Tractor Causing Stress on Neck

[ttouring]

Looking for suggestions, if there are any. I've had 2 tractors in the past, both of them are gone now. I am contemplating my next purchase, but I fear there is no good solution. 1st tractor had a 6 foot brush hog and I found myself turning my neck way too much trying to keep the cutter in line with the last pass so as to not leave anything uncut. 2nd tractor was much larger with a 12 foot flex wing. I had mirrors on that tractor which helped, unless I got too close to the trees and it would knock the mirrors out of whack - so that didn't help much.

4 years ago I had neck surgery, so I've got a fusion already on 2 vertebrae in my neck. I'm not willing to stress my neck just so I can keep my fields cut. I already have them cut for hay twice a year, so the only time I really have to brush hog is once during the year after the 1st frost. I have hired out someone to cut in the past, but it costs me at least $1K every time, and that's if I can find someone to do it.

Ideally, it would be nice to have a setup where the cutter is on the front instead of in the back but I don't know of any US tractors that have a front mounted PTO. The other option is a skid steer, which would be nice, but they are extremely expensive as are the cutter attachments.

We are new to the farming community and I've talked to alot of the farmers around here and was surprised to learn many of the older ones have neck and back issues. I don't want to be another statistic, so I either need to find something that cuts in the front or pay someone to do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Fields_mj]

I still don't entirely understand what you are looking for. More specifically, I don't understand what all you want the machine to do. It sounds like you have roughly 40 acres of pasture that you mow once a year to keep the brush and trees from taking it over. If that's the case, I don't understand why you're spending hardly any time looking backwards.

With 40 acres of pasture, you're only looking backwards when you are backing up which shouldn't be very often. A couple of big mirrors should do the trick for that. Yes, they get knocked around by tree limbs. Buy a pole saw and trim the tree limbs back. If you don't next year those limbs are going to be slapping you in the face. You also don't need to mow it every year. Mow 30% to 50% each year. Yes, it will get some brush and small trees growing over the course of 3 years, but it's good habitat and a bush hog will still make sort work of it. If you want to keep it looking better than that, rent it out for hay.

If you're only going to mow with the machine, a Kubota F series mower has the deck in the front, similar to an old Grasshopper. In the 90s I used to mow roughly 15 acres per day with one (F2100) and they are impressive machines. A couple of years ago I bought a used F2880 for the house. I have less than 2 acres, but I don't like to spend a lot of time mowing grass They are extremely durable machines, most are 4wd, and they are good for mowing wide open spaces but can also make relatively tight turns (not as good as a ZTR). Other attachments are available, including an aftermarket flail mower and cab (very $$$), but they are best suited for mowing. It would likely take 3 days to mow the 40 acres, but it would also do a fine job of mowing the other 5 acres depending on how many obstacles you're mowing around. Basically, you're buying the machine for the 5 acres, and then a flail mower attachment for the other 40. If you want/need and FEL, box blade, or an actual bush hog, you would need to buy an actual tractor for that.

 

[hoardac]

Looking for suggestions, if there are any. I've had 2 tractors in the past, both of them are gone now. I am contemplating my next purchase, but I fear there is no good solution. 1st tractor had a 6 foot brush hog and I found myself turning my neck way too much trying to keep the cutter in line with the last pass so as to not leave anything uncut. 2nd tractor was much larger with a 12 foot flex wing. I had mirrors on that tractor which helped, unless I got too close to the trees and it would knock the mirrors out of whack - so that didn't help much.

4 years ago I had neck surgery, so I've got a fusion already on 2 vertebrae in my neck. I'm not willing to stress my neck just so I can keep my fields cut. I already have them cut for hay twice a year, so the only time I really have to brush hog is once during the year after the 1st frost. I have hired out someone to cut in the past, but it costs me at least $1K every time, and that's if I can find someone to do it.

Ideally, it would be nice to have a setup where the cutter is on the front instead of in the back but I don't know of any US tractors that have a front mounted PTO. The other option is a skid steer, which would be nice, but they are extremely expensive as are the cutter attachments.

We are new to the farming community and I've talked to alot of the farmers around here and was surprised to learn many of the older ones have neck and back issues. I don't want to be another statistic, so I either need to find something that cuts in the front or pay someone to do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I put a set of cameras front and rear plus some good size rear view mirrors It works pretty good. you could probably put two cameras on the back to get a wider view.

 

[Tetryegras]

Just wondering, but why would you want a very complicated and expensive to repair Antonio Carraro over a US Built, component part, Power Trac that doesn't use a difficult to connect 3pt hitch and can lift all the attachments up higher then the AC which is nice when using lift forks, lift boom, front hoe, brush grapples, tree pullers and cutters, or even the rotary cutter to cut brush back that tends to invade along all the edges of fields growing to the light? The Carraro can't do any of this without buying a loader and then it is just like a standard tractor trying to look over a long hood.

Just curious if Power Trac requires proprietary attachments. I'm a little familiar with them, but not enough to know what attachments they take. The Antonio Carraro tractors hook up to any regular 3 pt hitch attachment. I wanted the Carraro because they still offer a gear-drive transmission. They have the option of front and rear pto. My application might be different than other people's, but I do think those tractors have more potential than people give them credit for. Having said that, my intended use didn't involve a loader so that would factor into a person's decision on what tractor to purchase

 

[beenthere]

Looking for suggestions, if there are any. I've had 2 tractors in the past, both of them are gone now. I am contemplating my next purchase, but I fear there is no good solution. 1st tractor had a 6 foot brush hog and I found myself turning my neck way too much trying to keep the cutter in line with the last pass so as to not leave anything uncut. 2nd tractor was much larger with a 12 foot flex wing. I had mirrors on that tractor which helped, unless I got too close to the trees and it would knock the mirrors out of whack - so that didn't help much.

