Mowing I need some advice on mowing

[foreman Etexas]

Thanks for all the advice.
Bilrus61- I agree with your assessment. I have a land pride rep close by, I'm going to get some quotes,

Flusher- I will be chopping up, not raking, so basically I was looking into how different types of cutters would stack up as far as speed, and efficiency.

Foreman-spraying is not an option, but I was thinking i could probably build a flamethrower for a fairly reasonable price!..

-thanks again

I can pull a 15t batwing over 80ac.and spend cple days(16hrs) and have it cleaned up.

 

[Longhorntractor]

I have the same tractor. I pull a 6ft shredder with no problem.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Yeah, a new tractor is not really an option for me.
I was wondering if a small flail would allow me to cut significantly faster?
Or what about a sickle, or a haybine(new holland 488)?
I have no experience at all with anything besides the hog.
-cheers.

You're in my "wheelhouse" on this question....I own a commercial mowing company. We mow large acreage for a living. You're grossly UNDERsized for mowing that sort of acreage.


A flail mower would "allow" you to cut significantly SLOWER than a comparable width rotary cutter.

Skip the haybine idea....Will slow you down in the long run.

Either that ground is EXTREMELY rough, or you're going WAY too slow....I'd think you should be able to mow quite a bit more acreage in 400 hours.

That tractor is borderline in regards to using anything bigger than 5'er. And with that, just adding 1' to the mower won't significantly alter your acres per hour.

You need to address the issue of ground speed as much (or more) than mower width if you want to increase productivity. Or get an army of goats to turn loose.....lol!

 

[flyingcow]

I can pull a 15t batwing over 80ac.and spend cple days(16hrs) and have it cleaned up.View attachment 258351View attachment 258352

Here we go. I try to bushhog my fields twice a year. 7ft hog i can do a little better than an 1 and 1/2 acres an hour. This is thick stuff. just grass. If i only bushhog it once a year, usually late summer, i can do just an acre an hour.


What you show in these pictures, is easy mowing. Light stuff, thin. Probably pretty smooth too.I don't think i could run a 15ft batwing on any moderate growth, and have any ground speed up here. 15ft batwings up here are powered by 110hp on up. usually run by 125hp units.

why i'm pointing this out is because each region has such a variety of materials to mow. Hard to give good advice.

 

[MHarryE]

Ah, the good old days growing up on a dairy farm. Sickle bar mowers were all we had, okay for their time for cutting hay but not so good for cleaning up. Broken sections - they don't like pulling thorugh small saplings, especially at any decent ground speed where the partially cut through sapling pulls down on the section before it is cut through. In heavier grass it is slow to a crawl so the sickle can gnaw its way through. Something to be avoided. Disc mowers now used for cutting hay are much faster but they don't like rocks. I don't know much about flail cutters but my dealer guided me away from them and onto a Land Pride rotary cutter. I only have to clean up the parts we don't farm but I spend a lot of time bringing my L5740 down to its knees with just a 6' cutter in tough going. More power is always the answer.

 

[bucktaker]

MharryE
I.m suprised your 5740 has trouble with a 6 ft rotary ..what are you mowing?

havent used mine for mowing yet but hoping 6 ft doesnt require full power

 

[foreman Etexas]

Here we go. I try to bushhog my fields twice a year. 7ft hog i can do a little better than an 1 and 1/2 acres an hour. This is thick stuff. just grass. If i only bushhog it once a year, usually late summer, i can do just an acre an hour.


What you show in these pictures, is easy mowing. Light stuff, thin. Probably pretty smooth too.I don't think i could run a 15ft batwing on any moderate growth, and have any ground speed up here. 15ft batwings up here are powered by 110hp on up. usually run by 125hp units.

why i'm pointing this out is because each region has such a variety of materials to mow. Hard to give good advice.

If you take care of your land,this is what you will be mowing(pictured) if you do not mow but only once a year,then I guess you need what this guy said...

 

[jenkinsph]

If you take care of your land,this is what you will be mowing(pictured) if you do not mow but only once a year,then I guess you need what this guy said...

I find this to be the case whether you are mowing a lawn or a pasture. If you take the time to put in a smooth pasture and maintain it properly the net cost over the years will be lower and much easier on you and the equipment.

 

[foreman Etexas]

I find this to be the case whether you are mowing a lawn or a pasture. If you take the time to put in a smooth pasture and maintain it properly the net cost over the years will be lower and much easier on you and the equipment.

I cant see having this big chunk of land and not using it,only mowing once/twice a year. I mow(up to 4 times a year),spray(maybe twice a year),drag(gopher mounds,after tilling,cow pies),till(rough spots),etc.,when needed,and then run my cattle on part of the times,just seems that if you have a big place and not running cattle or anything on it,let someone lease it to get some use out of it. But like said in your post,if you take care of your place it takes alot of time and effort but will pay off in the long run.

 

[bigbull338]

you could pull an 8ft pull type shredder with that tractor.