bush hog windrowing

   / bush hog windrowing #1  

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Do all bush hogs windrow? I'm wondering if there is one made that will more evenly distribute the clippings, rather than leave them in a row on one side. The problem with that is the row of clippings shows for a long time if the grass is very tall when it was cut and even kills the grass under it.
 
   / bush hog windrowing #2  
Danny Y, maybe someone else has a better answer, but in my experience, all brush hogs are going to do a certain amount of windrowing if the grass is tall; maybe some brands or models do more or less than others, but I haven't noticed any major difference.

Bird
 
   / bush hog windrowing #3  
I'm with Bird on this one.

18-35034-TRACTO~1.GIF
 
   / bush hog windrowing #4  
Well, all brush mowers are going to leave their debris, but mine doesn't windrow it "on one side" of the mower. A side discharge mower would do that. My brush cutter sort of distributes the debris in the entire swath of the cutter. If I cut long stuff in an entire area, it looks more like a carpet of deep debris rather than windrows. But the larger point is that the cutter will chop it up as much as it is able and then leave it. You can go over it more than once to chop it up finer, particularly if it is woody. You can essentially disintegrate woody branches if you go over them enough times.
 
   / bush hog windrowing #5  
If you are making a circle when you are cutting, try running
with the windrow to the inside of your front wheel. this help
to re distribute the windrow, even in tall grass. I believe its
proper to go counter clockwise.

Rick
 
   / bush hog windrowing #6  
Rick, good call. You are correct. In tall grass the windrow is due to the rotation of the blades push the cut grass up on the tall grass next to it.
 
   / bush hog windrowing #7  
Accepting that as true in certain grass situations, what then happens to the windrow depends on your mowing pattern. If you turn around at the end of your row and mow right on top of that windrow, it rechops it and redistributes it onto the mowed row you just cut. Then you turn around, mow and create another windrow, and then turn around and mow on top of that windrow, recutting and redistributing that windrow. Etc. Doing the whole field like this, you should have relatively little windrowing and a relatively even carpet of debris.

If you mow in a circular pattern in the right direction you can get almost the same effect. It will be faster but there wont be as much rechopping and redistribution as in the alternating row pattern. I think.
 
   / bush hog windrowing #8  
This thread bothered me late last night because I began doubting what I was saying. In my first post I basically took the position the brush hogs dont discharge to the side. In my second post I accepted that premise, and then suggested a mowing pattern that would overcome the side-discharged windrows.

I am now returning to my original postion: a brush hog--or at least my brush hog--does not discharge to the side.

I decided to test this today. I drove straight into some virgin grass about waist high and also some reed grass about 10' high. In neither case did i see any side discharge. I got off the tractor and looked closely at the edges of the rows. No evidence of side discharging on either side. I drove into these grasses slowly backwards, looking for debris discharging from either side. None. Did this several times.

Of course, there couldnt be any side discharge because the sides of the bush hog are almost at ground level, and it would therefore be impossible for grass to discharge from (through) the metal side walls. So, to change the experiment, I raised my cutter to its highest position so it was at least 12" off the ground. There was still no significant side discharge; and to the extent I could discern some slight emanations, they did not seem to be heavier on either side. In short, I could not create what I would call windrows. Examining the cut swaths, there may be a slightly less bit of debris in the center of the swath, under where the stumpjumper would have been. But I wouldnt say even that was a consistent phenomenon.

Now, what does happen on the side of the cutter in long grass is that the grass right next to the cut swath gets pushed over, leaning away from the cut swath. This is caused by the tractor pushing through the grass like the bow wake of a boat. The FEL, the tires, the tractor undercarriage, and the part of the cutter beyond the blade arc--they all push the the nearby uncut grass over. This happens on both sides of the tractor when you make your initial row cut into the long grass. In your later rows, this of course only happens on side where the uncut long grass is. That's the only thing that looks to me like grass piling up.

Anyway, that's how my cutter performs in the kind of long grass I have. By the way, my cutter is 60" width, so it is wider than the track of the tractor. Dont know if that should make a difference.

I hope my neighbor, a church, likes the patterns I contributed to their unkempt field. Maybe I'll start some rumors about the Virgin Mary and crop circles.
 
   / bush hog windrowing #9  
How about the ground speed of the tractor?

Would not a slower ground speed allow the cutter time to munch everything up? Its been 20+ years since I mowed waste high grass and I can't remember if I got any windrowing. Course I'm not sure I would have noticed nor cared at the ripe old age of 16! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I spent four-five hours mowing my road and swale on Saturday. I don't go very fast, 2nd gear in A range, for most of the mowing since I have ruts in the swale, rocks, stumps, etc. The center of the road I'll go 4th gear. I was very impressed with how nice everything looked mowed. It looks better than my yard at the house.

Course I'm convinced that the proper way to grow grass is to forget all The Talk of fertilizer, pesticides, airation, dethatching, mow patterns, etc. Just put down gravel. The grass will grow in it like it was in the best soil in the world! [smille] My culdesac looks like a grass tennis court..... Last year all the grass was torn up from the logging trucks plus a few ruts in the mix. I box bladed the road last year and this year the grass is back! Looks like it never was gone. I really don't want it in the road but it does keep down the dust......

Later...
Dan
 
   / bush hog windrowing
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Thanks for all the input everyone! Most of my bushhogging experience was over 20 years ago when I was using my Dad's John Deere B and a pull behind "Mono" bush hog (we called it a "chopper" back then). It always left a row of cut grass on one side (I don't remember which side). I guess I shouldn't have said "windrow", since it's not discharging it out of either side, it just leaves a row of cut grass on one side, but inside the swath of the mower.

More recently, I borrowed a Ford bush hog from my neighbor and used it to mow some grass (mostly timmothy) waist high, even shoulder high in places. It left a very distinct row of cut grass on one side. I'm hoping to buy my own bush hog someday and was just wondering if a more expensive brand, like a Woods, is going to be any better than a cheaper brand, like a King Kutter, when it comes to leaving a row of cut grass.

Next time I borrow one I'll do some experimenting with the direction, speed, etc. I realize cutting it more often would help, but that's not an option, since I just don't have the time. I really just want to knock it down about once a year to keep the brush from growing.
 
 
 
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