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