WHICH SHOULD YOU BUY? CLEAR CHOICE? ZERO TURN VS BELLY MOWER.

I prefer the versatility of the tractor, tiller, box blade, bush hog, loader, etc., remember, the faster you get done, your wife will find more stuff !

I bought and still have a mid to larger sized zero turn last year (its awesome) and a 1023 in the fall. I put 5 hours on the 1023 and called the dealer...cold and too small, got a 3033r heated and ac cab. 320r loader 61" snow blower. Its not for everybody and ridiculously expensive/overkill for our property but i was at a point i was just tired of cost effective, efficient, sapping my time away to know end yard maintenance. I seriously could have hired the grounds keeping out for the rest of my life for what i spent in equipment but i enjoy doing my own stuff, on my own terms, and in as little time as possible so i can go play in the garage. Whats best? Whatever makes you happy. Life is short. Living the dream is living your dream, not my dream or anybody elses. If you want the little tractor or the big honker, or two units. Go get them. Nobody will care what color you bought or what you paid in a hundred years. Do you, be you, and be as happy as you can be, while you can be.

Thank you for your videos been so helpful I have farmed for over 40 years and really enjoy your videos thank you

Excellent side by side demonstration. Like always, appreciate your unbiased and transparent presentation.

When I was doing research before buying my 2038R, I ended up going with the larger deck. Ultimately I had some comments about the hilly nature of the property that led me to go that way over zero turn. It's a bit slower than I expected and can be rough in spots as its somewhat pasture. But there's really no such thing as bad time spent on the tractor.

Pretty good list. Only thing I’ll say is, I feel the belly mower option has a slight upper hand in maintenance in the aspect of you’re easily able to remove the deck to clean, grease, change blades and replaced parts compared to the ZTR

My mower of choice is the JD X739 4WD / AWS. For me it is about terrain. I mow two plots weekly that are about 4 acres each, both have old millpond earthworks, deep ditches, and varying slope including 30 degree inclines. I rely on my full time front wheel drive continually. The X739 doesn’t spin her wheels when I turn uphill, easily negotiates ditches, and is very surefooted on slopes. It also helps to pull the tractor around in tight turns making it gentler on the grass. The all-wheel steer is wonderful. The 60” deck will easily cut an 8” circle without having to back up. And, that is with one hand free to bat low limbs away or take a sip of water. It’s also worth mentioning when turning on hills one set of wheels will aligned up or down slope as the other set turns delivering good traction and stability. Before I bought the X739 I did look at both Zero steers and the JD 1025R. For my purposes a zero steer just wasn’t a good fit. The compact 1025 had a higher center of gravity, ROPS that would hang on my trees, and too many levers next to the seat. By levers I mean they would get in the way of me shifting my center of gravity (me) out onto the high fender when traveling along non-approved operating slopes. The x739 is not as fast as a top end zero steer, nor as heavily built as a 1025, but it is capable of handling difficult terrain while providing a very efficient cut. After having a 4WD and AWS combo, I don’t think I would be satisfied with anything else.

I've mowed the same 10 acres for 29 years. Started with 8N with 6ft finishing deck. Took about 7 hrs. Had to be careful of how high the grass was. Went to Cub Cadet tractor mower with 52 inch belly deck, took about 8.5 hours. Went to John Deere Z997R (Zero Turn diesel mows at 10mph+ if grass is short) 6ft deck takes 2hrs to mow about 8 acres of it. Brush hog about 2 acres of it with 5ft brush hog. about 2 hrs. IMHO if your just mowing Zero turn can't be beat, it has saved me hundreds of hours of work over the years.

I ran a high end zero turn mower for work last summer and I had a lot of success mowing on hills. The trick is to mow hills when they are dry and keep the throttle up and use the uphill stick more than the downhill one. It sounds a little counterintuitive but with a little practice it works well.

While I like to run JD 455's with 60" belly mower for quality summer seat time, the Zero Turn I have with 54" deck cuts and stripes considerably faster and neater on the 4 acres I mow. Zero turn mowers are designed to cut grass 50% faster than traditional lawn tractors, so your straight line mowing speed is improved. A typical lawn tractor cuts optimally at about 3-4 mph while a typical zero turn cruises along at 5-8+ mph.

