Collecting Bush Hogging Clippings

[Beezz27]

It's bush hogging season and to keep my acreage around the barn looking nice I am cutting about once a month and will until the rain slows down and the field slows growing. The area is roughly 4 acres and the grass/foliage is mixed varieties. The problem is leaving all the cut material laying on the ground is making every next cut not look as good plus the stuff piles up fairly deep. I would like to get it up out of the field but I don't have (or know anybody that has) any haying equipment. I have tried a landscape rake but it picks up next to nothing. Any suggestions on options to pick up the "clippings"?

 

[Baby Grand]

I went though this same exercise, myself. Since that disappointment, I've been using a Cyclone Rake to suck up the clippings - we use them as mulch in the veggie garden.

I 've heard that some bush hogs have a hinged side that allows the clippings to exit the deck before they get pulverized, making raking more effective.
Not sure if they were made like that or modified after similar disappointments. So far I haven't been able to screw up the courage to take a torch to my beloved brush cutter, but I have thought about it ...

 

[coobie]

It's bush hogging season and to keep my acreage around the barn looking nice I am cutting about once a month and will until the rain slows down and the field slows growing. The area is roughly 4 acres and the grass/foliage is mixed varieties. The problem is leaving all the cut material laying on the ground is making every next cut not look as good plus the stuff piles up fairly deep. I would like to get it up out of the field but I don't have (or know anybody that has) any haying equipment. I have tried a landscape rake but it picks up next to nothing. Any suggestions on options to pick up the "clippings"?

Pine needle Rake?

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well it will take a lot of dumping, but a lawn sweeper WILL get all of the clippings up. Some have about a 1-1.5 cu. yard capacity but it doesn't take long to fill it with clippings. I think mine was about $169. I use it to pick up the leaves in the fall.
Cutting the area more often will make it less likely to bunch up the clippings. Also going back over it and cutting up the cuttings will chop them smaller so they dry faster

 

[SSdoxie]

My cutter is open discharge to rear so I get fairly long clippings left over and have tried to rake these up to dump over the fence into the goat yard. Tried a landscape rake with same problem as OP. Rake fills up quickly and rolls over the top. I even tried remove every 2nd and 3rd time on the rake to get it to stay down under the grass better. That worked better but not good enough. I've been toying with the idea of a Pine Straw Rake but haven't invested in one or tried making it yet.
Beez, If I had 4 acres of this I would get a used bar style hay rake, then window it and pick it up. Grapple bucket works great to pick it up once you get it in piles or windrows.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I bought a Brinly-Hardy lawn sweeper and it does a fantastic job with leaves and grass. It has one of the largest basket capacities of any on the market. It would take a lot of dumping on 4 acres but it would get all the clippings up.

From then on, just mow it every week or two so the grass doesn't overwhelm the bush hog.

 

[Baby Grand]

This thread reminds me of why I want a sickle bar mower!

 

[boggen]

think large grass rake that rotates, used for hay, to create rows of hay, that a baler can come along and pickup.

windrower / conditioner
http://www.tractorhouse.com/drilldown/manufacturers.aspx?catid=1132
rakes / tedders
http://www.tractorhouse.com/drilldown/manufacturers.aspx?catid=1133

fail mowers pending on the cutters used, can produce a mulch

rotatory cutters are "ugly" they produce clumps of crud. if you want looking good then ya going to need to get out there more often and mow. so everything doesn't clump up as bad.
try hitting the area a couple more times to mulch everything up a bit more. put front and side shields on rotatory cutter, and remove the rear cutter. "how it sets lower in front, higher in back or vice vs, might allow less clumping granted you will get a uneven cut. but you could always run first run uneven, and then come back with push hog properly leveled out.

=====================
put an ad on "craigslist.org" for needing someone to bail hay or something
put an ad in local paper, ya most likely costs a couple bucks but, should get to the local farmers that are older in age and don't use internet.
toss a sign down by road and say needing someone to bail.

 

[jenkinsph]

Just mow it often as a lawn area would be. If you can cut it to 6" and mow it when it is 10" high it should look good.

 

[MESSMAKER]

Just mow it often as a lawn area would be. If you can cut it to 6" and mow it when it is 10" high it should look good.

That may be the best answer.