New Guy looking at a finish mower

[hiddentacocatneddih]

Hello TBN

I have been trolling the forums while I have been looking for a tractor. I am a city type guy and my family moved out to the country of NW Tennessee last year. I had been keeping up with my 6 acres (5 is pasture) with my lawnmower that is a basket case. I saved up while shopping for a tractor. I don't believe in financing so a new machine was out of the question, although I really want an cab for the summer and winter. My main tractor requirements
1. pull at least a 6ft finish mower for the yard and 1 pasture
2. 5-6 ft rotary cutter for the big pasture unless I just finish mow it consistently
3. FEL that I can pick up motors and junk with. I have a 6BT sitting on an engine stand that is sort of trapped in my garage.... long story and its heavy.
4. Blade and groom my drive for my barn and garage along with making tracks and jump for the kids dirt bikes/4 wheelers and stuff

prefer mechanical fuel injection and virtually zero electronics (ironically electronics is my life/career). No gassers since they have an ignition and well... gas. 4wd if it is smaller size. I think manual gear trans would be nice for just cruising the pasture with a mower, but hydro is cool too.


well it happened. Last weekend I found a tractor and I am suppose to get it this weekend. A Mahindra 485di. Comes with a 5ft rotary cutter, FEL and some forks.

Any one have one?

AND the main reason for this thread..... finish mowers. I have been looking around. Some used ones locally just look like a basket case. The deal has a land pride 72" for $1250 and a frontier for $1750. They have an 84" bush hog brand one for $1750 too which is tempting.

But then RK has some around the $1750 price range brand new....
Ill have to call and see what the Kubota dealer has in stock since their website is garbage.
I want rear discharge.

Any thing under $2000 that people just swear by? or anything not pure chinesium is fine.

 

[RoyJackson]

Finish mowers are expensive...much more so then rotary cutters. I had Befco and Frontier RFMs and both are great. I've had a Land Pride cutter and the quality of their equipment is great. Both the Befco and Frontier were used mowers when I bought them.
So, I'd go for either the used Land Pride, Bush Hog or Frontier if they're in decent shape. If at all possible, do try them out before you plunk you're money down.
Another alternative to an RFM, especially for the pasture work, is a flail mower. There's a lengthy thread on flail mowers: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...l?highlight=Flail&highlight=Flail#post5312556

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I looked at flails but the less is more and KISS. having a TON of knives to maintain just doesn't sound fun compared to 1-3 blades. But the cut looks awesome

If I get anything bigger than 6ft, ill have to keep my lawn mower running to do my backyard where my kids play. the gates only 6ft and change wide. Plus there isn't much room back there with the 2 swing sets, trampoline, deck and so on. So maybe taking the tractor back there wont be happening anyway

 

[chim]

Welcome aboard! I've been using RFM's since around 1992 and they are my first choice for mowing. With the HP you have on tap and a rear tire width of 71"? I'd want at least a 6' mower. Wider would be better. Having the deck wider than than tire tracks is desirable. How difficult would it be to modify the gate?

I've had two RFM's made by LandPride (5' and 6') and two by Caroni (5' and 7-1/2'). The 7-1/2' was bought used late last year and I haven't used it yet because I'm refurbishing it. The LandPrides are heavy decks and the quality is very good. The Caroni decks are lighter, but also do a nice job and put up with a lot of abuse. I bought the larger Caroni because of the service I've gotten from the 5 footer purchased in 1992.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

Chances are with all the stuff in the backyard I'll have to keep a riding lawn mower around to get it. The gate wouldn't be hard to swap to a cattle gate or add one.

I have to keep a rider around for my ditches anyway

Really thinking towards a 7' mower since it would make it that much faster on my big flat areas.

 

[EddieWalker]

I had been keeping up with my 6 acres (5 is pasture)

Before buying a finish mower, use the rotary cutter and see if you can live with the results. The advantage of a rotary cutter over a finish mower is that you can get away with mowing your pasture just a few times a year. If you get a finish mower, you need to mow every other week, depending on rain and how fast your pasture grows.

