Tractor Sizing bush hogging acreage

[MarkV]

You can always rent power at less cost and purchase a wide flail shredder new with fewer consequences.

Well Leonz you are obviously a giant fan of flail mowers. It comes out in any mower thread you participate in. Maybe it is a regional thing. I never see a flail mower in my area. There are rotary mowers everywhere. That is enough for me to see what the norm is in my area. And, if everyone is wrong, at least I know it can get a rotary mower serviced locally.

Every setting has different needs. One answer does not fit all. I tend to go with what the locals do. They have generally work out what works best given the local conditions.

MarkV

 

[leonz]

I do not intend to to infer that anyone is wrong with regard to rotary cutters.


In the flail mower I have found that they are quiet, safer to operate and use, and more efficient and in Alamo Industrial's case for example they have a huge number of units used in minicipal service which is why I suggested the hunt for a municipal mowing tractor with three mowers having low hours and lots of life left in them to use and easy to repair.



I don't have my hand in any ones pockets; it takes less work to make a rotary cutter than it does to build a flail mower, the dealer has to spend less money to purchase them for resale and they cost less for the end user to purchase depending on the size and horsepower required for width of cut.

I always explain that the OSHA folks have a huge number of incidents and fatalities involving rotary cutter and mowers and related property damage incidents which have been mentioned in the attachment section of the web page here as well.

The flail mower has a huge advantage as it makes much less noise and is the mower of choice in many municipal mowing operations because of noise control regulations in europe which is much more stringent in the control of noise pollution in parks and rural areas requiring mowing.

 

[montelatici]

Flail motors have zero advantage over a rotary cutter (brush hog) for a private landowner cutting rough fields.

If you're cutting along heavily traveled roads and there is some danger of that 1 in thousand rock hitting a car, then just maybe you might prefer to buy a flail mower at twice to three times the price of an equivalent size rotary mower.

Unless you have money to burn and don't mind doing much more maintenance yourself, then just maybe.

Plus, I can assure you a flail mower won't cut the saplings I sometimes have to cut down with my rotary cutter (Woods) because I've waited a year or two to cut a field.

 

[leonz]

Flail mowers have zero advantage over a rotary cutter (brush hog) for a private landowner cutting rough fields.

"this is incorrect as:

1.the mower is quieter in operation
a the mower has more available horse power per inch of cut with the the belt drive and rotor asembly.
2. the mower is shorter in length
3. the flail mower cuts the brush and saplings into much smaller pieces which degrade into compost much quicker.
a. the flailmower operates at a higher rate of speed when slicing brush
4. wet brush can be mowed much more easily with out plugging or wrapping.
5. a flailmower is much more forgicing if it contacts and objetc as the knive blade or blades folds back if it contacts an object and passes over it.
a rotary cutter can hit something and bend or break the cutting blade and eject it as was mentioned in the link provided by one of the members this year in Tennessee where it occured pierced a homes exterior wall and the blade landed near a crib where an infant was sleeping and one of the residents was also in the home."

If you're cutting along heavily traveled roads and there is some danger of that 1 in thousand rock hitting a car, then just maybe you might prefer to buy a flail mower at twice to three times the price of an equivalent size rotary mower.

Unless you have money to burn and don't mind doing much more maintenance yourself, then just maybe.

"Its never a case of money to burn involving the purchase of a flail mower- which I have labored to mention many times; reading iron horses horses first and last use of a rotary cutter is but one of many examples
if a knive is dulled it can be flipped over to expose a second cutting surface or changed if the individual slicer knive is broken".

"The rental of a high horse power tractor and the purchase of even a used flail shredder in wide width will allow the management of the area quickly if desired is a more financially efficient use of ones working capital if the land is not actively farmed for profit and loss."



"Thier is less maintenance with a flailmower and the knives or hammers are easy to change if damaged or broken and cost less per foot of cut to purchase for replacement"





Plus, I can assure you a flail mower won't cut the saplings I sometimes have to cut down with my rotary cutter (Woods) because I've waited a year or two to cut a field.

" Many flailmowers and a lot of boom mounted flail mowers and rear mounted flailmowers mow down a lot of saplings in many cases using both hardened grass slicer knives and or hammer knives. A wide swath flail shredder chopper has hardened knives as the shredder is used much closer to the ground surface than a rotary cutter and will chop sugar cane anmd corn stalks and stubble as well. ".

