I would love to hear from anyone with experience operating or purchasing a M6-131 or M5-111 for heavy mowing. We have a Woods 1800X, 15 foot batwing rated from 75hp up to 250hp. Currently we are running an early 2000's John Deere 6405, when new it was rated at 84hp out the back (on a good day). There is about 300 acres to mow and most of it is rough Florida pasture of thick wild grass clumps and knee - waist high weeds. The JD 6405 is worn out and struggles to maintain any speed and will start to run hot, making for very slow mowing and unproductive hours in the seat.
50% of our time is loader work that is well within the load capacity of the M5. 50% of our time in mowing the 300 acres. The M5-111 is 94hp PTO and just doesn't seem like it is going to be a significant improvement on mowing performance (although I'm sure it'll be a vast improvement over our current tractor). Stepping up to the M6-131 (104hp PTO) is a big jump in price and has a lot of technology (AG implement controls and displays) that we won't need. But the horsepower and weight would be beneficial with the 5300lb batwing. We could never match the maximum horsepower rating of the batwing at 250hp but we would prefer not to be at the lower rating for these dense fields of wild grass.
We are a non-profit and this is a big purchase for us that will be used for the next 20 years. We can afford either model, but it will be a significant hit to the budget approaching $92,000 on the M6. Is the $30,000 jump going to be worth it? Should we be considering going even further with the M6-141 for the added power? Any insight or experience is appreciated.
All the best.
50% of our time is loader work that is well within the load capacity of the M5. 50% of our time in mowing the 300 acres. The M5-111 is 94hp PTO and just doesn't seem like it is going to be a significant improvement on mowing performance (although I'm sure it'll be a vast improvement over our current tractor). Stepping up to the M6-131 (104hp PTO) is a big jump in price and has a lot of technology (AG implement controls and displays) that we won't need. But the horsepower and weight would be beneficial with the 5300lb batwing. We could never match the maximum horsepower rating of the batwing at 250hp but we would prefer not to be at the lower rating for these dense fields of wild grass.
We are a non-profit and this is a big purchase for us that will be used for the next 20 years. We can afford either model, but it will be a significant hit to the budget approaching $92,000 on the M6. Is the $30,000 jump going to be worth it? Should we be considering going even further with the M6-141 for the added power? Any insight or experience is appreciated.
All the best.