Flail Mower Mower For Prairie Grass

[Freeborn]

Have you investigated whether you can obtain cost-share assistance for planting forbs through the USDA's EQIP program? If not, a visit to your local NRCS office could be worth your time.

Steve

Thanks Steve, yep I will be working with the NRCS on mix and cost share.

 

[Freeborn]

I'd check out small drum mowers like these.

Mini Hay Balers and Compact Hay Balers | Small Farm Innovators

Something like the DM 3575 would get you a 6-ft cut with your JD 3520 CUT. Nice thing about drum mowiers is that they don't clog like sicklebars.

Drum mowers will produce fairly wide and flat windrows. If that's a problem, Galfre makes a drum mower with their built-in "Black Hole" conditioning system that spreads out the cuttings similar to a sicklebar without making a windrow.

Tractor Tools Direct | Galfre Compact Drum Mowers

BTW: a brush hog can be adjusted to chop the cuttings into mulch-like condition. To do this you set the front end of the mower 2-3 inches higher than the rear. That way the blades will slice through the cuttings several times before ejecting them out the side. It takes a little more pto horsepower so your ground speed will be lower in this mulch mode.

Good luck

I will take a look at these, never heard of them. Have you used them or known people who have? Their kind of spendy for my budget. I'll have to get by with something less expensive.

Ok, tilting the mower sounds like a heck of an idea. 2-3 inches sounds pretty straight forward. Any other tricks to dialing it in? Just trial and error and a very sharp blade?

Thanks for the tips!

Thanks!

 

[flusher]

I will take a look at these, never heard of them. Have you used them or known people who have? Their kind of spendy for my budget. I'll have to get by with something less expensive.

Ok, tilting the mower sounds like a heck of an idea. 2-3 inches sounds pretty straight forward. Any other tricks to dialing it in? Just trial and error and a very sharp blade?

Thanks for the tips!
Thanks!

I haven't used a drum mower myself. Saw them demonstrated. In the 10 years I owned my ranch (2005-15) I grew three crops of hay (Kanota oats) and mowed with several used sicklebars. I bought these sicklebars for a few hundred dollars at auction or from neighbors. Had to rebuild each of them. It takes a lot of know how to get a sicklebar cutting good and keeping it that way. This led me to learning about other mowers. If I would have continued haying, a drum mower definitely would have been in my future.

Disc mowers are popular in this country and are generally more expensive than drum mowers, which are popular in Europe and are now catching on in the US. Drum mowers have fewer parts than disc mowers, don't clog and are set up to change blades quickly in the field.

Brush hog: read the operator manual for the mower you get. Use it and make height adjustments until it cuts the way you want. As I said earlier, the hog is your least expensive alternative for your job.

Good luck