Brush mowing steep slopes

[wstr75]

Beautiful property. Interesting information about Power Trac wheel motors. Glad to hear your Gravely mods provided the ability to handle steep terrain. Thanks for sharing these before and after pictures.
Bill in NC

 

[BlueBerry Farmer]

I've started looking after a Blue Berry field which has a lot of sloop..I purchased a BCS 722 with a 45" sickle bar mower, I upgraded to 10" wheels and also the 5 inch wheel extensions. I tried going up hill and found it hard to keep the mower on the ground, going down hill dragged the cut vegetation along with it . So I then tried along the contours and was surprised how well it worked (wheel extension I'm sure helped greatly) and this was a steep slope. Saying that there was a pull for the tractor of course to go down hill but it was still fairly easy to mow the sloop. I decided to trade in my wheel extensions for the "Free Wheel Device" so I could turn the tractor on the dime while still giving me 3 inch extension per wheel (I'm pleased with them and would not operate my tractor without these now ). If one wheel is in the ratchet mode the drive wheel will pull the tractor if on level or ground or a gentle sloop. On aggressive sloop you can use the two pulls to cancel each other out, the pull of gravity and one wheel in the ratchet mode.
Btw I keep the wheels locked up on level ground until I reach the end of the mowing strip then put the inside wheel in the ratchet setting to turn the tractor on the dime, lock up the wheel again and continue mowing. Also one can use the 5" extension along with the free wheel devices giving 8" extension per wheel and I'm thinking I might eventually go this route for even more stability.
Dave

 

[CodeMonkey]

I still don't have a flail mower, but I am getting ready to pull the trigger on one so I am doing the research again to make sure I am not missing anything.

I had a logger come in an heavily thin 2-3 acres around the house. He also used his harvester to remove a LOT of brush. I got paid for the logs and got the brush removal for free - what he did with his harvester in a couple of days would have taken me months to do. I still need to come in with a dozer and flatten out a lot of ruts and holes now, and I need to burn the slash piles, but it was worth it. Property looks a lot better and I got some firewood out of the deal too (mostly maple, some alder and fir that was too short/split/crooked to use for lumber). Right now I am concentrating on getting the firewood cut up and stacked.

I still need to do some brush clearing, especially around the shop, and the brambles below the house. If/when I get a dozer in I will probably do some more clearing on one side of the house where there is a lot of small diameter maple.

So I still need the flail mower, and I will need to keep the thinned areas under control - they are already starting to grow back quickly.