Mowing What's a field supposed to look like after mowing

[swashbu]

Hi, we have been mowing 8 acres of mixed grasses and weeds with our 6' Bush Hog for about a year (total of 3 times). Unless we go real slow and overlap a lot the field looks like we attacked it with hatchets. My "farmer" friends tell me that is what a bush hog is supposed to do and that our expectations are too high - that it is not supposed to look like a lawn when we are done. We know the mower is sharp and in very good working condition. It sure would save a lot of time if we didn't have to overlap and could go a bit faster.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Steve

[Ozarker]

You're neighbor is correct. A brush hog is a "rough cut" machine. Use a finishing mower for lawns.

[Soundguy]

Think about the name 'brush hog' Doesn't sound elegant does it? Neither is the cut. The picture in your mind, is probably something that you need a finish mower for. A BH is just a monster that tries to hack or break everything off at "about" a certain level.

They are great for field maintenance.. not golf courses.

Soundguy

[Knight9]

Here's a picture Bird posted a long time ago showing the cut he was getting in his pasture with his Howse rough cut mower.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/forumfiles/35-70122-P1010001.JPG>Bird's pasture</A>


Kevin

[Golfgar4]

You may have been thinking that because your "field" is not technically a "lawn", you should be using a bush hog.

For years, we've been mowing a Boy Scout camp with a 3 pt finish mower. Sure, we're mowing fields, trails, camp sites, with it, but there really is not anything heavy duty that would require a bush hog. We do have a bush hog we use when we want to slash our way through an area of heavy vegetation to cut a new trail or open up a new camp site.

Come to think of it, I think they call bush hogs slashers in Australia, don't they Neal? Maybe that's a way to figure out when to use one. If you'd have to slash your way through undergrowth, use a bush hog. Otherwise, use a finish mower.

[RobS]

Steve, the others have pretty well indicated that the brush hog will not cut a lawn-like finish but...

You can improve the cut by adjusting the angle of your hog. If it tilts lower in front it will cut faster but leave a rougher appearance. By levelling it, or even running it with the back a bit lower than the front, you will get a better cut. Nowhere near what a finish mower will produce, but better anyway. You already said your blades are sharp so I won't suggest that.

Experiment a bit and let us know if it improves any [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[PitbullMidwest]

When we bought our property it was overgrown pasture land. My father in law allowed me to mow it with his 8n and a Woods "Dixie" cutter (rough cut mower). I mowed it twice a month and with each cutting the quality got better. After the first season the grass took over from the weeds and I started using a rider. If you only mowed it 3 times last year you just don't have the brush and weeds chocked out of it yet.

The picture of Bird's pasture is a good example, I'll bet he mowed it frequently to get it to look like that. If you're in a hurry, spend the money on a finish mower otherwise just mow it more often

[njrqs]

<font color=blue>they call bush hogs slashers in Australia</font color=blue>

Yeah it took me a while to work out what the **** a brush hog was when I got on this site.

I think slasher and mower (2 different things) adequately describe their uses.

Mower and Brush hog - Now they don't quite go together the same do they??????

I have a slasher for the areas of my yard that are rougher and rockier than the rest. The previous owner used to do it with a rideon mower, but I didn't want to be a slave to the yard. With the slasher I can wait until the grass is really long before I need to do it. Also "slashes" the small woddy weeds that come up.

Cheers

[chrisjbell]

<font color=blue>used to do it with a rideon mower</font color=blue>

Is that like a riding mower [img]/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif[/img]?

[njrqs]

Chris

Yep we call them "ride-ons"

That refers to any mower you ride on while mowing.

Funny how different parts of the world get different terms for things.

Cheers