Flail Mower Maschio ditch/bank mower

   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #1  

Sponge Bob

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
25
Location
Maine
Tractor
Kubota M7040HDC
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #2  
I am thinking about purchasing a ditch/bank mower. From what I have read on this forum, people seem to feel that the flail type are safer. Do any of you have any opinions on the Maschio line of flail mowers? I was looking at the Giraffa series such as the link below.

Maschio 210SE 83" Ditch Bank Flail Mower, Hedge Mower - eBay (item 330342867040 end time Apr-27-11 15:21:19 PDT)

Thanks for your input.



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The Maschio folks have been building and selling in farm equipment in

Europe for many years.


European equipment standards are generally tougher or equal to the

SAE standards on all continents so purchasing it is a no brainer.


All Bearings are metric so no worries there for sure.


The hydraulics are no problem either as they are British Standard Pipe,

metric or S.A.E.
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #3  
I have a larger Maschio 3 pt hitch tiller and it's as tough as a $3 steak. It was made in Italy and I assume all Maschio is, but I do not know that to be a fact. Either way, Maschio is a top quality manufacturer.
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #4  
I need to mow road banks as well as between trees in a small orchard and am thinking of purchasing an articulating flail mower. These are also known as verge or ditch bank mowers. In the States, I can only find two sources, Iowa Farm Equipment and Value Leader. My Deere 2320 puts out 18 HP at the PTO and the 3-point is rated at 1150# at 24". For those limitations, I am considering the Value Leader (a.k.a. Betst) 48" Ditch Bank Flail Mower AGL125 or the Maschio Girafetta 140 (55"). Iowa Farm Equipment can also supply the Maschio Girafetta 120 (47") but there is an 8-week lead time. The Value Leader unit weighs 675# and would cost $4,000 including a $100 extended 4 yr warranty. The Maschio Girafetta 140 weighs 848#, costs $5,800 and a valve kit adds another $490 (included in the Value Line). The MG 120 weighs 804#, costs $5,500 w/o the valve kit. Does anyone have any experience with these units or another articulating flail mower readily available in the States? Thanks!
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #5  
I need to mow road banks as well as between trees in a small orchard and am thinking of purchasing an articulating flail mower. These are also known as verge or ditch bank mowers. In the States, I can only find two sources, Iowa Farm Equipment and Value Leader. My Deere 2320 puts out 18 HP at the PTO and the 3-point is rated at 1150# at 24". For those limitations, I am considering the Value Leader (a.k.a. Betst) 48" Ditch Bank Flail Mower AGL125 or the Maschio Girafetta 140 (55"). Iowa Farm Equipment can also supply the Maschio Girafetta 120 (47") but there is an 8-week lead time. The Value Leader unit weighs 675# and would cost $4,000 including a $100 extended 4 yr warranty. The Maschio Girafetta 140 weighs 848#, costs $5,800 and a valve kit adds another $490 (included in the Value Line). The MG 120 weighs 804#, costs $5,500 w/o the valve kit. Does anyone have any experience with these units or another articulating flail mower readily available in the States? Thanks!



Hello jim,


I do not believe anyone else in the states has a small boom mower
for your size of mule.

I wonder if a Weed Badger would be a better fit for you as it has weeding and mowing
heads and can be used effectively in orchards as it is semi automatic using limit switches
attached to the mowing and weeding heads (on the larger units) and will follow the contours with no issues.

The Weed badger is mounted in the center of the tractor like a side mounted sickle bar
rather than the rear to maintain 'the tractors center of gravity too.



IF not the Maschio unit would be the preferred unit for
your needs simply becuase they have an excellent reputation
for building good flail mowers.


The weed badgers are built here in the states and have dealer network as well.
The weed badger was originally designed to weed, cover grape roots for the winter
and uncover them in the spring as well as till and mow in the grape vineyards
and they gained a following in orchards as well as they could weed and mow around
fruit trees without damaging them .



The Weed Badger 4400 model is manually operated and sized for your tractor and has lift requirement of 840 pounds at the three point hitch and your tractor will carry the load of the 4400 model.



WeedBadger
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #6  
Thanks for the feedback Leonz! I am slightly familiar with the Weed Badger and have it on my wish list once the orchard is larger. Right now, I do the tending between the trees (within the rows) by hand. Each spring I plant more trees as I convert a corn/bean field to orchard. I have about 1.5 acres fallow with just Orchardgrass planted on it that will be planted with trees next year. We mow the Orchardgrass between rows with a JD rider mower and it is getting tough (that grass is a lot tougher than conventional lawn grass) to do so and right now almost impossible. We have had a rainy spring and the grass is about 2 feet high right now and the JD rider is just not doing it. I also have about 1/2 mile of road bank that varies between 5 and 10 feet wide. I can cut part of it with the JD rider but the rest is too steep or along the orchard/crop area and I can't use my anti-pucker method of going straight up and down the rise. With an articulating flail mower, I could hit the wider areas from on-top and below. I agree that the Maschio is sound piece of equipment but am stuck at spending another $2,300. When I first started to figure this out I was considering a walk-behind brush mower for about $1,4000 but found that a flail mower would cost just a little more. From the reviews on this site, the Caroni is the way to go and I would get one in a heart beat - if I could only figure out how to get the road banks to flatten out. :confused:
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #7  
Joe,

Before I forget it please call Ken Sweet and ask him about
a small sickle bar mower for your tractor as he sells small farm
tools as well and he is a forum sponsor in good standing.
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #8  
I don't know if this is any good or not but it is worth a look, the 3ph trimmer model can roll around obstacles such as boulders and fence posts. At $1000 it might be a decent tool to have.

DR Trimmer Mowers (string trimmers) | DR Power Equipment



I should add that one thing I like about this is the large disk should keep from breaking off the string constantly, and that is large string too.
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #9  
I wouldn't reject the Value Leader without first talking with Keith at Betsco and asking for other buyers to talk with. While there seems to be a blind yea Italian, boo Chinese mentality at times I have to be honest that the one piece I have that is rusting away the fastest is my Italian manufactured tiller. :(
I also would give more credibility to an opinion of an actual owner.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet
 
   / Maschio ditch/bank mower #10  
Thanks for all the help and suggestions regarding the articulating flail mower! I was thinking about a small sickle so going to give that a second look after I recover financially from fixing my Deere LA140 mower. At the beginning of the season, I put about $250 into a new electric clutch that drives the mower deck and new front wheel bearings and spindles. A couple of days ago, I was mowing and noticed blue smoke coming from the mower deck. The bearing in an idler pulley blew and it had come off and the belt was running on the mounting shaft. When the bearing blew, the pulley stayed on and ground down the shaft making it totally impossible to just replace the pulley. That is part of the deck housing that goes for about $580 and I am talking just the housing without all the spindles, pulleys, wheels, etc. I must have been lucky that day because I found a complete deck that was pulled off a new mower where they just wanted to have a tractor. Got that for $550 and was back to mowing. So once the piggy bank gets fat again, will think about another attachment for the 2320. In the mean time, the wife says I should use our old Honda walk behind mower that is over 20 years old. It can cut through anything and just keeps going.:dance1:
 
 
 
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