What size tractor?

[fransser]

This is not a generic question so i apologize for the generic title. Right now, my father has a compact kioti tractor with a 5' brush hog. I have a BX 2680 with a 4' brush hog. I foresee a time in the next few years where i may need to take over his mowing as well as my own. What is the largest brush hog to take care of roughly 10 acres and what size tractor. I asked chat-gpt but the AI said a 10' mower might require as mush as a 70 or 80 HP tractor. Perhaps some of you are already doing this so I thought I'd ask for real experience over AI.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CTinline-six]

This is a multi-part question.

It really depends on how much you want to spend, how long you want the mowing to take, and what other tasks you are using the tractor for.

I mow my grandfather's 10 acre field with a brush hog twice a year. He has a 40hp Massey-Ferguson and 7' brush hog. I can move along pretty good and it takes much less time than if I mowed it with my Kubota B2620 and 4' brush hog. With that said, his tractor was twice the cost of mine, and I also would not want to use his for finish mowing like I do my B2620.

If cost is no issue, I'd get something with a cab so you can mow in comfort.

 

[skeets]

An old rule of thumb is 5 hp per for foot of PTO implement, though most will exceed that by a bit. Both the BX and the B have 60 inch decks, could either go with a 72 inch brush hog I dont know but Im sure there wouldnt be a problem

 

[Elliott in GA]

You need to provide more information: how often you will mow, how high will the grass grow between cuttings and what type of grass.

I mow our land (2+ acres of field/rest wooded) every month it is growing (so 8 times) with a finish mower. I mow a field on my wife's family farm (2+ acres) 3-4 times a year with my rotary cutter; it takes about 2 hours. I mow another field (5+ acres) 2 times a year with the rotary cutter (probably only once this year due to the drought); it takes 3.5 hours. These fields are difficult to get to with a 2WD full size utility tractor (crossing a stream and snaking through the woods).

All of this with an LX25 and 5 foot cutters. I am not wishing for a bigger tractor with a bigger mower. Would it save me time to go bigger - yes. Would the time savings make a difference in my life - no. Would it be good value for money to go bigger for me -no. It is double or more money to upsize enough to really cut your mowing time.

If I were cutting 10 acres every week, I would have a very different opinion.

 

[fransser]

You need to provide more information: how often you will mow, how high will the grass grow between cuttings and what type of grass.

I mow our land (2+ acres of field/rest wooded) every month it is growing (so 8 times) with a finish mower. I mow a field on my wife's family farm (2+ acres) 3-4 times a year with my rotary cutter; it takes about 2 hours. I mow another field (5+ acres) 2 times a year with the rotary cutter (probably only once this year due to the drought); it takes 3.5 hours. These fields are difficult to get to with a 2WD full size utility tractor (crossing a stream and snaking through the woods).

All of this with an LX25 and 5 foot cutters. I am not wishing for a bigger tractor with a bigger mower. Would it save me time to go bigger - yes. Would the time savings make a difference in my life - no. Would it be good value for money to go bigger for me -no. It is double or more money to upsize enough to really cut your mowing time.

If I were cutting 10 acres every week, I would have a very different opinion.

i'll likely be mowing the acreage a little over once per week. We both have ponds and houses on the acreage so it isn't quite 10 total acres but it will be routine during the mowing season.

 

[PoTreeBoy]

How smooth and level is the land? How many obstacles? How often will you mow it? What other duties do you want the tractor to perform? What model is the Kioti?

Some will propose a zero turn or front mower tractor. If you're mowing light grass fairly often, you can go below 5hp/ft. But if you're cutting heavy brush, you may want more hp. If you are getting a 3pt mower, you need a tractor heavy enough to lift it. 7' single spindle brush cutters have a lot of weight way back there, so require a large tractor to lift them. A 12' batwing with a 50 hp tractor might fit your needs. Or something else.

 

[SDT]

This is not a generic question so i apologize for the generic title. Right now, my father has a compact kioti tractor with a 5' brush hog. I have a BX 2680 with a 4' brush hog. I foresee a time in the next few years where i may need to take over his mowing as well as my own. What is the largest brush hog to take care of roughly 10 acres and what size tractor. I asked chat-gpt but the AI said a 10' mower might require as mush as a 70 or 80 HP tractor. Perhaps some of you are already doing this so I thought I'd ask for real experience over AI.

Thanks in advance.

