We have been mowing about 10 acres of field grass (Timothy, Rye, vetch, garbage weeds, etc) for years. We have the opportunity to purchase an 88" Ford flail mower for $600-$700.
Compared to an 88" bush hog, is the same cutting width flail mower going to be able to handle 3-4' tall grass and weeds at the same speed? Will we have to go slower for the flail mower? Is the flail mower going to be able to handle the tall grass or are the belts just going to slip on it and everything get wrapped around the shaft?
We have some rocks that bang the heck out of the bush hog, so that's why we are considering changing what we cut it with.
Mowing with a 55HP, Kubota
M5700 today.
Any flail mower you buy is going to shred
everything you put in front of it the travel
speed is the issue as you can drive fast and
leave rooster tails with either brush mower.
If the brush is really tall you need to travel
slowly as the flail mower is most effective
when the mower is on the ground allowing
the roller to fully contact the ground while
mowing to minimise scalping.
If you drive too fast you will destory the
V-belts as has happened previously on the
forum here.
The flail mower has many advantages over
a rotary cutter. the biggest advantage is the
fact that the full width of the flail mower-
all 88 inches is cutting the brush or grass in
front of it at all times where only one half
of the rotary cutter is being used to cut
brush or grass.
The flail mower also uses less fuel as the flail
mower rotor rotates at a very high speed to
shred the material entering the mower at all
times as as long as you mow according to the
condition of the brush you will not have any
skipped areas.
The shorter you mow it the less time and fuel
it takes to keep ity under control and in the
process destroy the weed population and
the invasives.