Towing with a ride on mower

[Paul in the woods]

I'm considering a ride on mower / garden tractor as we've over an acre of meadows to mow. I note many are sold with a tow bar to tow a small trailer but I can't seem to find much info about what a decent size ride on would happily tow regularly.

 

Are the trailers a bit of a gimmick or are some of the larger mowers able to move fair number of 150 litre loads of soil or logs about 100-200m?

 

Are any brands better than others for towing? I would need to mower to collect the grass and offer a good ride height as well.

[BuxtonsShop]

Go for a Stiga lawn tractor comes with mulch plug so you don't have to collect a trailer hitch also.

[woody paul]

Customer has a Stiga there garden is on a slope he tows a small trailer about (3ft x 5ft) also when I do work there he tow my timberwolf 18/100 about which weighs 400kg .

[Sheepy]

None is ultimately the answer, for both the size of paddock and usabiltiy long term you really do want a compact tractor, no real difference in size but a lot better build quality and much more versatile.

[Paul in the woods]

I need to collect the trimmings, so a mulching mower will not be of any use.

 

I have also thought about a compact tractor but that would be at least double the price, if not more.

 

Looking at the top of the range Stiga mowers they come with a tow attachment and sell their own trailer with a 200kg capacity, so I would have thought they should cope with that without problems?

[spandit]

Get some sheep

[woody paul]

Why do you need to collect if only a meadow.

[Paul in the woods]

The meadows have been commercially farmed for hay/haylage in the past but are transforming fairly well into species rich flower meadows now we own them. I'd like to remove the clippings for a few years to reduce the grass and I also have use for the clippings and mulch/compost elsewhere on the holding.

[Sheepy]

11 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

I need to collect the trimmings, so a mulching mower will not be of any use.

 

I have also thought about a compact tractor but that would be at least double the price, if not more.

 

Looking at the top of the range Stiga mowers they come with a tow attachment and sell their own trailer with a 200kg capacity, so I would have thought they should cope with that without problems?

If your talking new maybe, second hand youl be able to pick up a compact for about 3k , if you buy a ride on mower for less than that your gonna be spending money on it every other week.

[headgroundsman]

11 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

The meadows have been commercially farmed for hay/haylage in the past but are transforming fairly well into species rich flower meadows now we own them. I'd like to remove the clippings for a few years to reduce the grass and I also have use for the clippings and mulch/compost elsewhere on the holding.

offer the hay/haylage to a farmer so long as he mows late in the year. Anytime after 15th July should work and you get the wildflower and the work for free!