Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers
- Thread starter TNhobbyfarmer
- Start date
I see most of you are using flails to mow pastures, lawns, etc. I want to use a flail for two purposes: mowing fence lines (so the electric won't short out... maybe this will require weedwhacking regardless), and mowing cover crops in a raised bed vegetable production system. My tractor is about 59" from the outsides of each rear tires, leaving about 36" in between the wheels for a vegetable bed. (The beds will be permanently maintained by using the same tire tracks). Cover crops will be planted in both beds and pathways/tire tracks. When it's time to mow, I want the mower to mow only what's "in the shadow" of the tractor - in other words, I don't want the mower to stick out to the sides, because then it would mow down vegetables growing in the adjacent bed (if there are any). This means I need a 59" mower with no offset. There is a 59" Caroni, but it appears to be offset. Is there any way to center it on the back of the tractor so that it stays within the tire tracks?
Added question: The 48" version is also an option, though less useful for maintaining fencelines. Does anyone know whether the offset would go out to the edge of my right tire?
Added question: The 48" version is also an option, though less useful for maintaining fencelines. Does anyone know whether the offset would go out to the edge of my right tire?
sidecarist
Silver Member
Knowing your tractors information will help with the options as flails are horsepower hungry, and going slow can be important too.
Offset ability will help with mowing fence rows, but some string trimmer work will still likely be needed.
Some of the apparent offset in mowers is the belt drive that hangs out. any 59 or 60in mower should be able to mow only the width of your tractor by adjusting the 3pt hitch to center it up.
The woodmaxx FM62 has a mowing width of 59in. it also has the rear trash door that opens for mowing thick cover crops. It is also available with hydraulic offset if you want it. I just purchased an FM78H and with my limited use so far I'm veryhappy condidering the price.
There are several others here that really like the Caroni and I thought hard about it as I wanted that rear door so I can mow very thick crops like buckwheat, cowpeas, clover, etc. to a fine residue.
Good luck.
Offset ability will help with mowing fence rows, but some string trimmer work will still likely be needed.
Some of the apparent offset in mowers is the belt drive that hangs out. any 59 or 60in mower should be able to mow only the width of your tractor by adjusting the 3pt hitch to center it up.
The woodmaxx FM62 has a mowing width of 59in. it also has the rear trash door that opens for mowing thick cover crops. It is also available with hydraulic offset if you want it. I just purchased an FM78H and with my limited use so far I'm veryhappy condidering the price.
There are several others here that really like the Caroni and I thought hard about it as I wanted that rear door so I can mow very thick crops like buckwheat, cowpeas, clover, etc. to a fine residue.
Good luck.
leonz
Super Member
You do not a lot of wiggle room in your situation expecting one integral implement to be versatile to accomplish two jobs.
Without knowing what mule you have, tire size, the tires rolling radius, whether the rear wheels can be widened,
the outside to outside tire dimension widths, and horsepower we are flying blind here and you need to use those dimensions to purchase the right flail mower. saying that the hydraulic side shift will do what you want BUT the fences are the issue which is why I suggested the Weed Badger as an option.
You may find the mowing and tilling heads on the specific weed badger model are all your going to need
simply by readjusting the boom width and running the mule in the adjacent row with the boom reaching over the row to mow or till the path.
1. its your money
2. I don't have my hand on your wallet
a I am not making a sales commission
3. I am not going to lie to you, I do not need to as I am not selling you on anything
4. I have no financial interest in Weed Badger or any other company
5 its your money
6. read 1-5 again
7. read 1-5 again
8. read and ask questions.
You can purchase a flail mower with a hydraulic offset boom to mow along fence posts and in row.
DO your home work first, and then come back and ask questions. Go back and look some more and then come back and ask more questions.
YOU have to find the right integrally mounted mower
Many of the Caroni flail mowers can be re adjusted manually to either an offset or centered position strictly depending on the model you purchase.
Other than purchasing the hydraulic offset for the "specific" Caroni Flail Mower the only viable option for fence row mowing is a small weedbadger with limit switches which have worked very well for many years by automatically adjusting the width the mower travels from side to side.
Setting very small metal fence posts next to the vegetable beds would prevent them from being mowed down by the automatic weed badgers mower head as the limit switches adjustment would prevent any further side movement of the mowing head.
Using the manual control for the mowing and tilling heads is also an option for cleaning around fence posts.
