a ton because I’m a retarded autist. My L3902 was the perfect fit. Small enough to navigate dense forest, but big enough for my property maintenance needs. My Kubota dealer network is great which was probably my biggest deciding factor and eliminated mahindra, tym, new holland etc. It left JD and Kubota. Comparing the specs of the two and build quality the Kubota won.

Dont try to start a tractor war here because I don’t think folks are gonna be on your side and I’ll have to resist being autist and going all in and put poor Blazin through that.

since we are in the topic of tractors. I know ole Blazin here own is running a Gucci grand L setup. I just got my L3902 a few weeks ago and love it. Went with it over the 4802 due to smaller frame size and turn radius. What is everyone else running and what are your use case requirements (land size, tractor use, etc). What implement brands do you like also? Seems like there’s a big following for everything attachments especially their root rake despite the owner seeming kinda like a dick and deleting bad reviews on his website… I have their 55” xtreme root rake grapple on order.. ETA 4 months. Buying a LP SG0660 to either 1. Hold me over till then and resell it or 2. Keep it if I like it and cancel the EA grapple.. lurkingdirk had me REAL interested in these sweeper implements for harvesting leaves at scale for compost piles however my areas with leaves have lots of sticks and shit in them too (think oak/magnolia/pine forests) so I’m still researching if this sweeper thing is feasible for such environment.

I’m on about 20 acres with probably 75-85% of heavy forest. I have zero use case for mowing as my Canam defender limited and kunz engineering rough cut mower is a better mowing setup than zero turn or tractor for my land.

I plan on mainly using mine for moving mulch, dirt, debris and logs. Picking up a LP bb2566 box blade on Saturday… My hope is to use it to prep the part of my dirt driveway that is on a 8-10 degree grade to install truegrid pavers in an attempt to solve erosion issues in Florida rainy season.


No plans right now for tilling implements or anything similar.. Doing more permaculture approach with fruit trees at the moment.