More information is needed but in general sizing a tractor/mower combination to your grounds will depend upon how highly you value your time vis a vis how much money you are willing to spend for equipment.

More specifically, determining the mazimum size of a rough cut mower will depend upon your parcel(s). Small, irregular parcels with lots of obstacles will require a smaller cutter. Flat, square parcels without obstacles will allow efficient use of a larger mower.

Once you have determined the optimum mower size for your parcels, you will need to determine if you have a tractor with enough power (and weight) to efficiently use it. The general rule of thumb of 5 PTO HP per foot of rough cut mower is a decent place to start but is not gospel. What do you plan to cut? How often do you plan to cut it? How fast do you hope to travel while mowing? Heavy grass takes much more HP to cut than does tall weeds, and hills require power. Do not select a cutter that weighs more than the recommended mower weight for your tractor that is published in the Operator's Manual.

Finally, I certainly would not recommend anything larger than your 4' cutter for your BX due to size and weight limitations. Cannot provide useful advise regarding the Kioti without HP and weight data.

 

[SDT]

i'll likely be mowing the acreage a little over once per week. We both have ponds and houses on the acreage so it isn't quite 10 total acres but it will be routine during the mowing season.

i'll likely be mowing the acreage a little over once per week. We both have ponds and houses on the acreage so it isn't quite 10 total acres but it will be routine during the mowing season.

If conditions permit I would certainly recommend a quality ZTR if you plan to mow weekly. This is finish mower duty.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Get a Zero Turn for the mowing duties!

 

[fransser]

Well just to add a bit of context, the land is rough right now but i'll get it tilled and smoothed after my house is finished being built. I won't be mowing heavy brush (it started out that way) but just trying to keep the weeds low and let the grasses fill in. Like i said earlier i'll probably mow weekly or thereabouts. There are some trees but i can cut around the trees with a zero turn first and then finish with the tractor. I can do everything now with what we have, I just don't want to be constantly mowing which is why i'm curious about what size tractor is required for larger mowers.

 

[hedgerow]

This is not a generic question so i apologize for the generic title. Right now, my father has a compact kioti tractor with a 5' brush hog. I have a BX 2680 with a 4' brush hog. I foresee a time in the next few years where i may need to take over his mowing as well as my own. What is the largest brush hog to take care of roughly 10 acres and what size tractor. I asked chat-gpt but the AI said a 10' mower might require as mush as a 70 or 80 HP tractor. Perhaps some of you are already doing this so I thought I'd ask for real experience over AI.

Thanks in advance.

This is a time and money question. Between my home place farm and my building and bin site farm I mow 10 plus acres a week with a diesel 60 inch zero turn mower. We have many other farms we mow ditches, waterways and building sites three times or so a year with a 150 HP tractor and a 15 FT bat wing mower. I put 200 to 250 hours on that tractor a year keeping things looking nice. Either set up you or your dad have with do both places. I don't see were you need a bigger set up. If your flush with money buy you a 70-80 HP tractor with a cab and AC and a 10-12 bat wing and get done quicker. Its like a old guy told me years ago you aren't taking that money with you.

 

[GeoHorn]

Maneuverability is an issue.

Is it “open” land…??

Or does it have many trees to manuever-around…?

I have 27 acres to mow….but it’s virtually open land…aircraft turf runways….. So MY Answer would be:

75-100 HP with a BAT-WING mower!

Otherwise…a 5-6 ft mower with 35 HP…if you’re having to get around obstacles.

(I actually do the job (including mowing-around runway markers and lighting) with 50 HP and a 6-ft mower.…and add finishing touches around runway lights with a 46” lawn-tractor and string-trimmer)

If you plan to “plow” to clear that land in the future… you’ll need some real HP tho’.

 

[Elliott in GA]

Either a 60 or more HP tractor with a batwing mower 12-15 ft, or a dedicated high speed mower with cab and HVAC like this:

| Toro

www.toro.com

Toro claims up to 10 acres an hour.

The price is probably about the same as a new cab tractor and mower, but you already have tractors.

 

[JonM]

This is not a generic question so i apologize for the generic title. Right now, my father has a compact kioti tractor with a 5' brush hog. I have a BX 2680 with a 4' brush hog. I foresee a time in the next few years where i may need to take over his mowing as well as my own. What is the largest brush hog to take care of roughly 10 acres and what size tractor. I asked chat-gpt but the AI said a 10' mower might require as mush as a 70 or 80 HP tractor. Perhaps some of you are already doing this so I thought I'd ask for real experience over AI.

