Buy Tractor And Mower or Skidsteer and Mulch Head?
- Thread starter Amer Pine Straw
- Start date
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Terra Firma Scott
Silver Member
QwikDraw
Platinum Member
A job I did with an FAE head which uses carbide teeth. This was Poplar or Aspen which mulches up good.
This is a recent job with my Fecon, also carbide type teeth. I could have ground up this material better but I was raking it off the site and I find it easier to leave it a bit more coarse for raking. I finished an acres of this in about 10-12 hours.
I think the cutter type heads will give you more production per hour.
Carbide will hold up better in rocky conditions.
You need less HP with the cutting heads vs carbides for the same production.
This is a recent job with my Fecon, also carbide type teeth. I could have ground up this material better but I was raking it off the site and I find it easier to leave it a bit more coarse for raking. I finished an acres of this in about 10-12 hours.
I think the cutter type heads will give you more production per hour.
Carbide will hold up better in rocky conditions.
You need less HP with the cutting heads vs carbides for the same production.
OP
Amer Pine Straw
New member
It sounds like a lighter machine more production approach would be a low flow cutter type head. It also sounds like more maintenance is involved with sharpening knives in this setup.
Leaving a litter layer would be nice but speed is my biggest point of interest and maintenance second. Of course I need to tread lightly too.
How much slower in comparison is a carbide tipped head? Mowermoney stated some impressive results if he wasn't backing up and mulching stuff real fine. Do the carbide tips last as long as 3 or 4 knive sharpenings on average or how long does everyone estimate?
Leaving a litter layer would be nice but speed is my biggest point of interest and maintenance second. Of course I need to tread lightly too.
How much slower in comparison is a carbide tipped head? Mowermoney stated some impressive results if he wasn't backing up and mulching stuff real fine. Do the carbide tips last as long as 3 or 4 knive sharpenings on average or how long does everyone estimate?
Treemow
New member
If we are just rough cutting.We can usually average .5 acre an hour without backdragging in softwood material.Stem count doesn't matter much as long as the material is <6".
Treemow
New member
CBTurf "you probably use pine straw in your beds".... Priceless
Robbie Hegwood
Platinum Member
Production and finished product is where a DENIS CIMAF head excells. We recommend sharpening the blades at the end of everyday. Takes about 30 min. with the included gas grinder. Then it cuts the same eveyday, day in day out. A carbide will cut great at first but after 100 hours or so the tips will round off and start leaving sprigs. After that effeciency falls greatly.
Blades verses carbides. If you run a set of carbides for 400 hours and run 4 set of our baldes to get to the same 400 hours, it cost the same. But you will have mulched more material to a better finished product than with a carbide. Time is money and we are just more efficent. I can prove it with a demo.
Blades verses carbides. If you run a set of carbides for 400 hours and run 4 set of our baldes to get to the same 400 hours, it cost the same. But you will have mulched more material to a better finished product than with a carbide. Time is money and we are just more efficent. I can prove it with a demo.
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Turkeyman
Silver Member
A NH tractor (TB110, winch, HD tires, belly pan and shielding) with a 7" brown mower would run on average 3.5 mph. This unit from Hinton machinery in northern Al would run you about $65,000 and should last about 7,000 hours. The downside is it can leave bigger pieces of material around but you would have you speed and lower costs.
vegman
Member
Hello. I am new to the forum. I have been in the mulching business for a little over 3 yrs. I have a Gehl CTL80 High Flow and a Supertrak Tak TL150.
I have the same situation in south GA. We are working on developing a system for cleaning up planted pine stands for straw production. Also, we are dealing with numbers up to 10K acres. I have several different ideas. My thoughts are: A 1st pass down the row with a dedicated Rayco C100 or
C140. A 2nd pass with a more agile skid (TL150 / RC100 etc.). If an area needs a final "mulching", a pto mulching head behind a narrow row tractor makes a lot more sense than backing up with a dedicated or skid mulcher. The narrow row tractor could also be used for the follow up herbicide application which will be required.
My question to all the straw producers is; How much can you justify spending per acre to realize a return? If your input costs are $300.00 per acre after mulching and herbicide, can you recoup those costs in 2 years?
I need to see real numbers from the straw guys.
I have the same situation in south GA. We are working on developing a system for cleaning up planted pine stands for straw production. Also, we are dealing with numbers up to 10K acres. I have several different ideas. My thoughts are: A 1st pass down the row with a dedicated Rayco C100 or
C140. A 2nd pass with a more agile skid (TL150 / RC100 etc.). If an area needs a final "mulching", a pto mulching head behind a narrow row tractor makes a lot more sense than backing up with a dedicated or skid mulcher. The narrow row tractor could also be used for the follow up herbicide application which will be required.
My question to all the straw producers is; How much can you justify spending per acre to realize a return? If your input costs are $300.00 per acre after mulching and herbicide, can you recoup those costs in 2 years?
I need to see real numbers from the straw guys.
OP
Amer Pine Straw
New member
Has anyone had any experience with U.S. Mower and if so how do they stack up against Ammbusher. What are some other brands?
Jason
Jason