Zero Turn Mowers

**rick130** · 27th September 2012, 06:03 PM

Originally Posted by EchiDna

why not agist (sp?) something on the paddocks now to keep the grass down? it will also help to give you an idea of the stock levels you can manage to hold?

5 acres = one donkey and bowling green short grass in my area, meanwhile the neighbours 2 horses which are also on 5 acres eat nothing and walk around in 18 inch high grass waiting for their oats....

A flock of geese would be awesome, fun birds with bonus security system built in!

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Indeed! I am amazed how scared of geese people are...

We got sick of the flock we inherited years ago.

The damned things would hiss at you and try and chase you when you lead a horse past them, but over a couple of years the foxes thinned them out

One was left, it was smart and made it's way to a waterhole everynight for protection, but being by itself it fell in love with one of the horses and wouldn't let anyone near it

Hanging around the horses we had to treat it for a broken beak, broken feet, broken whatever as the horses are totally unaware of what's underneath themselves.
Whoever was the poor last lesson of an evening had to help catch the goose to treat it when I wasn't around.

When the horse was sold it fell into a deep despondency

It eventually adopted a wood duck family, then when they left a blue water trough

When it's old pal Danny the horse came back for lessons a few months later it flew into the horse float with him before he even got off, then followed him everywhere including the dressage arena for the entire lesson, honking merrily away.

Again, when Danny was loaded onto the float the poor goose was devastated and tried everything to get in there with him.

Alas one morning we found him/her dead and headless.
I initially thought fox, but we worked out a cranky mare stomped him/her as he/she was hanging around her feed, and the fox later made off with it's head.

The poor first lesson that morning stopped dead on the track in the arena as the Goose head was sitting up looking straight at her.....

[edit] Good luck training a goose up for a Freestyle Lou, although I'd even pay to see it

**dullbird** · 27th September 2012, 06:08 PM

thats actually a really sad story Rick....

**rick130** · 27th September 2012, 06:16 PM

We didn't realise how enamoured it was with Danny, and Danny wasn't ours so he had to go eventually.

Danny would regularly come back for lessons so the whole performance was re-enacted.

The end was a shame, as all endings are, but that particular mare was really narky at feed time and the goose would go around the feed bins pinching grain.

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 27th September 2012, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by dullbird

Hi Diana

I'm on septic soak away.......the grass grows amazingly over the septic tank extremely green and lush. However we do have concerns about using this paddock due to the septic you hear all sorts of stories of horses falling through into them. So we have decided to be safe, that paddock will only be used in the dry periods of the year when the ground is hard.

...

Hi Lou

You'd be well advised to look into an enviro septic system, they can even modify your existing septic tank. It's mostly automatic, all you have is a couple of hoses with sprinklers which you leave connected to a couple of the outlets, when the holding tank fills the pump comes on automatically and it waters the grass.

You just move the sprinklers every couple of days or connect them to alternate outlets in the other paddock.

It is the end of soft wet patches over the absorption trench and means you can use all your land without risk to the animals or you on their back. (Not that we ride the cows.)

Diana

**dullbird** · 27th September 2012, 06:46 PM

do you know how hard/expensive it is to convert it?

**Blknight.aus** · 27th September 2012, 07:16 PM

so what did you get in the end?

**dullbird** · 27th September 2012, 07:19 PM

we went with the commercial gravely ZT HD its only a 44" deck but its a bloody robust looking little thing...it has an unbelievably flat cut...its got the 23 kawasaki on it.

http://www.gravely.com/zero-turn-mow...s/default.aspx

ian mowed the paddock in 2 hrs yesterday.

he did get on the hustler but he didnt find it very comfortable to drive and I have to admit it looked like it was tipping him forward and looked awkward but that could be due to his stature possibly.

**Blknight.aus** · 27th September 2012, 07:30 PM

nice little motors the kwikasakis......

if it doesnt have one, it might pay to put a flyscreen blind over the cooling air intake ducts Ive seen a honda catch fire around the flywheel from clippings building up on the non finned side of the wheel from mowing dewy/wet grass.

**dullbird** · 27th September 2012, 07:34 PM

ok will let Ian know

**p38arover** · 18th February 2015, 11:11 AM

Se also Ride on/zero turn mower buying advice

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