Mowing Most acreage mowed with 5' mower

[flusher]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

Don't have a 5' hog. Mine is a 4' KK hog for my B7510HST/LA302 FEL.

Have a 10-acre parcel. House/garage/shop occupy about 1.5 acres. Old almond orchard takes up another 1.5 acres. Use a $1000 Huskee lawn tractor (18HP, 42" cut) to handle the landscaped part around the house and to mow the orchard. Takes 4-5 hours at LT mowing speed and manuevering around obstacles.

Of the remaining 7 acres, I have about 3 acres of fast growing, tall weeds on the North fence line (the land drains South to North). Got the B7510 last May and bought the hog last June. Made a thorough sweep of the 3 acres before the first cut in early July when the weeds were 3-4 feet tall. Found a lot of old fence wire, busted up concrete, a few tires, an old steel bathtub etc. Mowed the 3 acres in about 5 hours, slow, low gear, FEL pushing the weeds down so I could see anything I missed in the initial cleanup.

Got real hot in mid-July so the heat took care of the mowing during the rest of the growing season. Now the weeds are back again, about 18" tall. Added Soundguy's "mudflap" type debris shields to the front and rear of the mower during the Winter (see attachment). Plan to give them a test drive in a few weeks.

 

[smoothie17]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

I mow approximately 16 acres with a 5' Woods BB60 rotary cutter and it takes me about 16 hours (hour per acre). That's with a 30 HP B2910 Kubota tractor.

 

[Richard]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

The farm I live on is about 250 acres and we guesstamate it's about 50/50 fields/woods.

We (read that to be I) use an International 444 that's WAY past it's useful life along with a 5' cutter.

Since the farm is father in laws and uncle in laws (both mid 80's), I have a difficut time justifying ME buying a large tractor with a 16' cutter on the back though I want to.

Consequently, the farm which SHOULD be cut probably at least twice a year, seems to get cut every other year or three. Becuase of THAT reality, it becomes overgrown and you end up cutting it in 1st gear, low range.

Three summers ago, the last time I cut the entire farm before gaining a small "attitude" about it, it literally took me the entire summer cutting after work at night and on weekends.

Heck, the smallest field we have probably takes me 45 minutes just to make ONE circle around it.

Ya... now that I'm allergic to bee stings and some of them critters love to stalk me while hiding in the growth, I don't think I'll be cutting ANYTHING until I can do so from the confines of a tractor with a cab!!

/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[EastTexFrank]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> I don't think I'll be cutting ANYTHING until I can do so from the confines of a tractor with a cab!!
</font> )</font>

That's what I say every year and every year I go back and do it. My circumstances are about the same as yours, the farm is owned by my 88 year old M-I-L and My S-I-L's don't see the sense in buying a cab tractor and 15' mower just to keep me happy and I don't see the sense in spending that much money to work a farm that I don't own. They did buy a new M5700 open station with FEL and 6' mower about 18 months ago and I offered to make up the difference to step up to a M9000 with a cab, 15' Rhino and various other goodies that I thought would keep the machine useful for the next few years. Strangely there were no takers. They thought it was just more stuff to go wrong. That made a lot of sense since I'm the one that was doing the vast majority of the work and maintenance. They seemed to think that since that was what I wanted, I should pay the whole cost. Family .... what can you do with them??? You gotta luv 'em. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

This past year I pretty much shut down work at the farm during the summer. I'm getting too old to do things the hard way all the time. I still work a bit in the fall, winter and spring but it seems that I have to work harder and longer because I "goof off" all summer. It's just that I can't stand it when I go over there and the weeds are knee high, tree limbs are on the fence, etc. I must admit, my withdrawal of labor has forced one of my S-I-L's to get a lot better on the M5700. It's a pity that it also made her a ranching "expert" though. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Highbeam]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

5' cutter and 6 acres of eye high weeds in 10 hours. A few stops to clean out the grille screens and refuel but boy it looked nice. I wasn't limited by power but the underlying field was so bumpy I was bounced out of my seat if I tried to get some speed up.

 

[BloomingtonMike]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

1973 Simplicity 4041 19HP with a 60" MMM and I was cutting my 6 acres twice a month (sometimes weekly) in 6+ hours - lots of hills around the field and the pond. This tractors age was not really suited to the task so now I use a 3320 JD with a 72" MMM - takes 3.5 hours.

 

[Billy_S]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

I know the original post here is getting a bit old. Heck, the LAST post in this thread is a bit old, but what the hey. I just couldn't resist chiming in.

I just bought a BX2230 with a FEL and a 4" rotary cutter. I have about 40 acres. Some of that is yard, but about 15 acres is pasture and the rest is woods. I would like to do a little better job of maintaining the wood. Some of it has never been cut. All that has ever been done there is cutting some trails so the wife and daughter can ride horses back there.

But I digress. Frankly, I don't care how long it takes as I enjoy doing it. Besides, my bota has a beer holder. What more can one ask for? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RobT]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

I have a Tractor King 404 (40 HP diesel) with a 5' rotary cutter. Just got it a month ago. I've cut approx. 8 acres with it. I'm going in low gear (low 2nd gear) which is probably only about 2 MPH. It took several hours to cut the stuff, but it was FUN. No beer holder yet /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif, but need to rig one up soon.

 

[LeadPoison]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

Three hours to cut 8 acres with a 5 foot mower at 2 mph?

Seems impossible to me? Please explain to me how I am wrong. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[RobT]

Re: Most acreage mowed with 5\' mower

LeadPoison:

Actually when I said "several hours" I meant "many" hours--probably close to 10 hours over all. I wasn't really keeping track. I wasn't aware "several" meant 3. In fact, several means "more than 2 or 3". So there is how you are wrong.