New to mowing hills... what are safest mowing patterns?

[MountainMomma]

It is hard to put patterns into words, but I have all hilly land on my WV mountain farm, and I am going to start mowing it for the first time next week in my new Yanmar YT235. (It will have the wheels spaced wide and filled by the dealer. We did not opt for Ag1 tires because we also run this on areas that are more our lawn than our fields.

So, trying to refine my question: if a hill is uncomfortable to mow sideways to the length of the tractor, do you go up, rotate (sound scary) and then down? Or do you go up, transverse (seems like you would just transverse the whole hill if this were right), and then down? Or do you mow up and then back down?

(I hope this makes sense.)

 

[Agvg]

Don't look very steep on the picture, but the picture might be lying a bit. Are you new to the land and the tractor?

 

[Agvg]

But what ever you do keep your loader very close to the ground

 

[Diggin It]

Pictures don't always show slopes well.

This is what I do:

Basically straight up and down, never across the slope (side hill) except at the very top and bottom where the slope is less severe. I say 'basically' because I can use a slight angle of a few degrees off straight up and down. That helps to reduce the effect of gravity pulling me straight down without increasing the possibility of rollover. In most places, I have enough room at the top to turn safely, travel a bit, then turn back down. There are a few places that I have to turn at the top and take a different route to be able to start down again.

It's hard to describe in type, but it's a pattern I've developed over 15 years of mowing. You'll have to do the same, experiment a bit and figure out which ways feel safe and which don't.

 

[Agvg]

The deal are if you can turn at the top of the hill, a possibility is to mount a extra set of wheels wichs makes the tractor much more stable. It's a very common thing to do when working on hills.

 

[Agvg]

Widen the track and you gain stability, those small tractors are quite low.

This video shows what can be done with low center of gravity and wide track.

AEBI TP 48 im Sörenberg - YouTube

 

[MountainMomma]

Don't look very steep on the picture, but the picture might be lying a bit. Are you new to the land and the tractor?

I am not new to the land, but to driving a modern tractor on these slopes, yes. I don’t know how to calculate, but basically, our land that’s mowable is one long swale (we call it the bowl). The outer, upper edges of the bowl can get pretty steep, but a lot of it will be quite tame. I am NOT seeking mow ALL of it, just as much as can be safely done in this tractor.

 

[MountainMomma]

Pictures don't always show slopes well.

This is what I do:

Basically straight up and down, never across the slope (side hill) except at the very top and bottom where the slope is less severe. I say 'basically' because I can use a slight angle of a few degrees off straight up and down. That helps to reduce the effect of gravity pulling me straight down without increasing the possibility of rollover. In most places, I have enough room at the top to turn safely, travel a bit, then turn back down. There are a few places that I have to turn at the top and take a different route to be able to start down again.

It's hard to describe in type, but it's a pattern I've developed over 15 years of mowing. You'll have to do the same, experiment a bit and figure out which ways feel safe and which don't.

That’s helpful. It’s the turning at the top part that I was scratching my head about... so, you can do that only if it levels out at the top. Makes sense, thanks!

 

[Agvg]

Do you have any flatter land to turn on the top?
It takes time to be comfortable with a new tractor on slopes, suppose you know your land so dangers as ditches, holes and bumps is accounted for?

 

[Agvg]

The tractor is much tougher than the driver, it doesn't have to be flat, just so flat that the tractor dosent flip over when you turns.