Brush hog question

[Juniper Ridge]

Good afternoon

I have a couple of questions about brush hogs (I don't have a tractor yet, so the answers are to help me refine my search).

I need to mow about 6 acres of irrigated flattish pasture - the objective being to mow the weeds and encourage the grass. I'll be mowing every two weeks or so. I also need to brush hog a rough weedy hilly pasture of about 2 acres, probably once a month.

Can you adjust the mowing height of a brush hog?
What width/size brush hog would you suggest considering the fact that the tractor I would want to get would really only be used for mowing and the FEL (gravel, sand and some 'easy' leveling/cutting/filling). I need a very manoeverable tractor.

thank you in advance

 

[RobJ]

Well the cart is before the horse here. You need to figure out what size tractor you need and can afford (if that's an issue ). Then size the mower. You could get by with a 5' mower, 6' even better, 7' even faster. You can get away with an oversized mower on a smaller tractor if the grass is kept lower and not allowed to get to high.

For my little tractor I have a 4' mower. It came with it and I mostly use if for ATV trails, hunting areas, etc. I think the lowest it will go is about 3". And that's with it dragging on the ground if its not completly level. It won't go any lower.

Keep us updated!

Rob

 

[kthompson]

You do need to pay attention to the lowest height a rough cut mower will cut but from there you can raise them. Not the same as a lawn mower or even a "finish mower" but still can raise them using the tractor's lift to so and with the trail wheel(s) on them.

You will want a mower wider than your tractor if it will handle it and you do need to select tractor first and then mower for it. The make different grades of rough cut mowers and most if not all brands have at least two grades. The rougher what you will be cutting (such as small trees or brush compared to grass) the more important that will be. The more level your land is the wider one you can also use just as with any mower. If you have never used a rough cut mower they can be very dangerous. They are great to throw what ever they run over out and can throw debris a long way with great speed and force. You may wish to also consider a "flail" mower. They cost more but (normally) are shorter in length and don't have the same throwing action of debris they run over. You may wish to search them here for there has been much written comparing the different mowers.

A rough cut mower does give a rough cut. Don't think it will look like a lawn.

 

[MarkV]

Hi, welcome to the forum. As Rob said mower size really has a lot to do with tractor size. The rule of thumb is 5 PTO hp per mower foot. You can get by with less, I do, in pasture mowed more often.

You can adjust the height on a rotary mower, Bush Hog, but it isn't like the finish mower you may be use to. There is a tail wheel that sets the rear height and the front height is adjusted on the tractor with the controls that regulate your 3PT hitch arms. Not many rotary mowers are going to mow below 3 or 4".

MarkV

 

[newbury]

I think the OP is going about it right, figuring out what implement he needs, then figuring out what he needs to pull it.
I figured I needed a BH big enough to dig a hole I couldn't see out of, so a tractor with less HP was getting to small.
He probably should buy the tractor first, but it should help narrow down the choices.
So a 6' hog w/ a 30HP tractor might be a sweet spot.

 

[flusher]

Good afternoon

I have a couple of questions about brush hogs (I don't have a tractor yet, so the answers are to help me refine my search).

I need to mow about 6 acres of irrigated flattish pasture - the objective being to mow the weeds and encourage the grass. I'll be mowing every two weeks or so. I also need to brush hog a rough weedy hilly pasture of about 2 acres, probably once a month.

Can you adjust the mowing height of a brush hog?
What width/size brush hog would you suggest considering the fact that the tractor I would want to get would really only be used for mowing and the FEL (gravel, sand and some 'easy' leveling/cutting/filling). I need a very manoeverable tractor.

thank you in advance

You may be able to find a hog with blades that will mow down to and inch or so. Check around. With only 6 acres, your tractor very likely will be in the 20-30 hp range. My first tractor was a 2005 Kubota B7510HST (21 hp engine, 17 hp pto, hydrostatic tranny, 4WD, power steering) with the LA302 FEL (4-ft wide bucket, 800 lb lift capacity). Cost: $12.6K plus tax. I mowed my 10 acres of flat pasture with a 4-ft King Kutter rotary mower ($600 from TSC then, now $740).

