Bush Hog Mowers

[JonT]

I have about 4 -5 acres of grass/weeds/tiny oak trees to mow (in NW Florida). I also have 20+ acres of very rough land with underbrush and trees from seedlings up. I am thinking of a heavy duty 5 ft Bush Hog to cut the field and "push the boundary" by mowing whatever I can drive the tractor over. Your experience would be appreciated. Bush Hog says 30 PTO HP for this mower which suggests a JD 990 or 4500?
I wonder about trying to use an old, old tractor. like a ford 8N, for a job like this. I really don't want to spend $12-15000 to mow the grass.

P.S. The oak trees are pushing faster than I am.

 

[Billc]

JonT, I have a 6 ft heavy-duty brushcutter made by Bush Hog. I bought it a year ago. I have it attached to a 54 hp Kubota.

When it was time to buy I wasn't sure whether I wanted the medium duty or heavy duty Bush Hog. The heavy duty (280 series) was close to double the cost of the medium duty (Squealer). My property is very rough. I'm turning it into pasture land. I have lots of 2" to 4" trees to mow over.

My wife pointed out that if I bought the medium duty I'd never be happy, and would wish I had spent more to buy the heavy duty. She was right. I've been very happy with the 280. Have gone over some really nasty things. Other than some dents in the decking (where I hit unseen rocks) it has worked better than I hoped for.

I also hire out, had a good many jobs last year. Got in a couple of places where I thought "surely it won't cut that mess.", but it did.

As to the type of tractor you need, make sure you have enough h.p. I can't tell you whether the Ford 8N will be enough tractor or not.

Here's another idea: Hire the hard work out. Once the big stuff is chopped up you can follow along with a medium duty brush cutter.

Hope this helps.

Bill Cook

 

[mikim]

I just sold an 8N because it didn't have the power to do what I was trying to do with it. I was tearing up the machine cutting brush similar to what you're describing and quite a bit heavier. I am currently waiting on a new TC45 and Woods 600 cutter - I won't argue this stuff is expensive - but the good news is it all holds it's value and lasts forever if taken care of. Having been there - the 8Ns are great little tractors for mowing grass and would probably work well on your 5 acres - but I don't think you'd have much luck with anything else. Good luck - this was NOT an easy decision for me - took a good year for me to get there.
mike

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I cleared about 8 acres of land that had been left alone for about 20 years with my grandfather's Ford 8N, a 5' brush hog, and a chainsaw. The 8N did OK on individual woody stems up to about 1" thick, but dense clusters or thicker material would stall the tractor. I wound up cutting a lot of brush and small trees with the chain saw. I tried sharpening the blades of the brush hog, but then the stumps were so sharp that I put one through a rear tire (11.2x28 ag tire full of CaCl). When I stalled the 8N it was real hard to get it out because the PTO had to be running to operate the hydraulic lift. The rear wheels are geared straight to the PTO when it is engaged, and that made it impossible to disengage the PTO if I stalled it on a slope. Uncoupling the PTO shaft was quite a pain with no quick release, but I got pretty good at it. It was quite a learning experience.

I bought a "newer" tractor made in 1956 with over 40 PTO HP and live PTO the following spring. That solved almost all of the problems I had with the 8N.

You could consider buying what you need to maintain a reasonable pasture and renting a machine to clear the big stuff, or hire somebody to do it.

 

[JonT]

Thanks for your info. I had decided that the 8N is too small and way too old. I am happy to hear that you guys cut some "big" stuff with the HD Bush Hogs. I have just about any size scrub oak and very thick woods. You couldn't walk thru it in places. I'm going to look for something like a Ford 3000 or 4000 or JD equivalent, I think. Sems like they might do it for me.
As for hiring it done, if I really needed it cleared, that would make sense. I'm just doing what I can because it would take a CAT to clean it up. It's even boggy in places. But, I'm just trying to keep the old home place from growing up. I retired Jan. 1999, came back to my growing up place and been fixing it up ever since.

 

[dmccarty]

JonT,

I have a 4700 and an MX6 mower. The MX 6 is rated to cut up saplings up to two inch thick. Some of the other brand mowers I looked into could go as high as 4 inches thick. But those required some tractors with large horsepower. My concern/problem with mowng anything over 2 inches is that you have to run it over with the tractor or push the stuff down with the mower. And I don't like that idea. I really does depend on how TALL the stuff is growing and how hard it is as well.

The road I cleared out last year has some 3/4 inch growth from some of the stumps that I'll cut this spring with the MX6. This stuff is not very tall and not hard like the origional saplings so I don't worry about running it over with a lower FEL and letting the MX6 take care of business. The origional saplings I cut down with a Stihl 80 brush cutter and chainsaw. We had a discussion(s) over the last 3 months or so, I think in the Rural area, on Land clearing where we covered alot of this.

What I have found to be the best solution is a 4n1 FEL. I can push down the saplings with the FEL and then grab them with the 4n1 bucket. I can often get the whole tree out of the ground without leaving a stump. Sometimes the tree will break but if the soil is wet enough and the tree is less then 3-4 inches I can pull the stump out of the ground. I only have pine trees left in my road to take care of so I"m not sure how this would work on oak.

The advantage to this method was that everything was cleaned up at the end of the day and I did not have stumps left in the ground. With the brush cutter/chainsaw method I still had to pick up the trees and there are stumps left in the ground. I'm still digging stumps out of my overgrown road bed.....

Hope this helps....
Dan McCarty

 

[MarkV]

Jon T,

Where are you at in NW Florida? I lived in Tallahassee for a long time and still make it down that way several times a year.

MarkV

 

[Woodbeef]

Brush Brute

I do not know if they are sold south of the frost line or not.But up here in The Great White North we have an amazing invention called a Brush Brute. It attaches in place of the bucket on a FEL,and man can it clear brush and saplings!!It will pull them out roots and all,you never have to leave the tractor seat!!They are very reasonably priced too(I bought the biggest one they make "78" for under $2000.00 CDN in 96)

 

[mikim]

Re: Brush Brute

Woodbeef -
That sure sounds like something I could be interested in! Can you post a pic or turn me on to a website or something so I could see what the heck you're talking about. I've never heard of such.
mike

 

[Woodbeef]

Re: Brush Brute

The company is not online,but here's their contact info. D.D. Scissons Enterprises Ltd. RR#3 Smith's Falls,Ontario K7A 4S4 ph# 613-283-2082 fax# 613-283-9580