I currently have a 60” belly mower and wish I would have just gotten a separate zero turn for the flexibility, I would probably go for a slightly smaller 54” deck to improve maneuverability too, I have some tight spots with landscaping. We do use the tractor almost daily for doing horse chores which makes it annoying to either have the deck left on or to take it on and off regularly.

I have a massey Ferguson GC1723 with a 60” belly mower and a 60” finish mower. I also just got a gravely hd 44, 44” cut zero turn. Love them all. They all work great on their respective turf. I have a half acre at home that I cut with my zero turn. And I use both tractor and zero turn an the church which is about an acre and a half. Cut quality is good on both machines.

Good subject, and I agree with you on all points. I have both, use the ZT mower to mow my lawn, the County Line 7' sets awaiting a set of airless tires (the factory inflated ones are shot, and a constant PIA), Frankly, I'm finding it hard to justify the couple hundred bucks to put the tires on the 3 point mower. I'm sure there will come a time where the Husky commercial mower is down, and I'll want the 3 point mower ready to go, so I am going to get it RTR so it's available as a backup. It's good for reclaiming my back lot as you can raise it up to trim along rr tracks and the associated ballast stone/rr spikes/train debris that end up in the grass. Last summer I mowed along the tracks with the zero turn and hit a brake shoe from the train. It cost me a set of blades and spindle assembly. From now on it's the 3 point raised high for the 1st pass on that job.

Ive been back and forth a few times with various zero turns and lawn tractors and finally realized the zero turn is superior for mowing. The zero turn is just so much faster and some have great striping kits like my scag to make your lawn look amazing. I do have a tractor for just tractor stuff.

Good video. I have a John Deere Z540M and it weighs 654LBS. That green Zero of yours is 1,350lbs. Wow. I mow about 2-2.5 acres with my Z540M with 54" deck. Had it 4 years now, it's great. Never misses a beat even in some thick waist high field grass a couple of times. I'd love to see how your all green Zero rides with the Tweels.

I went from a John Deere garden tractor with a 42" mower deck to a Toro Titan 54" zero turn and have no regrets. It cut my mowing time in more than half. I have since purchased a tractor for all my other property needs. It's nice to have separate equipment for specific jobs.

I bought a 2038R with 72” MMM back in 2020. We have 7 acres that is almost all rough and sloped. The tractor/MMM combo showed it was not the right combo, cut quality at 4-5mph was not as good as I expected and mow time was more than expected (it would about rock me out of the seat going faster) plus I had a bunch of problems with the CommandCut system. After talking with my dealer they recommended a Z740R 60” instead of the MMM. It’s a great machine, the seat is super comfortable and tweels hold better pretty much everywhere. I agree that having two machines means more maintenance and space needed for storage, but for me the two machines route seems to be best.

I would vote ZT for most people, but not all. Myself, I use a belly mower for my application because of my terrain and convenience of attachments. I have a JD X758 diesel 4X4, 60" deck. I use a boom sprayer, electric spreader, dethatcher and "tractor trunk", all "Click-n-Go" style implements. I also use an Agri Fab roller and Chip-n-Vac.

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I used to have a John Deere 2720 (renamed in future models as a 2032R) with a 72” belly mower. The cut quality was good, but not great. However, it was way to heavy and big to mow an acre of turf. In straight lines it was fine, assuming the soil wasn’t wet (it would put ruts in your lawn), but the turning radius slows you down around trees, gardens, and just turning around at the end of your run. I ended up selling the John Deere 2720 and picked up a 2038R and a Z950M for mowing. The Z950M is better in every aspect except wet hills (which the 2720 slipped on as well, until I temporarily put it in 4WD), the additional maintenance burden (which isn’t bad) and drinking gas. Also, the Mulch on Demand (MOD) is so convenient, versatile, and appreciated when cutting and seeing the finished results. In short, I was in the camp of buying a tractor and getting every attachment possible, including the mower deck. But based on my experience, and just watching folks cut with a tractor or ZTR, a dedicated ZTR is best tool for the job.