The entire wieght of a flail shredders rotor adds to the cutting speed an ability to delive rthis energy tot he knives used in a narrow and wide width in cut flail chopper shredder for the end user.


Renting power and buying a new or used flail shredder chopper will save money and the job can be done quickly with a few days work and tractor rental in one period where all the brush can be chopped and shredded to the ground once reducing the invasive plants ability to regenerate and require even less fuel the next time it is done with the same high horse powe rental tractor.


Why work harder, spend money and working capital you dont have to spend if the land is unused?

 

[Code54]

I have a small 4' brush hog I bought for 450 new. There are times I decide to mow and area that has not been mowed and the hog will take down a 3" tree if needed - not pretty and darn noisy but within a minute or two it is mulch. A flail is nice but does not fit everyones needs and budgets.
For the area he is trying to cut it is worth hitting a local farm auction and see what big mowers are available and see what kind of costs are involved. There are a LOT of bat wings and hogs floating around that can be had for a VERY reasonable price. One that would allow the OP to get a slighter larger tractor and a bigger mower all for the same cost.
I can see getting the tractor new but you may want to look used for a mower. In our area you see a lot of lightly used mowers for about 40% of the cost new.
Good luck

 

[montelatici]

" Many flailmowers and a lot of boom mounted flail mowers and rear mounted flailmowers mow down a lot of saplings in many cases using both hardened grass slicer knives and or hammer knives. A wide swath flail shredder chopper has hardened knives as the shredder is used much closer to the ground surface than a rotary cutter and will chop sugar cane anmd corn stalks and stubble as well. ".

The entire wieght of a flail shredders rotor adds to the cutting speed an ability to delive rthis energy tot he knives used in a narrow and wide width in cut flail chopper shredder for the end user.


Renting power and buying a new or used flail shredder chopper will save money and the job can be done quickly with a few days work and tractor rental in one period where all the brush can be chopped and shredded to the ground once reducing the invasive plants ability to regenerate and require even less fuel the next time it is done with the same high horse powe rental tractor.


Why work harder, spend money and working capital you dont have to spend if the land is unused?

Sorry buddy, you will never convince me that outside of very specific situations, a flail mower makes any sense over a rotary cutter. Why would you want to fool with belts, knives etc. when cutting down rough fields. Whacking down saplings with a gear drive brush hog seems so much easier to me.

 

[MarkV]

Sorry buddy, you will never convince me that outside of very specific situations, a flail mower makes any sense over a rotary cutter. Why would you want to fool with belts, knives etc. when cutting down rough fields. Whacking down saplings with a gear drive brush hog seems so much easier to me.

Thats me also. I have nothing against flail mowers. They have become all the rage here on the forum. I just can't see the advantage myself. My rotary mower does not have belts and only 2 blades to worry about. I really don't care what the cut looks like in the back pasture. If I needed a finish cut I would use a finish mower. For me it is all about knocking it down one or two times a year. I also live way to far away from others to worry about hitting the neighbors place. Guess it all depends on your given situation.

MarkV

 

[MtnViewRanch]

Thats me also. I have nothing against flail mowers. They have become all the rage here on the forum. I just can't see the advantage myself. My rotary mower does not have belts and only 2 blades to worry about. I really don't care what the cut looks like in the back pasture. If I needed a finish cut I would use a finish mower. For me it is all about knocking it down one or two times a year. I also live way to far away from others to worry about hitting the neighbors place. Guess it all depends on your given situation.

MarkV

MarkV, I agree with you. This is one of our problems here on TBN. Some of us only look at what we personally know and forget that there is another world out there that is different than what we know in our own neck of the woods.

 

[powerstroke444e]

I have used both at batwing bushhog type and a 16' flail mower for set a side crp ground and would use the flail, but the flail was on a 175hp tractor and I could pull it down on real heavy grass and brush, but it took alot of hp, but didnot leave the trash that a batwing mower left.
With a 200 acre field I would plant some thing that you would not need to mow all the time. In my area we use controled burns to take care of lots of the wildlife plots and prairie grass fields.
With controled burns you would only have to mow around the edges.

 

[Johnbro]

Well, more details about your specific situation would help. But all things being equal, if it was me and I had to cut 200 acres, I'd let someone else do it and pay me for the privilege. By that I mean I'd consider fencing and letting people graze it with sheep or goats. they will eat everything, return the material in compostable form to the soil, and not compact where they walk the way horses or cattle will. I haven't hitched up my bush hog since we got our first batch of lambs. Don't miss mowing the pasture at all!