Mowing Will a Frontier 72" finish mower handle briers OK?

[frank_f15]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

you don't really say how LARGE that pasture is, if it is any size at all i think you will just suject you mower to undo stress.. a RFM is designed to do just FINISH MOW. but the call is yours. if you do decide to do it just be very careful and walk the pasture first.

 

[widmn]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

You guys sure know how to spend my money. Based on your advice, I think I will be buying one of the King Kutter 5' rotaries. I have about 50 acres in weeds/pasture. Thanks, rich

 

[beenthere]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

With a Deere 4410, and that many acres of pasture to mow, I wouldn't go less than a 6'. The 4410 has the power, and a 5' is going to feel pretty slow making those 50 acres disappear. But it will be lots of seat time, which may be what you are after. Do you have a feel for how many hours this will take? That was calculated some on a recent forum, which you may have been party to.

 

[Henro]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

<font color="blue">
You guys sure know how to spend my money.... I think I will be buying one of the King Kutter 5' rotaries. I have about 50 acres in weeds/pasture. </font>

Fifty acres or weeds/briars/high grass? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Somehow I get the feeling that the advice leading to the purchase of the brush cutter just might be saving you money, Widmn! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[coveredbridge]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

50 acres! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

My 5-6 acres takes about 5-6 hrs. 50 acres would be roughly 1500' x 1500'. With a 6 ft mower, that's 250 6' x 1500 ft passes. 1500' is a little more than a 1/4 mi. At 4 mph, one pass would take about 15 min or 1/4 hr. 250 x 1/4 hr = 62.5 hours!

widmn, have you thought about a couple goats? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jeffinsgf]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( With a Deere 4410, and that many acres of pasture to mow, I wouldn't go less than a 6'. The 4410 has the power, and a 5' is going to feel pretty slow making those 50 acres disappear. But it will be lots of seat time, which may be what you are after. Do you have a feel for how many hours this will take? That was calculated some on a recent forum, which you may have been party to. )</font>

While I agree that a 5' mower is going to feel small on 50 acres of briars. I have been using my new MX-5 behind my 4410 for a couple of days in the woods. I am sure glad that I am not sticking out wider than the tractor, or I would have snagged several trees with the brush cutter. Wide open fields would be another story, but if you are manuevering around objects, I would keep the cutter about the same track as the tractor.

 

[widmn]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

I haven't thought about goats but am willing to consider it.

How many would I need and will they eat briars?? Is this really a good solution? Do I have to take care of them or are they pretty much self sufficient??? Do they harm the woods or wildlife?? Are they good for anything else?

 

[coveredbridge]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

I am by no means an authority on goats, but I have seen them used to clean up an area such as you have described. As for how many, that would likely depend on a number of factors, your county ag extension agent might be a good place to start for information.

As for care requirements, I would consider them pretty self sufficient, but any domesticated animal is going to require some attention. Whether they harm the woods or wildlife is another matter that depends on what one considers "harm". These animals utilize the resources in their environment for their survival, so they are going to have an impact on those resources, just like any other animal. Properly managed, I wouldn't consider their impact to be any different than any other domesticated animal.

Are they good for anything else? They can be raised for milk, meat, fur and/or breeding, but I would expect that to utilize the animals for these purposes would require substantial input of effort and resources, which is probably not consistent with the purpose you are contemplating using them for.

Here is a link for more info, in particular their diet. Note the specific reference to briars.
goat info

 

[beenthere]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

The goats (IMHO) would be a bad idea and bad investment, if compared to 65 hours on a tractor for quality tractor seat time. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
I'll bet one would put more than that amount of time building fences and caring for the many goats that it would take to keep that many acres trimmed.

 

[Soundguy]

Re: Will a Frontier 72\" finish mower handle briers OK?

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( My 5-6 acres takes about 5-6 hrs. 50 acres would be roughly 1500' x 1500'. With a 6 ft mower, that's 250 6' x 1500 ft passes. 1500' is a little more than a 1/4 mi. At 4 mph, one pass would take about 15 min or 1/4 hr. 250 x 1/4 hr = 62.5 hours )</font>

Ditto.. 50 acers to mow and a 5' mower.

I used to mow 10ac with my 5' mower and it took me 5-6 hours on my ex-NH 1920.. and I was driving fast.. too fast really..

I now mow it with a 10' mower and burn it out in a cool 2hrs and 45 minutes.. that includes tractor warm up and cooldown and a cold drink..

Soundguy