mowing grass around a pond?

[zzbudzz]

i'm helping my mother-in-law keep up the pond behind her house .i need some guidance on the best way to cut the grass and cattails around the pond.she has a 4wd drive kobota tractor (i can't remember what model 410? with front loader) anyway we have a 6 bushhog ,but i can't get close to the waters edge especially on the dam's bank.would a sickle bar mower work well for this task?i can't seem to find much information on them or how much do they cost? thanks in advance!

 

[kully]

sickle bar is the only way drop it down in the waters edge and cut away

 

[Farmwithjunk]

May not work in every application, but it does in mine. I have a New Holland 451, 7' bar, 3-point sickle bar that hasn't cut the first lick of hay. All it does is cut pond banks, ditch lines, under trees when I'm bush hogging the pastures, and to clippastures every now and then. I use 1/2 the fuel to cut pastures with the sickle bar as when I use the bush hog.

 

[RonR]

Depending on how much you have to mow, someone here posted a homemade 3PH mower. He like took a push mower and built a frame so it could hang off to the right six or so feet. A hand winch allowed him to lower it below center. This allowed him to keep his tractor on solid ground (no sloping).

If you have access to a welder and/or know someone who could build it, might not be any more expensive than a sickle mower......

Ron

 

[zzbudzz]

ok , thanks for the information! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GATC35]

Please be very careful mowing around the edges of ponds. A lady 2 miles down the road from me was killed 2 months ago when the pond bank collasped and a Massey-Furguson 135 rolled over trapping her underwater. Her four kids actually watch her drown. Fire - rescue arrived in 7 minutes, but they could not save her.

A very very sad story.....

Please be careful.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

It seems like the area around a pond would be a good place for ground cover that doesn't need mowed. Alternatively, rather than try to figure out how to mow it, maybe it's time to think outside the tractor box. Push mowers aren't that dreadful, heck even using a scythe to trim down ornamental grasses and cattails might not be so bad as the likelyhood rolling over the tractor into the pond.

Cliff

 

[have_blue]

I like the ground cover idea Cliff. It sounds like a much better solution than having to cut close to the pond bank.

Cutting weeds and letting them fall into the pond is another problem. It wouldn't look too great, and may even foul the water.

I think 1 pygmy goat per acre of pond would also work pretty good. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif