Rotary Cutter Acreage per hour question

Chilly807 · Nov 10, 2013

Efficiency is a good point, it's easy to chew up time turning and backing. I try for a Zamboni style pattern, with as little idle time as possible.

Sean

irsmun · Nov 10, 2013

I agree with the efficiency issue. But at this point I have to assume average efficiency such as 80% on a perfectly square field with no obstacles. My original assumption was 3 acres per hour on a moderately high grass/weed mix. That seems to be a consensus. Experience with this tractor/cutter combination will get it to a science but I am simply at the disadvantage of not having that experience. I am starting with an arbitrary number of $75 per hour. My normal needs for my business are $60 per hour. I added $15 for the tractor use. Well, I guess its not totally arbitrary. Is that too high or low? There is no way to know except to hit it and learn. I don't think I'm far off though. My problem, which I brought to the forum, is a general estimate of what an 8' cutter is reasonably capable of at a normal cutting speed of 2-3 mph on a moderately high field of moderately tough material to cut. Translation: the middle ground average.

Degolyerent · Nov 10, 2013

I give a solid number to the customer before the job and when I am done I break down the numbers, I find that people want to know the cost up front. Your number of $75 an hour is a good number, I usually end with 75-90 per hour sometimes more and sometimes less, but that is what it takes to survive in the tractor business as there is a lot of unexpected and maintaince cost to tractor, cutter, trailer and truck
John

foreman Etexas · Nov 10, 2013

8ft pull-type and 64pto figure around 3/3.5acres,an HR,as stated above is pretty close,in good conditions. I use freemaptools.com" area calculator",type in your city state(may take zip),then hit the sat.view(zoom in),mark your pins(gives you acreage),cause the pasture is always smaller when you ask.

Tul01 · Nov 10, 2013

We have a 8'Howse dual spindle we use on our 100hp tractor. I think I usually average 2-3 ac/hour, mostly limited by the roughness of terrain. I have pushed it and done up to 4/hr, but it felt like I was going to tear something up by the bouncing. I do like the cutter, it takes a beating. I usually take the notches out of the blades with a grinder 1-2x /year and it will cut a little nicer. It does a nice job with only the 1 tire track being left a little longer when it stands up again. Oh yeah, keep an eye on the bolts holding the gear boxes on. Learned that the hard way- it still cuts with only 1 out of 4 bolts left in! We are away for the weekend, when I get home I will try to post what one field looks like after about 2 months.

Brent

irsmun · Nov 10, 2013

foreman Etexas said:
8ft pull-type and 64pto figure around 3/3.5acres,an HR,as stated above is pretty close,in good conditions. I use freemaptools.com" area calculator",type in your city state(may take zip),then hit the sat.view(zoom in),mark your pins(gives you acreage),cause the pasture is always smaller when you ask.

Yep. I use freemap tools all the time. I highly recommend it. I use it for accurate measuring for lawn mowing.

irsmun · Nov 10, 2013

Tul01 said:
Oh yeah, keep an eye on the bolts holding the gear boxes on. Learned that the hard way- it still cuts with only 1 out of 4 bolts left in! We are away for the weekend, when I get home I will try to post what one field looks like after about 2 months.

Brent

Oh my! Good thing you saw it before it was zero bolts. My client aim is commercial, like land or timber management tracts or land realtors. They usually pay less but they will give more volume. I also know the terrain will be rougher. I know that the bottom line is their game so I need a competitive price. My service will be impeccable as will my timeliness so I think pricing will be key to getting favor. That is why I am trying to get a good feel of what I can do with the 8'. I don't think the tractor is too small. It is on the low range of the cutter's recommendation. But a lot has to do with ground speed in realtion to whats being cut and how well its coming out from the shoot. That will keep the RPMs where they need to be so that it will cut as designed.

I also don't know if it is talking about Engine HP or PTO HP...but I really don't want to de-rail the thread on that one.

Chilly807 · Nov 10, 2013

Cutters are generally rated at pto hp. $75 seems high to me, although if it's a commercial customer they may not mind that price. I'd be more inclined to charge by the acre, I think most customers would be more comfortable with that as well. There's no way to lose money charging by the hour, unless you break something. On the other side, what one operator accomplishes in one hour may take another 2 hours, that's the variable a customer won't like.
Sean

irsmun · Nov 10, 2013

Chilly807 said:
. There's no way to lose money charging by the hour, unless you break something. On the other side, what one operator accomplishes in one hour may take another 2 hours, that's the variable a customer won't like.
Sean

Agreed. That's why I am taking the time to figure out what I'm looking at in time now. I figure on giving the customer a hard number to do the job. I will figure up the hours to acres myself and land on my price. If I'm wrong I eat it. Its invisible to the customer but they know exactly what they are paying.

As for $75 being high there is no way. Insurance, payroll, gas, maintenance, overhead, risk, and oh yeah TAXES. If I can cut someone's 10 acres in 4 hours, they hand me $300 and its done. I will likely do that only 2- 3 times a year...maybe once for some folks. A tractor payment (plus implements, gas, insurance etc.) will be considerably more than that for them. Its cheaper for me to do it. I charge $60 an hour for a grass cut with my mower. A tractor certainly merits an additional $15. This is not a hobby. Some people want cheap. That's not my client. I looking for a client who wants value. Fair price, great service, and dependable. That said, when researching pricing it seems to have a lot to do with where you are in the country. That's why my question wasn't "what should I charge?". I know what I need to make I just need to know how do an estimate for a customer and I will base that on how much I can cut in how much time.