Big enough tractor for 10 ft brushhog

[tjkadar]

I pull a 8' rotary mower with a 65 PTO Hp tractor. Why an 8 footer? Because it fits through my pasture gates easily. A 10 footer would have been too wide. But I digress, 65 PTO Hp and up is a good starting point for a 10' rotary mower.

 

[Glowplug]

brush/bush hog generic use usually denotes a rough cut mower vs a finish mower. I've not seen where it denotes 3pt or drag type.. or single, dual, or tri spindles.

Also.. 10' does not dictate 3 spindles. My 10' mower is dual spindle.

What 68hp ( utility size ) tractor do you have that has a wussified 1200# rated 3pt lift. I'd just like to make a not of it so i don't ever accidentally buy one!

I'd be ashamed to be a manufacturer that made a tractor with that little capacity of a 3pt lift on anything bigger than a small cut. My 30hp NH1920 had an 1800# cat 1 3pt lift. The 3pt on my old ford 5000 ( 70 eng / 67 pto ) lifts that 3pt 10' mower quite easilly! with plenty surplus weight to spare. Just got to have front ballast.. etc. You don't need an 85-90 hp tractor to have a good rear lift.

For comparison, my 1955 ford 660 ( 33hp ) and my 1955 ford 850 ( 50hp but same physical size as the 660 ) each have a 3pt lift / loader that will lift more than that 1200# 's.. I move round hay bales with them.. etc.

soundguy

Settle down there dude.

• Virtually 100% of the time I have seen when people refer to "Bush Hogs" around here they are referring to 3pt lift single spindle type. May be regional.
• The lift capacity of my Cat I/II 3pt hitch is NOT 1200#. The manufacturer's recommendations are 1200# specifically for a cutter. The actual capacity is 3400# 24 inches back! Why so low on the recommendation limit of a rotary cutter? I don't know. But Kubota's implement recs are incredibly conservative. I don't know if you have the owner's manuals for your 1955 tractors or not but perhaps Ford's recs are not as conservative.
• Okay, touche, my 10' mower is actually two spindles now that I think about it.

I didn't mean to upset or offend you. I know you have TONS more experience and knowledge than me. I always find your posts informative. But you hurt my feelings when you yelled at me. ..................... I just wanted him to think twice about getting something like a 40-50hp tractor and a 10' lift mower and ultimately be unhappy with the performance of that union.

 

[radman1]

JD recommends 80 pto hp for their 10 lift-type mower. My guess it has more to do with tractor front end weight rather than power. Their 10 lift mower weighs 2,049 lbs. My JD 5300 with FEL, 3400 lb 3 pt lift and 50 pto hp handles a HD rhino 8' with no problems and hp seems about right. (Jd recommends min 55 hp for the 15' batwing mower, but that is probably marginal.)

 

[JoeinTX]

Highsmith, first of all I'm curious as to why you are looking to shred 1-2' mesquite sprouts. Just an old overgrown field that you're looking to retake control of and maintain on a regular basis? I can see that. If you're looking to control the mesquites, this isn't the way to go about it.


As for tractor/shredder, it all depends on what and how fast you want to cut it. Since your looking to cut decent sized sprouts then I'd go for more tractor. A person could get by, on a 10' drag shredder, with as little as 45hp cutting moderate pasture growth and nothing else. I would look 65hp plus and up to around 80hp for the job you describe.

You can find a lot of older, used tractors in this engine range for not just a terrible lot of money.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

For the record, I've got a pair of 85hp, and one 95hp tractors mowing full time with 15' batwings behind them. They mow in "average" conditions for the most part. That often being weeds and grass 2' to 3' tall. They don't have any trouble handling these mowers. With the exception of being in a wide open, clean, clear field, generally a mower as large as a 15' batwing isn't used at break-neck speeds. Usually they're (mine anyway) operated at speeds along the lines of 4 to 4-1/2 mph in open areas and 2-1/2 to 3 mph where more caution is needed, or where obsticals dictate the use of slower speeds.

It's not out of the question to think of mowing at speeds in excess of 5 mph while clipping pastures or mowing a clean field where the operator knows conditions are safe for speeds like that. In a case such as that, and along with tall, thick grass, more hp and/or less mower width may be needed.

Long story short, 85 hp can handle a 15' mower with ease, or it can also have its hands full with a 10' mower. All depends on use, conditions, and operator judgement.

I've demo-ed a 10' single wing batwing mower. (pull type, Bush Hog) It spent a couple days behind a 60hp/7500lb Deere 2440. In terms of horsepower and weight, that tractor was adaquate in MOST conditions, however, it was borderline on the HP aspect when mowing in extremely heavy grass/weeds. Speeds needed to be kept moderate in heavy mowing conditions. The mower was simply too expensive relative to the potential uses I had for it. A solid deck 10'er would be impractical for my use because of transport width.

