Opinions Please. ATV or Lawn Tractor?

Many thanks for all the answers. I'm printing everything off for DH to mull over.

So --- what does an ATV cost?

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New, they ain't cheap. The ones I looked at were in the $5-7K range. Having never thought about one prior to that, I was shocked, shocked, at what they wanted. Then I got to thinking about how many there are around me, snowmobiles, too, and knowing the average income of my locality, I found it very puzzling indeed. But I suppose it's all where your priorities lie. I guess people look at us and 30 horses and scratch their heads, too [although our horses provide some income and tax advantages].

Used prices seem to mirror used prices of everything else, i.e., age, condition, demand. They seem to hold their cash value pretty well.

Don

You should be able to find something like a Honda Rancher used and in good shape for about 2K.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/bar/627050575.html

Theres you a nice pull behind mower. Beleive it or not, my brother made that, lol.

As for your question, I would also not recommend the atv for slowly pulling a mower. But, I also would not go the expense of a rebuild of your current engine. Check you local craigslist often. You can find tons of good riding mowers for very cheap. You could find one with a similar eninge which is being sold for next to nothing becuase of a bad transmission, deck or whatever and just transplant the engine to yours. I see them all the time locally with good running 15-20 hp motors for $100-$200. To alot of people, once the mower does not do its job as it should, its just broken, no matter what good running parts are on it. I see good running riding mowers with no deck on them all the time for cheap. And, although I agree that a ZTR mower will cut fast and they are fun to drive, they are exspensive and only serve one purpose. You cant pull a trailer or any thing else with a ztr. They can also be very expensive to fix. I have a ZTR. Its a pro model with a 25hp Kohler and a 70" deck. Cost $7000 new. But, I paid $300 for it because its broken. Well, he said it was broken. The engine runs great. They have two small transmissions for each of the back wheels and a gear in the right side one went out. But, the engine alone os worth far more than the price he sold it for. But, the mower was broken as a whole. Keep your eyes open and you can find you a great motor or great running tractor to replace the one you have.

But, after saying all this, even if you fix your riding mower and wont actually need it for pulling the tow behind, buy an atv anyways, they sure are fun

I have an atv, 60' swisher pull behind, and a cub cadet zero turn. My suggestion is go with a zero turn and off set the pull behind so you can use both. I had to have someone weld a bracket onto my cub cadet but it was well worth it. It has a 54 inch deck so I have a total of 114 inches of cutting. It cuts my mowing time down a ton. The atv I have is fan cooled and over heats if I use it for any length of time, also maintaining a slow constant speed is too difficult. I have an old kgrow lawn mower, from kmart of all places that never seems to die so I use that to mow the trails with my swisher pull behind.

We recently went through all of this in stages so here is my 2 cents.

Bought a JD ZTR commercial 2 or so years ago because I needed something sturdy. The wife mowed our 1.25 acres and was rough on everything, every 2 or so years I was buying something new due to cracked blocks (no oil) or bent something from stumps and rocks. DON'T DO IT!! ZTR's are great but depending on the soil and grass they will tear up the lawn when you turn but most of all when I took it in for it's first service (just the basics since I had no time) it was about $300 at a JD dealer. I will never buy JD again due to the cost of support if I decide (like I have) that I do not have time to do it myself. ZTR's are great but check the costs you will need to live with after the initial purchase.

We moved and bought 30 acres, ZTR is more usefull now due to it's speed but it's somewhat a small deck. Still have it but I am doing all the maint myself. Had to buy a tractor to clean up the mess left behind by the logging operations. $24K later with an orange toy in the driveway and some attachmens including a grapple I am happy. No mower yet, maybe never since it's a pine tree farm and we have little area where the tractor and mower would fit.

Promised the kid when we moved we would get an ATV. Well I kept my promise and it's the most fun WORK toy I have ever had. I would never give it up from going for "patrol" rides with the kid to racing in severe thunderstorms looking for the fire that broke out in the back it's been very handy. I use a broadcast spreader, disker and pull behind wagon on it. Soon we will be using a logging claw on it to drag out all the old fallen trees out of the woods.

All in all without seeing what you have for property I think all the above are necessary for peple with large pieces of land. BUT for mowing you can either purchase one of the consumer grade ZTR's which would be great or check out the new "somewhat ZTR" tractors that they have out now. It's the best of both worlds for a small homeowner tractor and mower. In our case we ended up purchasing everything in a matter of 2 years, the tractor and ATV in a matter of 1 month. It's a big bite out of the savings but if treated well they should last most of your life. Take it one at a time and you will not regret it but be careful those attachments are killer. The wife still has a restraining order on me at Tractor Supply, I can not get within 200ft of the place for fear of arrest!

Another good thing about the ZTR mower is the 15 yo son can go wild maneuvering that baby while cutting the grass instead of pulling wheelies on the 4 wheeler.

Goats.

I kinda think its funny how many goats have been suggested. I had 6 goats in a half acre pen and they couldn't even keep that mowed. Goats are browsers not grazers, they make bad lawn mowers. My 4 geese ate more grass.

Yea but they will eat anything. I have had dozens of locals tell me to get a portable pen and some goats to eat all the blackberry (AKA StickerBush) on the property. Just move them here and there as I want trails cut, since I have so much, some as tall as 6ft. Normally a brush hog would do but my land is littered with stumps from logging operations. Some areas I can get the tractor over them but no way can I get a brush hog around them without serious damage.

But true if you only have grass other animals are probably best suited.

SHEEP...Fatten 'em up and eat 'em...

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