4 years ago I had neck surgery, so I've got a fusion already on 2 vertebrae in my neck. I'm not willing to stress my neck just so I can keep my fields cut. I already have them cut for hay twice a year, so the only time I really have to brush hog is once during the year after the 1st frost. I have hired out someone to cut in the past, but it costs me at least $1K every time, and that's if I can find someone to do it.

Ideally, it would be nice to have a setup where the cutter is on the front instead of in the back but I don't know of any US tractors that have a front mounted PTO. The other option is a skid steer, which would be nice, but they are extremely expensive as are the cutter attachments.

We are new to the farming community and I've talked to alot of the farmers around here and was surprised to learn many of the older ones have neck and back issues. I don't want to be another statistic, so I either need to find something that cuts in the front or pay someone to do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Skid steer with front mounted brush mower. Several iterations of such tools.

 

[LD1]

IF I understand the post correctly.....the 40 acres you are having cut twice a year for hay.....but you choose to mow it after first frost anyway. I would ask WHY? Dont mow it after first frost. Maybe they can get first cutting of hay sooner....or even 3 cuttings a year?

 

[MossRoad]

IF I understand the post correctly.....the 40 acres you are having cut twice a year for hay.....but you choose to mow it after first frost anyway. I would ask WHY? Dont mow it after first frost. Maybe they can get first cutting of hay sooner....or even 3 cuttings a year?

That's the question a lot of folks are asking...

 

[m5040]

Just curious if Power Trac requires proprietary attachments. I'm a little familiar with them, but not enough to know what attachments they take. The Antonio Carraro tractors hook up to any regular 3 pt hitch attachment. I wanted the Carraro because they still offer a gear-drive transmission. They have the option of front and rear pto. My application might be different than other people's, but I do think those tractors have more potential than people give them credit for. Having said that, my intended use didn't involve a loader so that would factor into a person's decision on what tractor to purchase

Yes they use proprietary attachments mostly due to the quick disconnect from the seat. On a somewhat negative look, the attachments don't interchange between sizes, as it would be a waste of capacity to have a 65hp attachment on a 25hp machine.
For my 30hp and 65hp machines, I made adapters to go to standard skid steer and also the mini coupler as the purchase price of generic tools can be cheap from places like Titan where I bought my flail shown in previous post's pictures. Just an FYI, I have attached a pic of the PT to skid steer adapter I made.
If money was no consideration, I would have a A Carraro, but I fix all my own equipment and a hydro Italian tractor needs factory training to get in deep. The PT is just a pump and motor and easy to replace. Unfortunately only one range.
The first PT I bought for brush work about 5-8 years ago, was the PT180 for $5500 (before building back better). For that price could you walk into a John Deere dealer and come out with a new tractor with 4x4, power steering, loader w/quick attach?
The older PTs had a rear PTO and 3pt, but they found once you use the front quick attach, there was not much reason to use the rear 3pt. You can change a front attachment in less then a minute if no hydraulics, so why fumble with a rear attachment you cant see well?

 

[MossRoad]

Looking for suggestions, if there are any. I've had 2 tractors in the past, both of them are gone now. I am contemplating my next purchase, but I fear there is no good solution. 1st tractor had a 6 foot brush hog and I found myself turning my neck way too much trying to keep the cutter in line with the last pass so as to not leave anything uncut. 2nd tractor was much larger with a 12 foot flex wing. I had mirrors on that tractor which helped, unless I got too close to the trees and it would knock the mirrors out of whack - so that didn't help much.

4 years ago I had neck surgery, so I've got a fusion already on 2 vertebrae in my neck. I'm not willing to stress my neck just so I can keep my fields cut. I already have them cut for hay twice a year, so the only time I really have to brush hog is once during the year after the 1st frost. I have hired out someone to cut in the past, but it costs me at least $1K every time, and that's if I can find someone to do it.

Ideally, it would be nice to have a setup where the cutter is on the front instead of in the back but I don't know of any US tractors that have a front mounted PTO. The other option is a skid steer, which would be nice, but they are extremely expensive as are the cutter attachments.

We are new to the farming community and I've talked to alot of the farmers around here and was surprised to learn many of the older ones have neck and back issues. I don't want to be another statistic, so I either need to find something that cuts in the front or pay someone to do it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry to hear of your neck troubles.

Get out the paper and pencil...

Let's say you find a decent condition tractor and 12' mower for $20K (ha! good luck, but we're optimistic).

Now compare that to paying someone $1K to mow once a year.

You could invest $20K at 5% and it would give you $1K in interest every year.

So you could keep your $20K and pay someone $1K every year for eternity and never have to mow it again ever in your remaining lifetime.



Or you could not invest it, and just pay someone to mow it every year for the next 20 years.

Or you could buy the used tractor and mower, pay upkeep, fuel, etc., do it yourself every year, and eventually sell the tractor and mower and recoup some of your investment after 20 years.

If your neck is that bad, I'd pick a hybrid combination of setting aside some money in a CD, using the interest and some of the principle to pay someone $1K each year for about 25-30 years.

 

[Torvy]

That's the question a lot of folks are asking...

Inquiring minds want to know!