A good ride on mower for large landscape?

Lantus

We are a residents association who have been hiring machines to cut the the grass this year to great success. We have a large amount of grass (around 13 acres) of varying quality with tree's, kerbs, slopes and all manner of ground quality from fairly smooth to bone shakingly bad. On the whole it's not bad though.

What would people recommend for us if we wanted to buy a mower for 1 or 2 people to use on a very regular basis to keep the grounds maintained.
I was thinking: -

An automatic & mulch and collect if required. We have mulched this year predominantly but from reading we might need to collect as well? This is not 'lawn', just common grass areas that no-one gives a monkeys about except the core elite who love to cut grass! Is moss a real concern?

Can people recommend makes and where to get and what sort of price to expect. Any features we should consider and anything that we should disregard for an area this large. Many Thanks

ymurtagh

are you sure that you have 13 acres, because that would take full day maybe 10hrs minimum with a 5ft professional mower flat out, so are you sure you have 13acres, i speak as an experienced operater of new holland, kubota, ariens etc, these machines range between 10-20,000+ euro, new or second hand depending on condition,,, i have worked in the past with many estates that have had there own machine but i works out vastliy more expencive than hiring a contractor, reason being is that, you must think of insurance, theif and operating, maintaince approx 1000 euro, diesel, and if the operator brakes the machine, the rest of the residents won't want to pay for a damage machine, plus a spare machine during maintaince? think wisely, private message me if you would like any more help or ideas

Bigus

Stiga Machines with the blades out the front are very good and also easy to maintain because blades pulleys and belts are easy to get at .

Shanley in Newcastle co dublin normally has second hand one's aswell

ymurtagh

stiga are very good machine and leave a lovely finish but are more suited to large private gardens and good ground rather than estates

Lantus

defo have 13+acres. Checked and measured using daftlogic and I've cut the grass areas many times. We use 2 to 3 front deck mulchers fairly well sized and it takes us 8 to 10 hours given a good run at it with breaks and re-fuel stops.

Stiga seem allright, a bit more pricy than other makes like castelgarden and husqvarna. They also only seem to think that these mowers are good for big gardens, even if your spending 12k!!!

The makes we hire all summer are no where near as good and have done a superb job without fail, they are really old as well.


We have secure storage and the entire thing will be done through the managment company eventually so no worries on raising funds long term.

I was thinking about spending 3500 to 5000 on a machine. We know we can cut the entire grass area for around 60 to 80eu petrol if it's kept short so 1000 a year fuel is very reasonable. If this machine lasted 5 years which isn't unreasonable then it might cost us 5k to buy plus say 2000 a year fuel and maintenance (say 10k over 5 years)

Thats 15k for 5 years or 3k per year. A contractor would be 15k per year for our common areas as quoted so a significant saving by doing it ourselves. Even if we bought a new machine each year it would still be cheaper!!

tommy2bad

13 acres, thats huge.
I sugest this;
http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=sheep&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=885&gbv=2&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=CcwpFN8zNf7LFM:&imgrefurl=http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/rana_prit/behavior.htm&docid=evRXQih-ae9tJM&w=1600&h=1200&ei=C4qQTomJFoG48gPyzuwl&zoom=1

Lantus

tommy2bad wrote: »

13 acres, thats huge.
I sugest this;
http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=sheep&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1280&bih=885&gbv=2&tbs=isz:l&tbm=isch&tbnid=CcwpFN8zNf7LFM:&imgrefurl=http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/rana_prit/behavior.htm&docid=evRXQih-ae9tJM&w=1600&h=1200&ei=C4qQTomJFoG48gPyzuwl&zoom=1

Yeah, it's a very large area for the number of house we have. It's also spread out there are lots of 'little' bits of grass between paths and roads I haven't even included. Good fun to cut though.

Sheep are not really a viable option although we have all joked about it often enough!

Lantus

Just re-checked the areas and it's closer to 9.5 acres. Must of entered a point wrong when measuring...

Theprogardener

If you really want a mower to last you have to buy a professional machine, for grounds of 13 acres I would suggest ye buy a zero turn machine (not good on slopes) make sure its diesel as it will be much cheaper to run and maintain. There is a "REALLY" good second hand Ferris for sale in donedeal with about 500 hrs on clock (that is low by the way) for about €7k really good value. Irish farm and garden in Portmarnock in Dublin are the main importers, so you will have a parts back-up too. We use Ransomes HR6010's in our fleet.

Theprogardener

The ferris will cut 3 acres per hour by the way.
Regards. If you need further advise contact me.