For some of us, mowing our own lawn is something we wouldn’t miss for anything. Seeing the unkempt swaths of land becoming pristine pieces of greenery is indeed comforting. But how long does it take to mow 5 acres? Or how do we calculate the time for any acreage, for that matter?
Before we start mowing our yard, we need to consider some factors that impact the job as well. Mowing equipment, acreage of the property, nature of the terrain, etc are a few factors that decide the time it takes to complete mowing.
If your lawn needs mowing and you are planning to do it on your own, it is always a good idea to have a general idea about the time it is going to take.
How Long Does It Take To Mow 5 Acres?
You may have heard about some general rule of thumbs. They may go something like this – 5 hours for an acre or an afternoon for half of that. If you mow your lawn regularly, you should know that the answer to the above question is never that simple.
As we have mentioned, how long should it take to mow a lawn depends on some crucial factors. The most prominent ones are the lay of the land and what type of mower you are going to use.
For simplicity’s sake, we are going to ignore the influencing factors first. We do some number crunching to find out how long to mow 5 acres. We would consider that the mowing would happen in a perfect, little lawn with 5 acres of flat land without any obstacles and perfectly aligned with the mower’s cutting width.
Then it will be up to you to add a 5-15% time differential to make the calculation realistic.
Number Crunching
To make things easier, we will calculate how much time it takes to mow one acre of grass. Then we will time the number by 5 to get the time required for 5 acres.
The table below will give you the width and average mowing speed per minute of different lawn mowers. We will incorporate the numbers in our calculation.
| Type Of Mower | Speed – Feet/Minute | Width or Size of the Deck in Ft |
| Push Mower | 264 | 1.6 |
| Rear Engine | 440 | 2.5 |
| Tractor | 704 | 3.5 |
| Zero Turn | 1144 | 4.5 |
Let’s say, we are operating a push mower. Different models of push mowers have an average speed ranging from 3 to 5 miles per hour. If we take the lowest number into our consideration, we get about 264 feet in a minute for a push mower.
Now let’s put the numbers into a formula
An acre consists of 43,560 square feet. So, the length and width of an acre will be 208.71 feet each.
The average deck size or width of a push mower is 1.6 ft. And, it can go up to 264 ft in a minute.
So, in one minute, a push mower can cover a swath of land of264 feet long and 1.6 feet wide.
So, the area the push mower can cover in a minute will be:
Length X Width
264 X 1.6 = 422.4 square feet.
One acre equals 43,560 feet. And our push mower can mow 422.4 square feet in a minute. So, that gives us about 103 minutes to complete mowing an acre. We get the number 103 from dividing 43,560 by 422.4.
If we multiply 103 minutes by 5, we will have 515 minutes which equals nearly 9 hours.
There you go – if you use a push mower, it will take 9 hours to complete mowing of 5 acres.
Using the simple formula we mentioned above, you can calculate the requisite time to mow your own yard. If you use a push mower, then you just need to know the acreage of your land. Everything else will remain the same.
Again, using the same arithmetic, we have also completed the table using different types of mowing machines:
| Type Of Mower | Speed – Feet/Minute | Width or Size of the Deck in Ft | Time Needed For 1 Acre (Minutes) | Time Needed For 5 Acres (Minutes) |
| Push Mower | 264 | 1.6 | 103 | 515 |
| Rear Engine | 440 | 2.5 | 40 | 200 |
| Tractor | 704 | 3.5 | 18 | 88 |
| Zero Turn | 1144 | 4.5 | 9 | 45 |
As we mentioned earlier, in our calculation, we ignore every possible bottleneck that can cause wastes of time. Check the list below:
All of them can be present in your yard. In that case, it is unlikely that you can finish mowing 5 acres within our calculated timeframe.
So, judging the condition of your land, you have to add a 5-15% time differential, and then you can have a realistic idea of the time that you need for the job.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How long should it take to mow 5 acres?
Different mowers will take different times to finish mowing 5 acres. A zero-turn mower will need about 50 minutes, whereas a push mower will take the best part of 9 hours to complete mowing 5 acres.
What size mower do I need for 5 acres?
The mowers with a deck or cutting size of 42 inches and above will be most suitable for mowing 5 acres.
How long should it take to mow a lawn?
It depends on three things – the size of the lawn, obstacles in the lawn and the type of machine you use. Taking a usual household into consideration, it would take from half an hour to an hour to complete a half-acre lawn.
Final Words
The answer to the question ‘how long does it take to mow 5 acres?’ really is dependent on many variables. But it is also possible to get a realistic estimate factoring the variables into our calculation.
If you are lucky to possess a big yard, you should probably get something that takes less time. But if yours is something that can be managed with a walking mower, you probably better off having a simple version.
Knowing the approximate time may help you in choosing the right mower. That’s why it is always handy to know how to calculate the time necessary for mowing your yard.