Mowing Bush Hog operating Hints and experience

[eastexan]

Here are some pictures of stuff we cut.

Looking at the picture on the left, I see you have Giant Ragweed there, too.
I guess it must be all over the South.

I'm allergic to it and it tears me up in the fall of the year. So I have to either mow it before it blooms or have someone else mow it. Along the rivers, and in the bottoms it gets like trees.

 

[TripleR]

Looking at the picture on the left, I see you have Giant Ragweed there, too.
I guess it must be all over the South.

I'm allergic to it and it tears me up in the fall of the year. So I have to either mow it before it blooms or have someone else mow it. Along the rivers, and in the bottoms it gets like trees.

We sure have our share of it and try not to let it get out of hand, but we had a tractor go toes up last year and it about got away from us.

It tears me up too and even a cab doesn't completely keep it out. On our flatland farm, it grows along our ditches and we can't mow them and they do get as tall as trees. Last year they got so tall they were actually falling over. My brothers mow out there on open station tractors. I went out and helped last year and boy it was something else.

 

[eastexan]

We sure have our share of it and try not to let it get out of hand, but we had a tractor go toes up last year and it about got away from us.

It tears me up too and even a cab doesn't completely keep it out. On our flatland farm, it grows along our ditches and we can't mow them and they do get as tall as trees. Last year they got so tall they were actually falling over. My brothers mow out there on open station tractors. I went out and helped last year and boy it was something else.

As easy as it is to grow, it's too bad there's not a market for it.:mur:

 

[eastexan]

Watch out for down wire. Barbed wire, electric fence wire, woven wire fence, nylon electric tape, etc. I have gotten barbed wire tangled in my stump jumper and watched it cut a 40' diameter swath just like a giant weed eater. It will cut the legs or suck someone into the brush hog if they are standing too close.

I've seen fence wire and steel banding get tangled up so bad that it had to be cut out from around the blades with a cutting torch.

About 30 years ago, a guy I knew was mowing a RR right of way and ran onto a 2-way radio tower guy-wire and pulled the tower down. He wasn't hurt and it missed his tractor. It was a tall but skinny/flimsy tower.

 

[deepNdirt]

when doing an area with high brush (without smalls trees) I like to make the first cut by backing up in the center and work my way out and back driving fwd and back. this way I watch the back wheel on the brush mower to see if it gets muddy or starts to rise or fall sharply...helps to determine the lay of the land and where the wet areas are. when mowing fwd, I like to keep the fel low and it can help if i get stuck.

:thumbsup: same as me I spend equal amount of time backing as much as pulling forward over stuff, people tent to let stuff grow tall and thick before they decide to have it cut, Making it more difficult for us tractor operators, Recently I was ask to cut a dam and retention pond, all the man told me was the dame is in there somewhere and stated was barely wide enough for a truck to drive across, and was over 150 ft long, I began backing little by little diagonally until I could see the cutter start dropping over the edge and knew was where to stop, worked a little on one side than some on the other, all along this was having cut through 8 ft tall briers and at a slow rate made it seem more like 500 ft. long,

The dam wound up being more like 15 ft wide and I then became more relaxed knowing this :thumbsup: ....
Remember when you don't know the lay of the terrain it is better to go at backward and watch the cutter and how it responds then going into it forward and having the tractor drop off in a hole and then having your Heart respond

 

[bironacad]

Excellent! I know however I will have to read this again after some experience with mistakes then say oh ya, lol. I really appreciate the shared experience, Thanks!:thumbsup:

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Couple of things off the top of my head:

1. Don't engage the hog if you're near a building with lots of windows; or you're be spending a lot of time picking up broken glass and re-glazing the empty frames.

2. Make sure your cars and trucks are either garaged, barned, or far from where you're cutting. It's a bad feeling going from a good job mowing to finding that you need to replace your windshield (been there, done that, made the wife mad); or that you pebble-finished the side of your new truck.

3. Inspect your mower before using. Make sure everything is tightened up, and the blades are attached properly, and the bearings and shaft aren't badly worn.

4. Do that pre-walk and beware of stuff that might break your mower blades. Those blades will punch through the apron and fly hundreds of feet if they break or come off the shaft.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Watch out for down wire. Barbed wire, electric fence wire, woven wire fence, nylon electric tape, etc. I have gotten barbed wire tangled in my stump jumper and watched it cut a 40' diameter swath just like a giant weed eater. It will cut the legs or suck someone into the brush hog if they are standing too close.

Yikes! :confused2:

 

[bironacad]

Yikes! :confused2:

Yikes indeed, I have property that has been used for farming\ saw mill\black smithing\farming (rocks)........for 150 years there about, so there is always something finding its way into the blades of my mowers: swede saw blades, front end linkage parts, fence wire, rocks, low stumps, old farm equipment parts...... lol, all stuff that I have hit with my riding mower. The bush hog is just a big honking mower which generates a lot more energy when in contact with stuff other then grass, . A lot of the posts here are from shared experience with the like. :laughing: Long grass and brush will also hide wet depressions that can bog you down and expression that actually comes close to the truth here, but it is all part of the adventure. The comforting thing here is that we are not alone in this adventure.:thumbsup:

 

[bironacad]

I put the HTL on and hooked up the bush hog yesterday and it worked great!

Thanks for the tips on setting up the hose ports for the HTL to the side and the BH height settings, it work as prescribe now if I could stay away from large rocks with the BH, lol.


Thanks
:thumbsup::laughing: