I recently purchased a home a few miles out of town with ~4-1/2 acres and
it's getting time to mow some grass. There is approximately 1-1/2 acres for
the yard and another 3 acres of brush & small trees. I recently bought a
backhoe for the brush cleanup but haven't decided what to do about the
mowing yet. One idea is to get a lawn tractor for the lawn and later on
come up with a tractor & bush hog for the field. I've been looking at Sears
lawn tractors at the local store. They have one with Automatic
transmission, 17.5hp Kohler, cast iron axle, for $1399. There is a similar
unit with a Briggs engine for around the same price. They also have some
higher priced mowers with ~25hp engines for $2100 to ~$2500. What I don't
like about the larger tractors is that it would probably be more difficult
cutting around trees & bushes with the larger turning radius and all.

I'm trying to decide on just buying a used tractor, bush hog, & perhaps
finish mower or get lawn tractor now and tractor/bush hog later.

Also, if I get a lawn tractor, should I get one with a Kohler or Briggs
engine? Is the Craftsman mowers a good value or is there something better I
should look at?

Thanks for any helpful advice!