Much of that is going to depend on the lowest string of wire and how close you want the mowing or tilling head to reach out.
You need to decide if a weed badger offers you more utility than a flail mower with side shift as they are both integrally mounted on the three point hitch.
A flail mower with the side shift will not know if it gets to close to an object and move back as it passes the said object and mowing fence lines is going to require you to mow in your lowest gear or speed position and mount bycycle flag on the outer edge of the flail mower to give you the proper prospective as to its location in relation to a fence post or the lowest strand of wire.
Look at the Caroni site and you will see all the dimensions for the all their flail mowers offset positioning points.
Reread 1-8 again and ask more questions.
Without knowing what mule you have, tire size, the tires rolling radius, whether the rear wheels can be widened,
the outside to outside tire dimension widths, and horsepower we are flying blind here and you need to use those dimensions to purchase the right flail mower. saying that the hydraulic side shift will do what you want BUT the fences are the issue which is why I suggested the Weed Badger as an option.
You may find the mowing and tilling heads on the specific weed badger model are all your going to need
simply by readjusting the boom width and running the mule in the adjacent row with the boom reaching over the row to mow or till the path.
1. its your money
2. I don't have my hand on your wallet
a I am not making a sales commission
3. I am not going to lie to you, I do not need to as I am not selling you on anything
4. I have no financial interest in Weed Badger or any other company
5 its your money
6. read 1-5 again
7. read 1-5 again
8. read and ask questions.
You can purchase a flail mower with a hydraulic offset boom to mow along fence posts and in row.
DO your home work first, and then come back and ask questions. Go back and look some more and then come back and ask more questions.
YOU have to find the right integrally mounted mower
Many of the Caroni flail mowers can be re adjusted manually to either an offset or centered position strictly depending on the model you purchase.
Other than purchasing the hydraulic offset for the "specific" Caroni Flail Mower the only viable option for fence row mowing is a small weedbadger with limit switches which have worked very well for many years by automatically adjusting the width the mower travels from side to side.
Setting very small metal fence posts next to the vegetable beds would prevent them from being mowed down by the automatic weed badgers mower head as the limit switches adjustment would prevent any further side movement of the mowing head.
Using the manual control for the mowing and tilling heads is also an option for cleaning around fence posts.
Much of that is going to depend on the lowest string of wire and how close you want the mowing or tilling head to reach out.
You need to decide if a weed badger offers you more utility than a flail mower with side shift as they are both integrally mounted on the three point hitch.
A flail mower with the side shift will not know if it gets to close to an object and move back as it passes the said object and mowing fence lines is going to require you to mow in your lowest gear or speed position and mount bycycle flag on the outer edge of the flail mower to give you the proper prospective as to its location in relation to a fence post or the lowest strand of wire.
Look at the Caroni site and you will see all the dimensions for the all their flail mowers offset positioning points.
Reread 1-8 again and ask more questions.
powerscol
Veteran Member
Arrows - you may be in luck - several of the Peruzzo ditch bank mowers will center behind your tractor and offset to do fence lines. Look at both the Elk Cross and Fox cross units. They also can be raised to mow raised beds. Iowa Farm Equipment has information on them and dimensions you can check on how things set up. If your not handy with metric units, I use the following link to help. Convert centimetre to inch - Conversion of Measurement Units. Andrew with Iowa Farm equipment was very helpful in my quest. The other brand that may work is Maschio. They have several lines that might work centered as you need, and then offset to get into the fence lines between the posts just like the Peruzzo. Also look into the weed badger as leonz has recommended. He was a great help to me in my quest. Good luck and let us know what you find.
The tractor has 25 PTO horsepower, about 30 engine HP. There are many low gear speeds (1st Low is verrrrry slow).
I mean, I guess the cheapskate option is to scythe everything (I already have a scythe), and if I need the material on the beds chopped up more, I can use the landowner's lawnmower after it's died back for a couple days. It's just that everyone who's knows anything about cover crops for vegetables agrees that flail mowers work the best for chopping it up into even-sized pieces and not leaving windrows or scattering everywhere. Some people just moldboard plow it in, but I've read The Plowman's Folly. I have a chisel plow that will get caught up in the trash easily - it needs everything chopped up. And obviously there's the all-too-popular herbicide method, which I will not do.
