Buying Advice Has anyone used a vrisimo mighty max flail mower on thick hay fields?

[muktananda]

I need a 6-7 foot flail mower for my L3130 Kubota. I have 22 acres of hay field/pature and can't hay three - four acres but use it for pasture. My goats just don't eat it all down. Some gets very high and thick. My brush hog won't cut the tall stuff and plus even when I cut it at a lower height it makes a mess of course. I need a fine cut to mulch it back into the soil. I have decided I need a flail and after looking at John Deer, Caroni, Land Pride, Rears and Vrisimo I think the Vrisimo would work best as it seems to be fairly heavy duty and the PTO HP required (22- 24) works for my tractor where as some of the others do not. However, I can not find one review by anyone on the internet for the vrisimo mighty max 6 or 7 foot flail mower or any of their flail mowers? The dealer here is telling me it is better than the Land Pride which is one of the few others I can safely put a 6-7 footer on my tractor. The dealer sells both brands. I am hoping someone will be able to tell me if they use a vrisimo mighty max or other vrisimo flail in their hay field to mulch up tall, thick grass and what you think of it.

[HerbBeck]

Your 3130 Kubota has 31hp (25 pto hp). I have been using flail mowers for 15 years to cut tall pasture grass. You will probably need about 6-hp per foot of cut, using a heavy crop chop type of blade. I have a friend who had a landpride 72" FM2172 flail mower for his Kubota L-3130. He was not able to cut tall pasture grass with it unless he used 1st gear and lifted it up about 10". He sold it and purchased a 5-foot flail mower wth crop chop knives and can now mow the tall grass in 2nd gear at a 4" cutting height.
If you can not cut your grass with a 5' rotary cutter, that is adjusted properly, with new blades set to cut at about 4", a flail mower might not work for you. High quality Flail mowers are not cheap. You might hire some one with a flail mower to cut it for you, if they can. If they are not able to cut your thick heavy grass then you just saved yourself $5000+ by not buying a flail mower that needs more horespower per foot than your tractor has.
Good luck to you.

[HerbBeck]

1-08-13
I just realized you are from pleasant Hill Oregon. The NW AG Show is coming to Portland on January 29,30 and 31st. You will want to be there this year. See Mike Rears with Rears Manufacturing. He always has a large booth with orange colored mowers and sprayers. His company manufactures high quality flail mowers that work well and last a long time, made in Eugene Oregon. If you would like to talk more about the mowers you can email me at hmbeck463@centurytel.net. I live in western washington and can share some of my 15 years of flail mower experience.

[DavesTractor]

Your 3130 Kubota has 31hp (25 pto hp). I have been using flail mowers for 15 years to cut tall pasture grass. You will probably need about 6-hp per foot of cut, using a heavy crop chop type of blade. I have a friend who had a landpride 72" FM2172 flail mower for his Kubota L-3130. He was not able to cut tall pasture grass with it unless he used 1st gear and lifted it up about 10". He sold it and purchased a 5-foot flail mower wth crop chop knives and can now mow the tall grass in 2nd gear at a 4" cutting height.
If you can not cut your grass with a 5' rotary cutter, that is adjusted properly, with new blades set to cut at about 4", a flail mower might not work for you. High quality Flail mowers are not cheap. You might hire some one with a flail mower to cut it for you, if they can. If they are not able to cut your thick heavy grass then you just saved yourself $5000+ by not buying a flail mower that needs more horespower per foot than your tractor has.
Good luck to you.

A lot of wisdom in your post, and I am in agreement!

We are Vrisimo dealers, and 4HP per foot works fine in orchards and fields that are mowed regularly, but in real tall stuff, a rotary chopper actually takes less HP than a flail as the flail is determined to chop everything up to little pieces (which is why we like them) and it obviously takes more HP to do that then to just whack it down and cut it up a little like a rotary does.

So generally we suggest a 5' or even a 6' Vrisimo behind a 25 PTO HP unit, but not for this application. Probably a 4' would work well.

In my opinion, flails do not leave that perfect finish on one pass if the grass is really tall. But going over it a second time a few days later makes things look great.

As for quality, Vrisimo is amazingly good. They are manufactured not only in the USA, but in Calfornia no less. That is expensive, but they are that committed to quality.

[flyingcow]

I'm with all of the above. If your bush hog can't do it, a flail won't either. Just have to cut it 3 or 4 times a year. A 6 or 7ft flail will be too big.