Time to kick the hornets nest... bush hog, rhino, or woods 10' Brush hog?

[Doughknob]

I can say I grew up on a farm a few miles from the Woods headquarters. Dad had a Woods rotary cutter - he called it a 'field mower.' We abused that thing. Stored it outside, ran it over all sorts of junk in the pasture (dirt mounds, old fence wire balls, rocks, logs,.....) and banged it off fence posts. It certainly suffered some, but never quit working and cutting what we asked it to. But that was back in the late 70s/early 80s. Who knows what they make now.....

 

[Bearsixty7]

are you happy with your bush hog?

Yes! I have only used it 4 or 5 times, a couple were at the deer lease and the first time I was reclaiming the lane cutting up some 3" scrub brush, sounded like a war zone at times but it looks like all I cut was grass. The new smooth top is really nice as it is fairly self cleaning and 99% clean by the time I trailer it home.

one of the things im trying to find is a bush hog that doesnt leave windrows of grass, looking for one that distributes it relatively evenly.
its not a suer important thing but i would like my pastures to look relatively nice

do you think a 7' cutter in general would cut better than a multispindle 8' or 10'? and is the difference in ground coverage noticeable?

I can't answer this as I have never used a cutter more than a single spindle 7' or 8' (that was back on the farm in my teens). I am always a fan of cutting as wide a swath as you can ( I have a 61" Spartan ZT for my 1 acre ). As much as I enjoy tractor time, I do have other things to do and if you have to mow a lot it can get old and become a burden.

I have a bunch of pastures for different animals ranging from 1 acre to 5 acres each. in total its around 31 acres of pasture that i mow about 3-5 times a year.
that doesnt include randome land clearing or field mowing projects that may come up.

currently i have an older 6' cutter, it can handle amost everything I throw at it but in total it takes about 4 days mowing 3-4 hours a day to cut all the pastures.

I enjoy mowing quite a bit but i could really use more time for other tasks and projects. im looking to decrease my pasture mowing time from 15-16 hours in a week to 8-12 hours in a week. im open to any suggestions.

Yep, Exactly!

 

[oosik]

I've been looking at getting a rotary cutter for a couple years. Narrowed it down to Rhino or Brown. Right now I would go with Rhino's new TW cutters. Great design and well braced tail wheel. Plus there is a Rhino dealer in our area.

A whole lot of my cutting will be backing into Buck brush. About two feet tall and average 1/4" in diameter. I mow my pastures with my JD 750 riding mower.

 

[Elton67]

I've been looking at getting a rotary cutter for a couple years. Narrowed it down to Rhino or Brown. Right now I would go with Rhino's new TW cutters. Great design and well braced tail wheel. Plus there is a Rhino dealer in our area.

A whole lot of my cutting will be backing into Buck brush. About two feet tall and average 1/4" in diameter. I mow my pastures with my JD 750 riding mower.

i dont mow my pastures with my riding or zero turn mower as they cut the grass up fine. turns out that kind of grass is bad for animal consumption. a brush hog or a hay cutter processes grass minimally and leaves it mostly untouched which is why im going that route.

also since im cutting the pastures only a handful of times a year the grass will probably be too tall for a rider/ZT to handle or make sense.

 

[Elton67]

i dont mow my pastures with my riding or zero turn mower as they cut the grass up fine. turns out that kind of grass is bad for animal consumption. a brush hog or a hay cutter processes grass minimally and leaves it mostly untouched which is why im going that route.

also since im cutting the pastures only a handful of times a year the grass will probably be too tall for a rider/ZT to handle or make sense.

also if your cutting brush averaging about a 1/4 inch i reccomend john deeres frontier series of cutters. they are budget friendly and will prob suit your needs perfectly. if i remmeber right i think they have a 1" cutting capacity.

 

[YanmarFever]

I have a 2 year old bush hog mod 2910 10' mower, I pull it with a Branson 5529C tractor, I mow my groves and it does a great job.
It replaced our old 3510 that was worn out.
It has 15" airplane tires on the back and chains front and back.

I always blow it off and clean it after every use, then it goes in the shop, it still looks new after 80 hrs on it.
We have always been happy with it. I believe we paid 10 thou for it.

 

[oosik]

I mow my meadows like a lawn. Which means weekly at the beginning of the summer. I have no farm animals - but the deer seem to like the meadow grass. The neighbors cows, on the outside of my barbed wire fence, sure eyeball my meadows.

Since I upgraded to my Kubota - I've upgraded all my implements to the heaviest, Cat 2, that this tractor can handle. I've had light duty Cat 1 implements with my first tractor. They either were too light or "crumpled" under the use I put them to. After 13 years - no problems with the Cat 2 implements. I've gathered some very helpful "do's/don't's" from TBN also.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I would have figured for the kind of money that you are looking to spend that you could get a 12' bat wing which would be very important if you want to haul it in case you decide you wanted to do some mowing jobs verses a 10' that hangs off the trailer on both sides, which ever brand you decide on I don't think you can go wrong, they all make good products, I am partial to Bush Hog brand but wouldn't be scared of either of the other 2 brands. Good luck.

 

[RoyJackson]

It has 15" airplane tires on the back and chains front and back.

Back when I was in the Navy, my squadron flew F-4 Phantoms
These birds were only allowed a certain number of carrier landings before the tires had to be changed...even if in good shape.
I don't recall the tire size, but I do recall they were 26 ply and ran 485 PSI for shipboard use.
I also recall they were sold, primarily for agricultural use after being retired

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

are you happy with your bush hog?

one of the things im trying to find is a bush hog that doesnt leave windrows of grass, looking for one that distributes it relatively evenly.
its not a suer important thing but i would like my pastures to look relatively nice

do you think a 7' cutter in general would cut better than a multispindle 8' or 10'? and is the difference in ground coverage noticeable?

I have a bunch of pastures for different animals ranging from 1 acre to 5 acres each. in total its around 31 acres of pasture that i mow about 3-5 times a year.
that doesnt include randome land clearing or field mowing projects that may come up.

currently i have an older 6' cutter, it can handle amost everything I throw at it but in total it takes about 4 days mowing 3-4 hours a day to cut all the pastures.

I enjoy mowing quite a bit but i could really use more time for other tasks and projects. im looking to decrease my pasture mowing time from 15-16 hours in a week to 8-12 hours in a week. im open to any suggestions.

Get a good commercial 6' zero turn mower. Easy to haul, load/unload, and fast. Bobcat makes a tough one. It will go 19 mph. I have cut that fast.