I have a rotary cutter, a finish mower and a zero turn. I enjoy mowing, but there are only so many other things to do that I mowing time needs to be managed.

The rotary cutter gives the roughest look, but compared to not cutting, it looks good enough. The finish mower is faster if I keep everything short and cut regularly, but if I go a few weeks or a month between cutting, I have to use the rotary cutter to get it under control, and then go over it the following week with the finish mower to get it back down to where I want it. But that ends up cutting it so short that it's brown for another week or so.

My current plan, and what I've done for the last few years, is to maintain my "home" area with the zero turn. That is probably close to an acre and a half, maybe a bit more. I do this every other week, but sometimes once a week if I have to. Adding a canopy over my mower has really made this a lot more comfortable during the summer heat.

About three times a year I bush hog the rest of my pasture, trails and fence line. This takes about three days, or more if I just do an few hours after work. As I add fencing and increase livestock numbers, I expect this to decrease.

I haven't used my finish mower in years, and now the tires have rotted on me and need replacing. I'm holding on to it in case I decide to use it instead of the rotary cutter after my fences are done. I'm not sure what I'll do, so it's just waiting on my to decide.

Finish mowers are great, but not as good at cutting thick, tall grass as a rotary cutter, and they will never give you as nice of a finish as a zero turn or riding mower. If you buy the tractor with the rotary cutter, I would spend my money on a better lawn mower instead of another attachment for the tractor.


'

 

[BlackOps]

i have a small mahindra with bucket and bought a midmower unit as abackup. which i have had to use by the way. i cannot get in the smaller areas but the bigger area is done in minutes. takes longer to hook it up and unhook it than to use it. i use bucket 99+ % of the time so no need to have it on all the time. it cuts really nice and it is very nice. but i have a lawn as such and not pasture.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

I cut one of my pastures, about 3/4 of an acre every week because it was over grown week. Now its all grass. I plan on maintaining it. took almost an hour. Parts of it I need to rotary cut and clean up.
my front and side yard is pretty small. about 20 minutes on a rider, wide open only 4 trees to go around really. I cut it weekly
My back yard is small, full of toys and stuff. Realistically could get done in 20 minutes with a push mower if not less if I had to but on a rider about 5-10 minutes.
I have a 1/3 acre lot I maintain that has the thickest grass I have ever seen. My 24hp rider really hated mowing it. It was some of the fastest growing I have ever seen. I may just go to rotary cutting long term on this. Tons of sticks and walnuts and pecans too.

But my big worry is my 3.5 acres pasture. It has been neglected and just had the cows maintain it for a year or more. I cut it from knee high down with my mower and it took a month or 2 with random hour here hour there. It has lots of weeds in places and the back is brush. My goal would be to cut it once to twice a month and get the grass to come in better. On my rider it takes all day even in areas that are cut down. My rider can only go 1-2 mph in the grass and is only a 50".

We use our pastures as extended yards. The big one got so bad last year with tall grass and seeds that it was obnoxious to walk around in. We are not farm people and don't plan on animals. We have toys instead so the cows will not be a permanent fixture.

A ZTR would be great. I ran them a lot when I was a kid mowing Carlyle lake Illinois campgrounds (400 acres) for the army core of engineers. But I cant justify the money right now for a one trick pony. If I had the money I would just go get a big commercial 72" ZTR and be done with it.

If my rider survives the year I would be surprised. Its a cheap troy built with 350+ hours. Decks beat to death. Motor has the valve guides ate out of it. Burns all the oil in it within 2-3 hours. Everything is wore out on it bad. But it still cuts grass. I wouldn't be offended by spending $500 on a used rider to just keep around the house.

I just figure with a 7' finish mower behind the tractor I could get all the pastures done in 1-2 hours instead of 5+. And at 1-2 hours I would do it every 8-10 days.

 

[TheMadOne]

Is there a reason you need a finish cut on your pasture? If not a brush cutter would handle it easier. Or a flail.

 

[hiddentacocatneddih]

personal preference mainly. The kids and I go out and flay Frisbee and what ever else out there.