Pull, semi, or 3pt 10ft rotary?

[Slippy]

I have a tractor with 55hp pto, very heavey, wheel weights. I have 250 acres, open pasture fields. Some of it I mow, other I have hay made. The land is fairly hilly. I have a 6ft cutter to take care of close areas and aroung my ponds. I am looking to buy a 10ft cutter. Advice on what type of unit to buy, name brand, semi mount, pull, or 3pt? I have looked at bush hog and Kodiac. The pull type jumps up in price about 2k, but I have been told it take alot less hp. Name brand? Price? Type? Thank you.

 

[rbargeron]

It seems like cutting 10 feet of grass is going to take about 50hp either way, assuming normal shaft-drive rotary cutters. How they are hooked to the tractor shouldn't make much difference. (maybe I'm not understanding your question?)

Ten feet is a pretty wide cut - if your land is smooth and scalping isn't a big problem, then something like the Rhino 10' fixed platform with 2 rotary cutters under it would be a possibility.

The bat-wing units can follow the contour of the ground a little better. The narrower ones (11 ft) can be pretty fancy ($$). Try a search at AgDealer under batwing mower - to get an idea of what's out there.

If I remember correctly Dave (gatorboy) Hoffman uses a 15' Rhino batwing behind a Kubota M8950 - maybe he could comment on how much power it soaks up.

Take care, Dick B

 

[JohnMiller3]

I think you’d be hard pressed to transport a 3-pt hitched 10’ rotary cutter that will weigh ~~ about 1600-1800 lbs. dangling off the back… of your 5000 lb tractor… It’s certainly easier and more manageable to tow a 10’ rotary cutter for your size tractor on a flat & level field… not for inclines or lots of ground contours… your aim is to cut grassy/woody products… not dirt mounds… blades dull rather quickly with dirt cutting /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Your Mahindra 50 PTO hp won’t really know the difference between the two cutters… but your tractor mass will…

This may be déjà vu… but I’d stick with a 7’ 3-pt cutter for the majority of the big stuff and hills… and I’d get a “used” 9/10’ pull/tow unit from an auction and take care of the flat area’s/ fields… /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I second John, you will be hard pressed to keep the nose of the tractor down with a 3pt chopper that size. Get the tow behind as it is better then a 3pt anyway.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Is this something a flail cutter could do as well or better? Around here they are used for chopping corn stalks.

--->Paul

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Your thinking of a couple different items. One is that the Flail mower is for cutting grasses. What you see in the corn fields is a stalk chopper, while it looks similar it is different. It is built a lot heavier to be able to pulverize the corn stalks left in the field. A flail mower would not hold up in corn.

A Flail mower could cut the fields he is talking if he mowed on a regular basis. However, most people don't mow fields every week or two so the best tool for this job is a rotary cutter.

 

[Slippy]

Thanks for the comments. Some more facts...my tractor weighs about 6500lbs and I have added 230lbs of wheel weights each side. Also, my land is rather hilly. 90% of the part I will mow is hills, but most of that can be mowed on the side and not so steep that I would have to go up & down. Also, the 7ft 3pt only gives me 1 foot more than the 6ft 3pt I have now. I do have front weights I could put back on, but I took them off when the FEL was put on. Does the 3pt type cutter take more hp if you are not using the 3pt to raise and lower? Is one type safer on hills than another? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[HayDR]

A 7' cutter pulls harder than a 8' cutter and most 10' cutters. Two big long blades take too much HP in heavy grass. IMO a 8' or 10' cutter would better match your tractor, not a 7' cutter. This is a 10' Kodiac pull type rotary cutter.

 

[Slippy]

What you say makes sense. Does this unit come with chain guards?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

It is going to be up to you on what you buy but safety and ease on the tractor both lean to the pull type. Even if you mow sideways and for some reason need to raise the mower you just raised your center of gravity a lot with a 3pt mower on a side of a hill. Unless there is some reason you do not like the tow behind model I would not hesitate to get it instead of the 3pt. Personally, I would like all my equipment to be towbehind that is possible. Tow behind equipment works better in most cases then 3pt equipment and hooks lower to the tractor allowing more of the tractors weight to get to the ground if you are using FWA. Hope some of this made sense. Take care.