The Caroni website actually was more helpful than I expected, showing the hydraulic shifting positions. I'll need to go out and measure again, but it looks like having 800 mm sticking out from the PTO shaft still might be a little too much. Only the TL1200 (48") has a shifting position that allows less than 800 mm sticking out. But it's still gonna be wonky with only 450 mm being cut on the other side of the PTO shaft. *sigh*
The weed badger... does not look like the right tool for the job. Yes I can see how it would be useful maintaining fencelines and orchards. But I don't need to spend that much money on something that only maintains my fencelines. I don't see anywhere on the website where it explains how wide the tiller is, but it looks like it can't be more than 12 inches or so, so to till the whole bed would require multiple passes.
The woodmaxx looks like it might work. I will consider it. It's too bad that flail mowers, and specifically flail mowers less than 72+", are not more common used/craigslist.
I like looking through the Italian agricultural websites, thank you for those suggestions. It looks like Maschio has an American importer in Iowa. Not sure if Peruzzo has an importer.
I mean, I guess the cheapskate option is to scythe everything (I already have a scythe), and if I need the material on the beds chopped up more, I can use the landowner's lawnmower after it's died back for a couple days. It's just that everyone who's knows anything about cover crops for vegetables agrees that flail mowers work the best for chopping it up into even-sized pieces and not leaving windrows or scattering everywhere. Some people just moldboard plow it in, but I've read The Plowman's Folly. I have a chisel plow that will get caught up in the trash easily - it needs everything chopped up. And obviously there's the all-too-popular herbicide method, which I will not do.
The Caroni website actually was more helpful than I expected, showing the hydraulic shifting positions. I'll need to go out and measure again, but it looks like having 800 mm sticking out from the PTO shaft still might be a little too much. Only the TL1200 (48") has a shifting position that allows less than 800 mm sticking out. But it's still gonna be wonky with only 450 mm being cut on the other side of the PTO shaft. *sigh*
The weed badger... does not look like the right tool for the job. Yes I can see how it would be useful maintaining fencelines and orchards. But I don't need to spend that much money on something that only maintains my fencelines. I don't see anywhere on the website where it explains how wide the tiller is, but it looks like it can't be more than 12 inches or so, so to till the whole bed would require multiple passes.
The woodmaxx looks like it might work. I will consider it. It's too bad that flail mowers, and specifically flail mowers less than 72+", are not more common used/craigslist.
I like looking through the Italian agricultural websites, thank you for those suggestions. It looks like Maschio has an American importer in Iowa. Not sure if Peruzzo has an importer.
DavesTractor
Elite Member
arrows,
Rears is built in Oregon, and Vrisimo in California. I bet either would build you a mower offset just like you want, and they are both super high quality. The problem is that it is expensive to manufacture things in the USA, and the west coast in particular. So these are not cheap. But then again, they will last a lifetime.
Rears is built in Oregon, and Vrisimo in California. I bet either would build you a mower offset just like you want, and they are both super high quality. The problem is that it is expensive to manufacture things in the USA, and the west coast in particular. So these are not cheap. But then again, they will last a lifetime.
powerscol
Veteran Member
Did you look at the fox cross ones? They have several for you size tractor. Here is the link to their home web page in Europe Peruzzo.it Also from the Iowa Farm Equipment data the 1200 model should work. From the dimensions it will fit inside you track width. Iowa Farm Equipment -- Peruzzo Fox Cross Ditch Bank Flail Mowers
Ah, ok, I overlooked the Iowa thing. This thread is pretty TMI and while I've read some of it, I don't have the time to read a 386 page book about people yakking about flail mowers.
Because this decision has turned out to be more complicated than I thought, and will cost more than I thought, I'm just going to go the cheapskate route with the scythe. I'll see if disking it in works - if not, I guess I'll get a rototiller.
Because this decision has turned out to be more complicated than I thought, and will cost more than I thought, I'm just going to go the cheapskate route with the scythe. I'll see if disking it in works - if not, I guess I'll get a rototiller.
powerscol
Veteran Member
"I'll see if disking it in works - if not, I guess I'll get a rototiller."
There is at least 400 pages on tillers here too :laughing:
:laughing:
Good luck on your quest, but dont give up. Research what will work, and keep your eyes open. You never know what might pop up.
There is at least 400 pages on tillers here too :laughing:
:laughing:Good luck on your quest, but dont give up. Research what will work, and keep your eyes open. You never know what might pop up.