Thanks in advance.

i might have cheated some. i showed the wife how to run the zero turn and she cant stop mowing....

but i use a 72 inch flail mower for my pastures since its got a 6 inch height of cut. the zero turn commercial gravely i have does 5" so thats left to do yard and the riding lanes around the property

 

[#40Fan]

If I were mowing that much weekly, I'd get the biggest/fastest setup I could afford, if the tractor doing the mowing could be used for other things. Otherwise, I'd just stick with what I had if I couldn't find a use for the bigger machine.

I mow twice that, but only twice a year or so.

 

[fransser]

thanks for the responses

 

[BAP]

How much seat time do you want. The Zero turn fanboys will push them without even looking at the quantity of mowing you have to do. With 10 acres once a week, I would want something way bigger than a small zero turn because I don’t want to spend unlimited hours mowing. If the 10 acres is mostly open with little obstacles, find a 10-12’ mower. If you are only looking for a tractor to run the mower and not do anything else, go find a good used tractor of any brand. If it’s flatish ground, a 2wd will work fine and have better turning.

 

[Shawn T. W]

I have a 60" commercial Z-turn, it's great for my 1.5 acre lawn, and just OK for my front 6 acre "use to be a hayfield", but my side and back pasture are quite rough with rocks, so I didn't use it for that ...

This is what my ground is like, too many rocks to want to rototill!



I used to use my Massey Ferguson GC 1725 MB which has 19.6 PTO HP and a 5' brush hog for the pastures which is another 8 acres, took a long time and was Very ROUGH with the tiny tires on the SCUT, even mowing at 3-3.5 mph!

I got tired of the bumpy rough ride, and long mowing times in the heat and humidity ... So I bought a tractor with twice the rear tire size, and it has a cab ... 42.5 PTO HP runs my 90" rear discharge finish mower just fine!



Finish mowers are lighter and shorter than a brush hog, so you can easily go a foot wider with a finish mower than the heavier and longer brush hog ... For mowing every week the finish mower will leave a better cut and more even clippings dispersal.

 

[Tioga Tim]

This is not a generic question so i apologize for the generic title. Right now, my father has a compact kioti tractor with a 5' brush hog. I have a BX 2680 with a 4' brush hog. I foresee a time in the next few years where i may need to take over his mowing as well as my own. What is the largest brush hog to take care of roughly 10 acres and what size tractor. I asked chat-gpt but the AI said a 10' mower might require as mush as a 70 or 80 HP tractor. Perhaps some of you are already doing this so I thought I'd ask for real experience over AI.

Thanks in advance.

I have a 4' Woods Brush Bull that I pull with a B2620. The tractor handles that fine, but it does lug a bit on hills. I would not go wider with my tractor. I mainly mow trails. For 10 acres multiple times a year you will want something big enough to run a 6' brush hog at least. Maybe around 40 hp PTO.

 

[Shawn T. W]

big enough to run a 6' brush hog

From the OP ...

What is the largest brush hog to take care of roughly 10 acres

I know the original question is about a brush hog ... But then ...

i'll likely be mowing the acreage a little over once per week.

If the OP already had a 6'+ brush, sure, go ahead and use it ... When I first bought this place I didn't have a lawnmower, so used my brush hog ... But it wasn't the best tool for the job, but kept the grass down ...

If the OP is going to be aquiring equipment for once a week cutting of grass ... Either a rear finish mower or flail would be my suggestion ...

A bigger tractor has bigger tires, more tire track width, and longer wheel base, all three contribute to a more comfortable ride ... Bigger tractors usually come with bigger engines which allows bigger mowers if you have the space to fit them ... I don't know the age of the OP, but this 60 year old doesn't like getting shook up by my little tires on both my Z-turn & SCUT ...

@fransser I don't know if you have seen my thread, but in post #53 there is some time comparisons using the FDR 3690 finish mower, and before that also using my 5' brush hog behind my new to me L5030 ... https://www.orangetractortalks.com/forums/threads/my-big-lawn-mower.76624/

I now use my Z-turn to mow around my house, but the 14 acres get done with the tractor and finish mower every few weeks, the brush hog might see once a year use for the creekside maintenance ...