But realistically, you probably need a brush hog for the hilly 2 acres and another mower for your 4-acre pasture.

Check out finish mowers, flail mowers and sicklebar mowers if you want to mow your pasture really short (1-2" height).

Finish mowers are fairly expensive ($1429 for a 5-ft mower from Tractor Supply). The height is more easily adjusted than on a hog.

Flail mowers are very expensive ($2850 for a 5-ft size from Northern Tool). These mowers can be adjusted to just about scalp the ground if that's what you want.

You can find used sicklebar mowers pretty cheap. I bought a used 7-ft MF-41 sicklebar mower for $550 a few months ago at a local auction.

You don't need a lot of pto horsepower for a sicklebar this size. My old Kubota B7510HST could handle it no problem. And it's pretty easy to adjust the cutting height of the sicklebar.

 

[Juniper Ridge]

Thank you for your replies.

I wouldn't want to mow the pasture lower than 6 inches - a sickle mower would work well for that. The hilly pasture is weedy, but there is no brush to cut, just *very* tall weeds. I assumed a brush hog because there are some largish stones (6" or so) that would undoubtedly get run over and I thought a brush hog was designed not to get damaged by such. I thought I could kill two birds with one stone, but perhaps not.

And am I understanding this right? A brush hog is not the same as a mower/rotary mower?

I am thinking a tractor between 21 and 25 hp will work for me.

 

[newbury]

Thank you for your replies.

I wouldn't want to mow the pasture lower than 6 inches - a sickle mower would work well for that. The hilly pasture is weedy, but there is no brush to cut, just *very* tall weeds. I assumed a brush hog because there are some largish stones (6" or so) that would undoubtedly get run over and I thought a brush hog was designed not to get damaged by such. I thought I could kill two birds with one stone, but perhaps not.

And am I understanding this right? A brush hog is not the same as a mower/rotary mower?

I am thinking a tractor between 21 and 25 hp will work for me.

Brush or bush hogs are things that cut stuff in a rotary motion with a blade.
When you start talking "mower" you are often moving from something that clears small trees, and leaves small stumps, to cutting grass and leaving something your loved ones can walk on barefooted.
It's definitions.

6" stones are kind of big to throw and kill two birds.
If it hit's a blade, whether bush hog or lawn mower, physics happen and the blade gets damaged.

Do some simple math, I'm to lazy -
Width of mower
Area of land
Mowing speed
FUDGE FACTOR
Figure out how long it will take to mow X acres at Y speed, w/ a 10% overlap.
Then figure out if you want to get a wider bush hog/mower (bigger tractor) or more seat time.

 

[MarkV]

Juniper, Bush Hog is a company name and some of their products are rotary mowers. You will also hear them called slashers, brush mowers or rough cut mowers. With your rocks it sounds like the type of mower you will want. Unlike a finish mower a rotary mower (Bush Hog) does not have fixed blades. Rotary mower blades can swing freely where they attach to a metal center disk called a stump jumper. There ability to pivot lets them absorb the impact of hitting objects like your rocks without major damage.

When looking at tractors keep in mind that PTO hp is the important number for a mower. Most tractors that have 25 hp will have somewhere around 20 PTO horsepower. That size tractor would use a 4' mower.

MarkV

 

[newbury]

<snip>

When looking at tractors keep in mind that PTO hp is the important number for a mower. Most tractors that have 25 hp will have somewhere around 20 PTO horsepower. That size tractor would use a 4' mower.

MarkV

Does that ratio matter much if you've got flat or hilly terrain?
For example I've got a lot of my land with fairly hilly terrain, should I figure on needing 6PTO HP per foot of mower?