Bushhogging speed (acres per hour) and the like

[LD1]

Heres the pic of the lot outlined in red.

The part I outlined in yellow was an old sodway that was really dense, and full of holes. Insetead of crossing it EVERY pass and slowing down, I just bit the bullet, and mowed everything in the yellow in 4L(3.5MPH gear). About 5 passes down and back the sodway. Once that was done, I nocked off that upper left corner, and then continued on the rest

 

[Gary Fowler]

If your tires are narrower than your bushhog, then I suspect that you had a lot more overlap than needed. That likely accounted for a lot of your extra time.

 

[PHILIP8N]

In this 4' to 6' stuff here I run 3.5mph to 4.5mph, depending on how thick and how much load is on tractor. Took me 2 partial days with 6' hog to clear 18 acres, not sure how many hours. Had to stop and eat, refill once, every hour or two I had to clean off radiator, sharpened blades at least once. Philip.

 

[DJ54]

If you think about it..., the only true 6' swath you cut, is the first pass. After that, unless you leave a strip, you're not picking up a true 100%, 6' swath. So even with a 6' mower, I'd say you'd do good to pick up 5', maybe a smidge over...

Then depending on how you mow, as far as yor turns...Follow the shape of the field all the way to the center. Making 90ｺ right turns at corners, possibly leaving some stragglers standing, bent over, or a 270ｺ turn, turning out left, and coming in square to that end of the field. And/or a 180ｺ turn, striking off lands, or just heading back against the way you came. Striking lands saves some turning time, once you are 5 or so swaths in.., but unless you have a GPS equipped, auto-steer outfit, more than likely, you will have a half swath strip, more or less, or both, in the center.

And as far as mowing in circles... There is a fellow in a new housing develpoment near where I am moving to. He mows his lawn in circles, then comes back a picks up the corners... It does look somewhat different, compared to his neighbors squared off corners on one side, and the other neighbor mows his a 45ｺ angles to the lot... But probably more efficient to him...

I don't do much custom work. But I have used the above mentioned ways to mow on my own places... Not so much for efficiency, but just to do something different., LOL...

I did notice a place near here, that apparently went into foreclosure, and the bank hired someone to mow the property to make it look more respectable to sell. About halfway between the house and the road, stands the 4" well casing, a about a 60ｺ angle, complete with blade marks. OUCH..!! My first thought after the "OUCH", was..., wonder if the power was off...??

Just things to take into consideration, when doing custom work...

 

[LD1]

If you think about it..., the only true 6' swath you cut, is the first pass. After that, unless you leave a strip, you're not picking up a true 100%, 6' swath. So even with a 6' mower, I'd say you'd do good to pick up 5', maybe a smidge over...

Then depending on how you mow, as far as yor turns...Follow the shape of the field all the way to the center. Making 90ｺ right turns at corners, possibly leaving some stragglers standing, bent over, or a 270ｺ turn, turning out left, and coming in square to that end of the field. And/or a 180ｺ turn, striking off lands, or just heading back against the way you came. Striking lands saves some turning time, once you are 5 or so swaths in.., but unless you have a GPS equipped, auto-steer outfit, more than likely, you will have a half swath strip, more or less, or both, in the center.

That is why I find it hard to believe that FWJ was able to mow @ 90% efficency:confused2:

I am not disputing his numbers, but unless the field was perfectally round, that is near impossible to to. I was just a bit disappointed because I was hoping for at least closer to 80% instead of 67%.

I did however spend about an extra 15 minutes doing a tad bit on the other side of the property line for a neighbor that flagged me down. I forgot about that in my calculations. Kinda a funny story in itself.....

The guy that hired me said mow EVERYTHING until you come to a mowed path or someone elses yard. So thats what I was doing and this neighbor stopped me. He said that ~10' was his they use as a barrier to keep the dogs out and he didnt want me to cut it. I apologized and continued on.

A few hours later he comes out and tells me I can go ahead and do it, but there are a few pallets and bricks in there. I tell him sure it will be $20. He about flips out Says "well you were going to do it anyway if I didnt stop you? I said I am only getting paid to do THIS 13 acres, and you told me that wasnt part of it, so I am not going to do it for free. I kindly remind him who bought the equipment, pays to maintain it, and pays to repair it when it breaks. He said just forget about it then.

Then I see him get his little riding tractor out and try to tackle it.About an hour later, after burning the deck belt off, he flags me down again with $20 and said do it.

So anyways, if I take off that ~.3 hours, That puts me @ 5 hours for 13 acres. And a little better effeciency of almost 72%.

And That is being a little optimisitc @ my 5mph average. Because I bet it was probabally closer to 4.5 with the having to slow down in areas plus that large briar patch.

I think next time, I am going to take my garmin and reset it when I start. Because it will give me an average MPH as well as total miles traveled. :thumbsup: Anyone else ever do this??

 

[Farmwithjunk]

That is why I find it hard to believe that FWJ was able to mow @ 90% efficency:confused2:

I am not disputing his numbers, but unless the field was perfectally round, that is near impossible to to. I was just a bit disappointed because I was hoping for at least closer to 80% instead of 67%.

I did however spend about an extra 15 minutes doing a tad bit on the other side of the property line for a neighbor that flagged me down. I forgot about that in my calculations. Kinda a funny story in itself.....

The guy that hired me said mow EVERYTHING until you come to a mowed path or someone elses yard. So thats what I was doing and this neighbor stopped me. He said that ~10' was his they use as a barrier to keep the dogs out and he didnt want me to cut it. I apologized and continued on.

