Mowing MPH for a 15' batwing/Kubota M9540

[GIBB]

How many miles an hour can be mowed by a 15' batwing using a Kubota M9540. Our Goodwill is considering taking on highway mowing for the department of transportation so we can offer jobs to people with disabilities. Can someone help me determine an average number of highway miles that can be mowed by a 15' batwing. We are in Northwest Florida and most of the highway's are bahail grass and will grow to a little over one foot high and can be thick in when there is a lot of rain.:confused2:

 

[SPYDERLK]

Mowing is a matter of area, not speed. If the place to be mowed is predictable and clear the speed that you can travel cutting may be 6 mph. If width of the required cut is narrow that will enable 6mi of cut on one side of the road. Then theres the other side and/or the median. How many passes for full width? Variability of the scenario has to be expected. You will need better definition of the situation. My guess would be you can, at most, cut 1 mile of divided highway per hour.
larry

 

[GIBB]

Great points, we do have to consider medians and the number of passes required.

One stretch of road that runs north and south is 24 miles long, it is two lanes and will only require one pass on each side of the road. Traveling at six miles per hour going north should take approximately 4 hours and the return trip heading south should take approximately 4 hours.

Is 24 miles a day reasonable making the above assumptions and assuming that the grass is consistently the same and slope mowing will not be reuqired?

 

[SPYDERLK]

You need more specific experience based info. I extropolate from a tractor with 1/3 the HP pulling a 5' bushog. There are many unknowns to side cutting roads that experience could help average out and adjudicate. Considering them I really doubt that you could average a 6mph travel speed. Theres a fellow who was on the forum but shows no recent activity. Does anybody know how to reach Farmwithjunk

If you could reach him he could give a good perspective based on experience.
larry

 

[E/S]

I know that anything over 3 mph on rough ground will beat you to death. I done cut anything like right of ways, but I wouldn't figure on anything over 4 mph personally.
The other thing to worry about is trash, a wad of barbed wire can really ruin your day.

E/S

 

[TripleR]

I know that anything over 3 mph on rough ground will beat you to death. I done cut anything like right of ways, but I wouldn't figure on anything over 4 mph personally.
The other thing to worry about is trash, a wad of barbed wire can really ruin your day.

E/S

Four would be more than I would want to do all day too unless it is smoother than anything I have run across so far.

 

[aczlan]

I hate to be a killjoy, but what kind of disabilities do these people have? To run a tractor like that along a highway and handle the trash that you will hit (mattresses, fence wire, tires, dead animals, etc) they will not really be able to handle the job with any kind of major physical disability unless you have a "fixit person" on hand to do that for them.
And if they keep running until they can get to a "fixit person" it is not out of the realm of possibility that they will destroy a gearbox, or worse.

Aaron Z

 

[LoneCowboy]

I mow commercially with a 15' batwing.
although sometimes if it's REALLY thick I slow down, it's not typical. (and I use a "undersized" tractor.)

It's how much it beats you up while going (and going around obstacles really can slow you down).

We run 5mph all the time (that's where the gearing comes out). You can go 6mph, but the ride can be pretty unbearable.

going around those stupid marker things every 100 yards is what is going to slow you down.

7 acres an hour average is the typical number you both hear and we see.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Oh
state/city/county contracts are ridiculously low.
I mean ridiculous.

I know for a fact that the #1 bidder for mowing right of ways in the city of Fort Collins (co) this year bid was $47/hour





For a 15' batwing and a 90/100hp tractor

Insurance, transportation, oversize load, SMM plates, etc, etc, etc

I get more than that for a guy running a HD weed eater.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. so many road signs in our area of florida that THEY are the limiting factor for speed.. not grass. that and roadside debri. If you mow every black aligator you see you will tear those mowers up fast.. that and car rims.. and batteries.. and tv's.. stumps and cut logs that flew out of somebodies tree business truck..

ROW is generally a tough cut.. not because of the grass.. but the debri and obstacles.

soundguy