I have a grass arena and a few acres of relatively flat pasture I need to mow. Looking for a used riding mower to do the job. Recommendations?
Not sure how much “a few acres” is, but unless the ground is very hilly or you intend on pulling something, I’d say get a zero-turn mower. If you go with a conventional mower, hydrostatic drive makes things so much easier.
I have ~3 acres and use a John Deere 48", 20 HP GX-255 that I bought before the zero-turns became readily available. I can mow it in about 2-1/2 hours.
I have a Cub Cadet LGT 1054. It has a 26 hp motor and a 54" cutting deck. I also use it to pull our small manure spreader and also a small utility cart. I have had it for three years now and love it
2 Likes
If you are mowing pasture, buy a commercial grade one and not one from a big box store (even a nice one from a big box store.) Had a fancy Toro from Home Depot but not commercial grade and after a year and a half on my farm it was beat all to hell. The commercial Kabota I replaced it with is a whole nother beast.
Highly recommend John Deere commercial zero turns. We’ve got a 2004 757 that we bought new in 2005 and it never misses a beat. Occasional belt replacement and consistent maintenance always important, tho. You can mow at 15 mph if the ground is smooth enough to not get bucked off! But they’re not good at all in terrain/hilly land.
[QUOTE=secretariat;6333924]
You can mow at 15 mph if the ground is smooth enough to not get bucked off! [/QUOTE]
AND if you are wearing good support garments! 
I use a 10 + year old Craftman 20hp mower. My pasture is not smooth and I am not gentle with it but it just keeps on going.
1 Like
subk - absolutely! Note I didn’t say I MOWED at 15 mph, said YOU COULD!!!
another though to add - the 757 mower height goes up to about 5-6" (I like my pastures in the 4-6" range). Many/most of the lawn stuff I’ve seen (including my JD lawn & garden jobbie on the other farm) will not mow high enough for pasture use.
final comment - with the wide 757 mower, if you’ve got a board fence with the lowest board off the ground at least 6", you can put the mower under the fence and only have about 1/2" of trim at each post. And a little roundup fixes that!
I’ve got a 5 acre place, basically level, and I use both a Wheelhorse WH(60") riding mower and a Ferris Zero Turn FZT(61"). I prefer the WH for mowing closer to my fence posts and any damp or wet areas as the FZT get stuck on a drop of water. The Ferris has a great suspension that allows for a great ride whereas the Wheelhorse shakes the boobs out of the bra! 
The Ferris also mows a bit higher~4-5" and is better for the pastures than the WH. Any sloping areas, like the ditch at the road I prefer the WH. Both are a heavy duty mowers and well worth all the $ I paid for them. :yes:
I bought my first WH, a 2nd hand-48", and only planned to use it on the lawn, but hated the tractor and bushhog so I started to use the first WH. Then got the bigger mowing deck (60") and it made it much easier and faster. I will admit that I beat the daylights out of the first WH for probably 11 yrs and it took it quite well.
We had a lot of people tell us to get a zero turn when we opened our farm last fall, but in all honesty we just didn’t have the budget for it. I did a lot of research and finally settled on a husqvarna 23hp riding mower. It has a 48" deck and hydrostatic transmission, which I LOVE. Our lil mower has been worth it’s weight in GOLD. And I have been having to tackle some pretty massive projects with it too!!!
1 Like
My used John Deere 17.5HP has been really great.
1 Like
I recommend a sturdy traditional riding mower over a zero turn. I pull an aerator and broadcast seed spreader with my riding mower. I don’t think the zero turn mowers are designed to pull carts or lawn equipment.
3 Likes
We have a Sears Craftsman Garden Tractor, 25 HP - LOVE IT!!! It takes a beating and keeps on ticking 
Plus, as someone else said - we use ours to tow a utility dump cart, it can tow a disc and a rake, etc.
It’s mostly used for mowing, but until we got our tractor (Kubota), it dragged/maintained our arena.
And even now, my husband created a really long leveling blade and attached it to the rake that it pulls, to help him as he’s re-doing our driveway
1 Like
I second the Sears Craftsman Garden Tractor, 25 HP model. It can tow all the things Fancy That mentioned, plus an 8-stall manure spreader, and I used it to mow and/or drag pastures, work the dressage arena footing, etc. A bit difficult for a weak armed female to remove the mower deck and replace it, but this sucker ran and ran and ran. The zero turn mowers are nice for mowing the front yard, but when you do a pasture you frequently mow with a drag behind to break up manure, and you can’t zero turn those.
I’ve mowed with a couple of different riding lawnmowers. Most mowers will do the work. Yes, we had a 24 horse power Sears mower, 3 blades and it would struggle in heavier or wet grass. The real problem is that lawnmowers in general have mower decks that are set too low. If you cut many pasture grasses too low you can really harm the grass, just like grazing to low.
I attended and excellent lecture given by an extension agent who specialty was equine properties. He explained that many grasses are significantly weakened when they are mowed too short. This why we are wasting our money with using those pasture seed mixes that are based on Orchard and Timothy seed then allowing our horses to graze the pastures too short. You’ll be wondering what happened to those grasses. Clover stores it’s sugars(plants food) in it’s roots so as the grasses die the clover comes on strong. I’ve read that Orchard grass should be mowed in the 3-5" range but was advised to stick with the 5" height.
chicamux
We just bought 16 acres, about 3 of which I actually mow, 5 are front pasture and the rest is bean field. People keep telling me that my craftsman rider is going to die but, I beat the living Christ out of that thing and it plugs away man. I have a little dump cart for It that I’ve used to bring a dozen or so cords worth to where I split. All I need is some chains and I bet I could pull the truck out of the yard if it ever gets stuck!
2 Likes
6 year old thread. Still useful information
2 Likes
:yes: Yup, this is a Zombie 4 Sure!
That said:
I used a 15+yo Yardman (came with the farm) riding mower for 14yrs before pulling the plug when I got sick&tired of changing belts.
Sidenote: WHY do mfrs make you crawl on the ground to do this? That or invest in a pricy lift :mad:
This year I folded & hired a service to do my lawns, neighbor bushhogs pastures in Fall when grass has stopped growing & roughs are forests.
Anyhow, if you intend to beat up your riding mower in pastures at least invest in gator blades.
Go sloooooowly since the belly-mounted deck is not meant for rough surfaces.
And expect annual repair costs since you are going to damage something, guaranteed.
Myself, I went through 2 spindles & came close to needing a whole new front end.
We bought 10 acres and a ramshackle house so our small john deere lawn tractor has been a real work horse. It does some pretty good sized hills and if you put the blades all the way up, remove the brush guard, and go real slow it mowed a pasture with 3 foot high grass. You will at some point smoke a belt and knowing how to replace them yourself will save you a TON of money. It was a couple months until we got a big tractor and bush hog. Now that it’s all mowed down we go through far fewer belts.
Do try to stop and disengage the blades before you smoke the belt though. Lesson learned.
Ours has taken a heck of a beating, including when our FIL wasn’t aware the swinging farm gate only swung one way and hit it at full speed. Roll of yellow duct tape and it was ready to roll again.
We poofed the spam from the thread that bumped it up, but feel free to continue to contribute!
1 Like