 

[FLHayman]

All the posts I have seen on this thread make sense to me. I would like to add something. The speed you are mowing has everything to do with how much power you need. If you're willing to go slow, you can run a heavy pull mower with as little as 20hp per spindle. The downside is that you will bog down in heavier conditions, and have to slow down, or even do a quick lift up, to save stalling. The upside is big, though: You can use all the width of the mower when conditions are easy (cutting high, or dry, or thin growth) and possibly save getting another tractor just to fit the recommended range of the big mower. The cost of the wide mower is less justified, though, if you're spending most of the time going slower than you would with a more narrow mower.
Personally, I would rather a wide mower, even with slowing down, since the more narrow the mower, the more percentage of production you lose to overlap on each pass. I find in Florida that I can run almost 6 times as fast in dry, weed topping runs, than I can when I have to cut dense grass. I use 2 tractors, a JD3020 and Kioti DK65 (65hp) on a 15' batwing. In the south, most bushhogs have a 5' spindle, some 6 or 7'. I'm on the low end of the recommended hp! But, I've got utility tractors that do other things, and I get a big time savings still, by having the 15 footer, even in heavy grass, over triple the passes with a 6 or 7 footer, (remember the overlap loss).
The multiple gears of our tractors allow quite a bit of flexibility. Full time cutters go 80-100 hp for the same mower as mine. Also, going slower CAN allow a better, more mulched cut, depending on whether you're on the verge of choking the cutter. For shredding saplings, you're going to probably want to hit them multiple times, to get the sharp cut ends under control and feathered.
I have a fence post puller attachment for the loader which is ideal for pulling saplings, roots and all so you don't get those sharp stalks sticking up, but it's obviously much slower than bushhogging.

 

[mikim]

I have to agree with Joe here ... when you're talking mesquite you have to talk about "control" vs. just cutting. You know cutting it just helps spread it, it's like prickly pear in that regard, we also know it can't be gotten rid of. So - then you have to talk about what you want to do with the land where the darn stuff is at, and the best way to control it for that use. If you need as clean an area as possible - you need to go the whole hog and do manual removal (with or w/o chemical assist) and THEN keep it cut - so you could then maybe consider a less robust cutter. Another consideration ... if we're talking 1 - 2 " are we also talking 10 - 12 feet high? AND with mature thorns? You're gonna need major tire protection on whatever tractor you get. I thankfully don't have a lot of mesquite so I'll be DIY removing it. BUT if I had a lot in say - 5 - 10 acres that I wanted to make use of .... I'd hire out removal (bulldozer) then work the control issue myself.

 

[Highsmith]

Originally I was considering the Bush Hog, Pull Type 3210 behind a JD 5203. But after reading through these posts, it seems the consensus is the PTO on a 5203 may be a little low for regular, satisfactory use. The specs on Bush Hog's webpage suggest a minimum PTO of 50 HP, but here it is suggested that manufacturer's specs may be a little low.
I do want to eradicate some mesquite and control it afterwards, so I expect my best bet would be to hire out the removal then I can pull a lighter duty shredder to keep things under control.

 

[Glowplug]

You would likely be okay with that tractor PTO on the 3210 for maintenance but not for initial clearing. What you're cutting has a very large influence on the required PTO horsepower. I know people who use a 15' batwing on 45-50hp PTO tractors for pasture mowing.

 

[Soundguy]

Settle down there dude..

Nothing to settle down about????

• Virtually 100% of the time I have seen when people refer to "Bush Hogs" around here they are referring to 3pt lift single spindle type. May be regional..

• 
  
  I think you are mistaking the connection between 'brush hog' and single spindle. Since CUT's are a huge market share of tractors being sold.. a 5' hog is probably one of the more widley used hog.. Thus defacto.. 'brush hog' will refer to a 5' mower more often than another size. This is not because of anything specifically to do with the lift category, or the number of spindles.. but more du to numbers.. etc.
  
  
  

  [*]The lift capacity of my Cat I/II 3pt hitch is NOT 1200#. The manufacturer's recommendations are 1200# specifically for a cutter. The actual capacity is 3400# 24 inches back! Why so low on the recommendation limit of a rotary cutter? I don't know. But Kubota's implement recs are incredibly conservative. I don't know if you have the owner's manuals for your 1955 tractors or not but perhaps Ford's recs are not as conservative..

  
  I do have manuals for my tractors.. they state the relief pressures and max lift pounds in most cases... IE.. if the tractor will lift it on the 3pt and you can still steer.. go for it.. Now.. fel ratings are different. Most ford fel manuals I have do denote a specific max weight.. probably to take into account bracket and king pin maximums. I'm not sure why kubota hamstrings their tractors in their specifications... performance anxiety maybee???
  
  

  [*]Okay, touche, my 10' mower is actually two spindles now that I think about it.

I didn't mean to upset or offend you. .

No offense taken / not upset.. I merely posted a reply with some questions.

[*]But you hurt my feelings when you yelled at me. ..................... .

I didn't post in all caps? not sure where you are getting the yelling part from?!?

soundguy