Bushhog guard

[Lanse]

My Landpride Single blader 5' bushhog and I have a small amount of hay to mow. If I got to the trouble of removing the rear guard, will it windrow the hay for me??

 

[sandman2234]

I haven't been around hay cutting in too many years, but I never heard of anyone cutting it with a bush hog. Seems like that would chop it rather than cut it. Last time I talked to Daddy, he was getting his cut and baled for $.80 a bale so maybe it would be better to have it done?
I have a sickle mower out back if you want to fix it up...
David from jax

 

[Rara Avis]

I haven't been around hay cutting in too many years, but I never heard of anyone cutting it with a bush hog. Seems like that would chop it rather than cut it. Last time I talked to Daddy, he was getting his cut and baled for $.80 a bale so maybe it would be better to have it done?
I have a sickle mower out back if you want to fix it up...
David from jax

Second that...

 

[MJPetersen]

My dad cuts and sells hay for a living. For cutting hay you need a sickle mower or a disk mower. The disks are more popular now. They are less expensive and do not break so often, because they have fewer moving parts. The cut hay is a lot different than the cut grass from a regular mower. You cannot cut hay with a bush hog--it would pulverize the grass and you do not end up with hay but rather chopped up grass.

Mike

 

[Farmwithjunk]

As mentioned, a bush hog isn't the best way to cut hay, but it has been done. Several mowers built over the ages were designed with hay mowing in mind. John Deere, as an example, built in a removable rear panel on their GYRO-MOWER that allowed the clippings a quick exit from under the mower deck to minimize chopping up what it had cut. They used a relatively "over-sized" stumpjumper with relatively short blades attached. It was a very early attempt at the same concept that is now called a disc mower. Deere's concept works better in some conditions than others. Removing the rear guard of most bush hogs will only help your cause a very little bit. It probably won't windrow your hay, only allow the cuttings a better chance of not being totally shredded. The best results would probably be with the rear of the mower deck raised slightly. That method will expose you to dangers though. Any debris you happen to run across is likely to come flying out from under the rear of the mower. I'd exersize extreme caution .

 

[JoeinTX]

As farmwith said, it can be done with a shredder/rotary cutter but its less than ideal if hay quality is your goal.

That being the case, over the years many companies made shredders with removable side skirts that would allow the cut material to be ejected to one side and "windrowed" so to speak. But most shredders you see today don't have this feature.

I suppose, if you've got time on your hands and just getting it cut is more important than cutting it for the best hay, you certainly could.

 

[stuckmotor]

I've used a 5 ft Woods Cadet mower with a removable side pannel to cut hay. I've been satisfied with the way it cut grass hay. My NH baler had a super sweep pickup. It's teeth were approximately twice as close together as on a regular pickup. I don't know how a baler with wider spaced teeth would have done but, I didn't consider the grass hay to be shreaded. The pull type mower wasn't satisfactory for cutting millet hay because the tractor tires mashed the stems down and they didn't pop back up for the mower. I windrowed my hay with a rake. Bushhog used to advertise a rotary mower with a removable hay pannel and a pair of bars that extended it to the side of the mower. It was supposed to catch the hay as it came from under the mower and form a windrow. I've only seen this in a brochure. Enough Googling might turn up a copy of the pamphlet. I came on this thread because I'm in the market for a rotary mower and wanted one with the removable hay pannel.
Harold