Help! My front yard is kicking my butt! Bushhogging uphill

[the old grind]

Oughta name your place if you haven't yet, ... a sign over the front gate or something. Call it "Running Food Ranch". Money gets tight you can open a B & B, serve grilled turkey/venison salad with poke greens. Gotta be prepared for what if, right? Don't have to tell us where you buried the AR-15 & x-thousand rounds of ammo. Zombies might hack our USB devices & your demise could be on our hands.

Yeah, I know ... someone will jump in with the same idea on page 15 like nobody thought of it already .... :confused3:

Snapped pics of two hens yesterday with 6 little ones. Tuesday it was two does munching on mulberry tree's leaves. Funny what they have an appetite for this time of year...

Hope dry weather helps you get the b'hogging done soon. :thumbsup:

 

[FTG-05]

Ok, it's been a little less than a month and I thought I'd update what I've done since we last discussed bushhogging my hill.

- I added windshield washer fluid/RV antifreeze to my front tires, two gallons each plus whatever water on top of that, total about 12 gallons - ~95 lbs per tire.

- Added about 180 lbs of steel weights to the front brush guard of the tractor, sorry no pics of it yet, but I'll get them.

Adding ballast to the front tires seemed to work real well! The tractor felt far more stable even though I had decided to not add the two 30 gallon water barrels to the FEL. Adding the front weights didn't seem to help, but didn't hurt either.

I've included a pic below of the worst that I'm dealing with.

On either side of the power pole right smack dab in the middle of the by far steepest part of the hill! You can clearly see the "stairsteps" I discussed earlier. The middle "flat" spot is flat enough to turn around in - if I had to. What's not shown in this pic is the guy wire off to the right of the power pole ending at the cut you see on the right. Once you go down that last stairstep, you are committed! When coming down this steepest part, I can feel the tractor slipping down the slope! I go down this part of the hill in gear #2.

I have to go up either on the extreme left or beyond the visible extreme right. The upper power pole is just on the other side of my driveway at the top of the hill (you can just barely see the transformer on the pole).

Off to the right, you can see the last of what I call the "old growth"; i.e. 8'-12' tall weeds (Poke Salad Annie most of them) that haven't been cut since the last time this hill was bushhogged (+2 years ago). Just above that, you can see the roof of my home (the white sliver).

We have two more days of clear +90 degree weather. I plan to knock out the rest of the "old growth" and finally have this hill done!!!!

Thanks for all the help!

And here's a pic of what I'm bushhogging as I go down the hill. The tree you see directly in front is the center left tree in the first pic.

 

[Deere Dude]

If you were in Wisconsin you would have a great ski slope. Everyone needs a challenge now and then. I'm glad you have it figured out.

 

[k0ua]

Yeah, that is a great hill, a little snow, a little ice, and a snow saucer sprayed with Pam on the bottom, and you would look like Chevy Chase

 

[FTG-05]

If you were in Wisconsin you would have a great ski slope. Everyone needs a challenge now and then. I'm glad you have it figured out.

So, what I hear you saying is that I'm a dumba$$ and should have been bushhogging my field when it looked like this:

 

[mikehaugen]

So, what I hear you saying is that I'm a dumba$$ and should have been bushhogging my field when it looked like this:

It would give you an excuse to buy a caterpillar challenger

 

[chockkicker]

Putting water in tires add weight, make sure some kind of antifreeze is added to water, mow on an angle up and down hill not straight up and down, BTDT with a Kubota when mowing Corp Of Engineers parks.

 

[Cameron Smith]

I have come late to this discussion but I would have used a small tracked machine like the one advertised by Northern Tool for a slope like this and there are some very good used machines out there. Of course, I never need much of an excuse to look for a new toy!

 

[tractorshopper]

When I BH steep sections, I only mow backing up the slopes. It seems to me to be the best traction and where I feel safest. I had an old farmer friend recommend this to me when I was asking how to get those areas that I was having trouble with like you. Even with my loader on, the front is light going up, so it is very stable in comparison backing up the slopes. I have a HST so it's not too much pain to just back up one strip at a time and drive down same strip when done, maneuver forward and over, then back up the next strip. My property is not nearly as large as yours but this is what works for me. I have rears filled, but not fronts. I don't put extra material in my loader as I think it would then make the back end a little lighter and maybe I'd slip.

 

[brucet47]

Call your local Ventrac dealer for a demo. The Ventrac Dual tire 4000 series tractor will solve your problem. I also maintain steep slopes on my farm in GA. Have a Kubota 2910, but never felt safe using it on the steeper slopes. Bit the bullet and purchased a Ventrac 4 years ago. I now own two. one gas and one diesel. Still have the 2910, it's a reliable, easily maintained workhorse, however now use it mostly for tilling,garden,and FEL chores. Just ask for a Ventrac demo, you don't have to buy, however I'll bet your impressed. You can also view video's at the Ventrac website. Before anyone asks, I have never had any personal affiliation with Ventrac.
Bruce in North GA