brush mower vs. sickle mower

   / brush mower vs. sickle mower #1  

MMist

New member
Joined
May 19, 2013
Messages
18
Location
Clatsop, OR
Tractor
Mahindra 3215 hst
I'm finding the brush mower (30' brush hog) is having troubles in waist high
grass. Will I have better luck trying the sickle mower attachment?
Scotty
 
   / brush mower vs. sickle mower #2  
I've used two wheel walk behind sickle bars, it cut tall grass very easily, but not brush. I'm assuming your are referring to a 30" (inch) mower. You might want to check the blade to verify that it is sharp enough.
 
   / brush mower vs. sickle mower
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Thanks...and 30" it is. If my problem turns out to be the clutch is adjusted wrong...would you know what symptoms I'd see?
Regards, Scotty
 
   / brush mower vs. sickle mower #4  
Sorry, i don't have much experience on adjusting clutch on brush cutters. Mine is hydraulic with out clutch. I'd assume if too lose, it would slip to easy. They are supposed to slip so to keep from damaging parts, if or when, you hit something it will slip. Do you know what make, model brush mower you have?
 
   / brush mower vs. sickle mower #5  
I believe the sickle bar will go through waist-high grass like it is not there. But then you will have rows of waist-high grass lying on the ground. The nice thing about the brush mower is that it chops things up and makes a kind of windrow. You should keep the throttle setting kind of low with a sickle bar to avoid damaging the mower. That will also affect your ground speed.

If you don't care about that, then give the sickle-bar mower a try. Mine doesn't work that well for me with short grass. It works best when the grass is tall. With short grass, it tends to just push it over instead of cutting it. Not sure if that problem is due to some mis-adjustment or something like that, or if it is just the way all sickle bar mowers work.

--McKenzie
 
Last edited:
   / brush mower vs. sickle mower #6  
I'm using a BCS sickle bar mower on my Blue Berry fields because it doesn't mulch, this is desirable because I will burn my fields next spring and the coarse fuel left from the sickle bar mowing will burn much easily and hotter. It's good to burn up weed seeds and a few other pests (insects and diseases) the odd growing cycle other wise the choice of mowing would be the mott mower.
Oil burning cost $500/ac
Straw burning cost $300/ac
Post burning after sickle bar mowing CHEAP
Do nothing and free burn is fustrating

I have a BCS 722 tractor
A 45 inch sickle bar mower
Up graded to 10" wheels
Up graded to the "free wheel device" ( expensive but I wouldn't be with them now)

Speaking of brush cutting I have a Bachtold mower ( Walk Behind Self Propelled Bush Hog by Bachtold Brothers, Inc. Model H 200 - 173.MP4 - YouTube ) which I call the beast and it doesn't care what in front of it, it's going to cut it or throw it 30ft or more away. It rotates a 30 inch heavy steel bar. I usually wear a face shield when using it. This or any brush cutter should cut off most saplings and I have mowed through cattails with the beast with little resistance. I can't use it my BB field because it cut 4 inches high while the BCS sickle bar will cut close to the ground. I might suggest that something is not adjusted right with your brush cutter based upon what I've seen "The Beast" do.
Dave
 
 
Top