Bush hogging is best without front loaders on

[BrokenTrack]

Does anyone get off their tractors?

I try to avoid this like the Corona Virus...

Back when I was a kid, we had to pick rocks and we used a bucket loader to do so. Up and down, up and down, up and down...it was the CLIMBING that wore you out, more than the picking of the rocks!

Then I started to notice it in logging. All that climbing up and out of the cab wore me out. Now when I log, I try to do as much as I can when I am on the ground, and as much as I can when I am up in the cab of the skidder. Doing that really, really makes a difference on how much wood I get out in a day, and how tired I am in a day for a given amount of wood hauled out of the woods.

Even in mowing the sides of the road, I try and limit how often I get on and off the tractor. Unless there is a broken knife or shackle, I try and change 50% of my knives in the morning and at lunch so I can have sharp knives and mow for long stretches of times. It makes a huge difference. I not only get more road miles mowed in a day from not having to stop, I can mow in 1 higher gear!

 

[CobyRupert]

I am a little shocked that anyone would mow an area, not having scouted it first and relying on the loader to find stufff.

Look up Japanese Knotweed.
Try to walk through and scout a couple acres of that.
Here a picture from internet.
Using the Helen Keller front loaded technique is a must unless you 100% sure there’s nothing to hit.
Plus it snaps over most of the stalks so they are lying down when you pass over.
I mow a few acres of this on my neighbor’s property. Even when you know where the obstacles are, you still need the FEL to actually find them.

 

[EddieWalker]

Does anyone get off their tractors?

Here in Texas, walking through tall stuff is a life or death risk. I have water moccasins and copper heads all over my property. I carry a .357 with snake shot next to me when bush hogging. The last time I was out, I shot two copper heads and I was too slow on a black snake that went into a hole. I only saw it's tail, so I can't say for sure what it was. Last time I was mowing trails on my zero turn, I chased down, but din't get to a water moccasin fast enough. Nobody walks out in the brush where it's not mowed without expecting to run into a snake!!!

 

[BrokenTrack]

Here in Texas, walking through tall stuff is a life or death risk. I have water moccasins and copper heads all over my property. I carry a .357 with snake shot next to me when bush hogging. The last time I was out, I shot two copper heads and I was too slow on a black snake that went into a hole. I only saw it's tail, so I can't say for sure what it was. Last time I was mowing trails on my zero turn, I chased down, but din't get to a water moccasin fast enough. Nobody walks out in the brush where it's not mowed without expecting to run into a snake!!!

Insert BrokenTrack freaking out...

Freaking out again...

And again...

I do NOT like snakes. In fact on our farm, it is against BrokenTrack Law to see a snake and NOT kill it, and this is in the only state in the nation that does not have poisonous snakes. Even then I have 15 ducks just to take out any that might be here.

One reason I do not get out a lot when I am mowing the sides of the road is ticks. Here they can give you Lyme Disease which is another reason to stay on the tractor as much as possible.

 

[two_bit_score]

Look up Japanese Knotweed.
Try to walk through and scout a couple acres of that.
Here a picture from internet.
Using the Helen Keller front loaded technique is a must unless you 100% sure there’s nothing to hit.
Plus it snaps over most of the stalks so they are lying down when you pass over.
I mow a few acres of this on my neighbor’s property. Even when you know where the obstacles are, you still need the FEL to actually find them. View attachment 657546

That’s rough looking stuff. How often do you mow it? Is it on level ground?

 

[EddieWalker]

One reason I do not get out a lot when I am mowing the sides of the road is ticks. Here they can give you Lyme Disease which is another reason to stay on the tractor as much as possible.

Ticks are bad here, but fire ants are even worse!!!! Wasps, hornets, ground bees and just about everything growing has thorns on it, from the black locust trees to the vines going up the trees, to the stuff all over the ground that is full of thorns.

I'm amazed when I see pictures of people walking in the grass without shoots, and terrified when I see them sit down on the grass like it's not dangerous. The reason to keep the grass short is to give you a chance to avoid the pain that comes from everything living in the grass!!!!!

 

[3gunr]

Ticks are bad this year here also. I mostly get off when mowing trails in the woods, cant always just push stuff out of the way. dont know what i would do without a loader. 4 tractors with loaders and none have ever been off.

 

[BRMyers]

Ticks are nothing to mess with. Sadly, it took the doctors 12 years to finally realize my wife has Lyme Disease. So, she is stuck with it for the rest of her life and the side effects.

Wear your tick repellant and be diligent after you have been outside to check for them.

 

[David Wayne]

If you are brush hogging for hire you might as well stay home if you think you are going to walk all the fields you mow.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

If you are brush hogging for hire you might as well stay home if you think you are going to walk all the fields you mow.

On the other hand, over all the years I have been rotary cutting for hire, I've never needed or wanted a loader on my tractor.

It's just added weight to haul around from job to job, and always in the way to see better or when in fenced fields...

My brush hogging tractor doesn't even have a loader.

SR