Mowing the Meadow

[3RRL]

Well, I thought to use this space to post my recent adventure with the 6' Howse Brush Hog. It might not exactly be "working in the fields" but to ME it sure was.
With that in mind, I have a couple of photos to share which shows just the meadow and gulley near the campsite of our rural/wilderness 27 acres. All in all this area is about 5 acres or so with about 2-½ to 3 acres of mowable meadows and this is where we hang out mostly. The homesite is about ½ mile down the dirt road and not shown in any of these pictures. Now I realize some of you may find this post boring because I'm sure everybody mows, but I thought it might be a good time to share some pictures of the property as well, so you can see where we camp and what the terrain is like.

I set the rotary cutter height to about 6" in the rear and about ½" lower in the front. Then I started to mow. There was tons of dust as I hit some high spots.




This is a shot across the meadow from the West to the East. You can see the tractor in the background and farther back right is the campsite.

 

[3RRL]

There has been a lot of discussion about slopes and how steep it is safe to mow on without tipping the tractor over. Some of these pictures will show the slope on my property going from gradual to pretty darn steep. On the steeper slopes is where extreme cation should be exercised....possibly only mowing up and down the slope instead of sideways to it. However, it is up to the individual to judge the safety factor needed to tackle different situations.

This is a view of the meadow from the South to the North. In the background there is a steep bank across the gully.



This photo is taken from the East looking West with that gulley that runs down along the right side.

 

[3RRL]

I finally got up the nerve to cross the gully and mow some of that steep bank you saw. I had to be very careful not to get my tractor tires running over a boulder or anything like that so it would not send me over. I managed to mow some of it traveling sideways across the bank, but most of it I did by mowing up and down it. It was way safer and more stable. Although I must say the Kama with the FEL and brush mower on never felt like it was anywhere near tipping over even when going across the slope sideways. Prudence got the better of me, nevertheless.
Here is the steep bank I mowed. It angle upwards of 25° or more. I also had to contend with crossing that darn gulley.




So that's my story for this weekend. I was very satisfied but extremely dirty! I also had to clean out my radiator and empty the air filter when I finished....then wash up the tractor....and myself.



Rob-

 

[3RRL]

One more thing, here is a little video Mrs. 3RRL took while I was moving between the Oak trees around the campsite. You can see how tall some of the grass was and some of the branches I mulched up. That Howse sure did a good job of it.
It may take a while to download, and I hope you can view it.

 

[suttles]

I really enjoyed the pictures of your land.
I was the person that ask about seeing more pictures of slopes that some of you mow.

Using a tractor is new for me and looking at our hills and being able to judge the slope in degrees is not something I can do.
So far the slopes have not been scarey but when there is a dip or gulley going down or up one can be.
These are small and can't be seen from the tractor.

I think your family has a very nice farm.

Do you have farm animals? What do you use your farm for?

I read your bio and saw the snakes, those would have scared me back to TN.

If I see one like that here it may scare me to California.
Are you in the northern part?
Those slopes look a little on the steep side for my comfort.

I guess to be able to own that much land in California is a true blessing. Out there is it a ranch or a farm?
Do you all farm full time?
I wish there was something I could do with our 10 acres to make some money with.
If my husband could retire in 10 years and we could do some type of farming then it would be great.

We hope to breed some Irishdraught horses.
We don't have a house on our land yet. Maybe raising some organic beef would be a good idea.
We have a lot of work in front of us with our land.

Happy Trails,
Keep those farm pictures rolling.

sandy

 

[suttles]

Until I had a tractor I would not have given that hill much thought.

I can see in the clip when you first start up it that there is a little bit of rocking from side to side.

In the past I would not have thought about seeing someone else mow like that.
Now I know some of that feeling and it can be a little uneasy to experience that.

Love your familys ranch.

sandy

 

[3RRL]

Hi Sandy,
Glad to see you were able to view the pictures and video. I remember responding in your other thread about mowing on slopes and such.

About our land, at this point it is still kinda rural/wilderness land. We call it a ranch but we have no animals yet. We just purchased it 3 years ago and are in the process of pulling permits to start our home construction...there's so much to do with all that!!

We are in the Southern/Central region near the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We are actually in the foothills of the Giant Sequoia trees just below Sequoia National Park. They are magnificent. The climate is mild and hot, rarely gets to freezing...therefore those rattlesnakes.

We are not sure what we will do when we move up there permanantly, we just camp there now. But we would like to have some animals for sure. I wish you and your husband the best of luck in raising those horses. There's a lot to be said about working hard for what you want...It will be a worthwhile effort.

 

[EddieWalker]

Rob,

Thanks for the pics and video. It's funny how much I'd rather watch somebody else mow than do it myself. hahahaha Just kidding, it's only in summer that I hate mowing.

My dust maker is killing me. I'm gonna die of dust lungs at an early age if we don't get some rain around here. The only good thing is that I'm caught up for the next month or so.

How bad was the dust for you? It sure looks realy hot and dry there!!!!

Eddie

 

[3RRL]

Hi Eddie,
I been reading about your wild pig problems...geez man, invite me over!
Out here it was pretty nice this last weekend. Got up to 95° on Saturday and only 92° on Sunday. Way cooler than the 115° weekend 2 weeks ago! Obviously it gets dusty as heck when it's that dry...well you know...same out there in Texas I suppose. Anyway, you can tell I got dirtier than all get-out and had to hose myself and the tractor down. What I hate more than anything is the little slivers of dried chopped up hay or weed that invariably find their way under your shirt, down your back and down your trousers! Drives me nuts.

 

[masscity]

I'm from Michigan, but I lived in the Bay area from 1982-90. I used to go camping every Memorial Day at the BLM campgrounds at Briceburg on I think hwy140? The temperature range in one day was crazy! A low of 36 deg and a high of 115 once. I liked that area a lot and that was a great camping spot.