A few hours later he comes out and tells me I can go ahead and do it, but there are a few pallets and bricks in there. I tell him sure it will be $20. He about flips out Says "well you were going to do it anyway if I didnt stop you? I said I am only getting paid to do THIS 13 acres, and you told me that wasnt part of it, so I am not going to do it for free. I kindly remind him who bought the equipment, pays to maintain it, and pays to repair it when it breaks. He said just forget about it then.

Then I see him get his little riding tractor out and try to tackle it.About an hour later, after burning the deck belt off, he flags me down again with $20 and said do it.

So anyways, if I take off that ~.3 hours, That puts me @ 5 hours for 13 acres. And a little better effeciency of almost 72%.

And That is being a little optimisitc @ my 5mph average. Because I bet it was probabally closer to 4.5 with the having to slow down in areas plus that large briar patch.

I think next time, I am going to take my garmin and reset it when I start. Because it will give me an average MPH as well as total miles traveled. :thumbsup: Anyone else ever do this??

The 10-1/2 acres I mowed is rectangle.....roughly twice as long as it is wide. (Longer north to south) I cut 5 laps around the perimeter. Then start cutting n/s in sections...I move in from the edge about 35'/40', start mowing expanding out from there.....As soon as I have to travel more than 40+' on my turns, I start another strip. I have no problem whatsoever getting 66" to 68" of mowing width ON EVERY PASS out of a 72" mower. And that's NOT with GPS....Just the ability to drive in a straight line, an eye on what I'm doing, and a LOT of practice.....And a tractor/mower that I'm VERY familiar with....(I use the MF150 in my avatar photo on this particular field.)


I mow this 10-1/2 acres 5 to 7 times a summer. I've been cutting it for 7 years (x that 5 to 7 times per year) It'll get cut at least one more time.....You're more than welcome to come spend a few minutes more tha 3 hours with a drink in one hand and a stop watch in the other....If I miss my time prediction by more tha 10 minutes, I'll pay your travel expenses and throw in a steak dinner. Done in time I stated (or less) and you buy MY dinner....(and I can put away some groceries )

Actually, I was disappointed than my "inefficiency" is as HIGH as 10%.

With the seven 15' bat wings I have running this summer, when we're mowing in large, open, clean acreage, I've found the efficiency to actually INCREASE with the wider mowers. We can simply go back and forth across fields, making a 180 degree turn at the end of each row, doubling back along side of previous pass, which results in inefficiency in the 1% or 2% range.

Experience pays dividends....I mow as a profession.. So far this year, my crews and equipment has collectively logged over 4800 hours of mowing time spread across a total of 11 tractor/mowers. ..I've farmed for most of my life....Mowing patterns are not so much different that how we used to disc fields to prepare for planting, even some relativity to how we plant fields to this day....If you want to get the job done in a reasonable time frame, you use efficient patterns, don't waste time, keep the tractor rolling, and don't overlap.

Like I said....I'll back it up. All you gotta do is show up....with a stop watch and a wallet full of money!

 

[jenkinsph]

I think next time, I am going to take my garmin and reset it when I start. Because it will give me an average MPH as well as total miles traveled. :thumbsup: Anyone else ever do this??

I use gps everytime I mow my lawn, how else are you going to find your way back to the house.

Seriously, I get a good strong signal in my area and have considered trying this out when laying down seed and fertilizer. My older gps unit has an accuracy of about 7' right now so it is debateable whether this is good enough to help much. The highly precision stuff that Deere offers now has to be a real help to farmers who need the repeatability that these systems offer. Big difference between one inch and seven feet accuracy.:laughing:

 

[PHILIP8N]

I think next time, I am going to take my garmin and reset it when I start. Because it will give me an average MPH as well as total miles traveled. :thumbsup: Anyone else ever do this??

You are such a nerd! I used my Garmin once on a short road trip to see how correct the digital speedometer was. It was right on. Never though about using it for average mph, good idea. The GrandL has a resetable hour meter that I use for jobs, but no average mph function. Philip.

 

[LD1]

The 10-1/2 acres I mowed is rectangle.....roughly twice as long as it is wide. (Longer north to south) I cut 5 laps around the perimeter. Then start cutting n/s in sections...I move in from the edge about 35'/40', start mowing expanding out from there.....As soon as I have to travel more than 40+' on my turns, I start another strip. I have no problem whatsoever getting 66" to 68" of mowing width ON EVERY PASS out of a 72" mower. And that's NOT with GPS....Just the ability to drive in a straight line, an eye on what I'm doing, and a LOT of practice.....And a tractor/mower that I'm VERY familiar with....(I use the MF150 in my avatar photo on this particular field.)

Well....I guess I can believe the 90% on a rectangle now that I put the #'s to it. I guess it was just this od field I was in with 6 outside corners and 2 inside corners that really diminished my performance.

But for your 10.5 acres to be about 2x's longer than wide, would but it somewhere in the 480' x 960' range. And if you are mowing the length 960 and taking a 40' turn, 40/960 = about 4% lost on the turns. And 66-68 out of a 72" cutter is another 6%-9%, so if you are getting closer to the 68", I can see the 90% now.:thumbsup:

You are such a nerd! I used my Garmin once on a short road trip to see how correct the digital speedometer was. It was right on. Never though about using it for average mph, good idea. The GrandL has a resetable hour meter that I use for jobs, but no average mph function. Philip.

My L3400 doesnt even have a speedomoter:confused2: My figures are just based on what the book says max spped for that gear is. But I do think the garmin will be pretty handy next job I do:thumbsup:

 

[DJ54]

"I think next time, I am going to take my garmin and reset it when I start. Because it will give me an average MPH as well as total miles traveled. Anyone else ever do this??"

At times, when trailriding my horse, where there is a fairly open canopy. To keep track of my miles, to turn into ODNR to show trail usage... Cruisin' along at a nice gaited walk @3.5 mph.