jenkinsph
Super Star Member
I do quite a bit of tractor work to make a living but mowing would not be a desirable direction to take imo. I prefer to be able to see the ground and limit the chance for unknowns.
Mowing With Own Equipment For Extra Cash (Good or Bad)
- Thread starter PearlWhiteGT
- Start date
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RDrancher
Veteran Member
I've actually only mowed one field since my FIL moved here with his tractor. He was down with the flu. I steer all of my mowing calls to him and he loves it. As far as I'm concerned...brush hogging is too hard on equipment for the money you can make. It's boring too. Except for the time I ran over a full bottle of acetylene, or the time my blades grabbed a roll of barbed wire attached to the fence line, or....
As many have said lots of risk. I mowed for hire for about a year ten years ago. You would not believe some of the things I hit with my shredder. You will tear up your equipment and you will ruin tires. You also will damage other peoples things. You also don't make much money for the the time and effort involved. Here is an example.
Customer calls and wants price. You spend thirty minutes and go look at it and give a price. The. You go home hook up trailer, attach shredder to tractor, load tractor and chain down. Drive to site, do work. Drive home, unchain and unload tractor. Unhook shredder, unhook trailer. All this takes time that customer doesn't want to pay for. Big acres pays off but the small 1-2 acres will kill you.
Customer calls and wants price. You spend thirty minutes and go look at it and give a price. The. You go home hook up trailer, attach shredder to tractor, load tractor and chain down. Drive to site, do work. Drive home, unchain and unload tractor. Unhook shredder, unhook trailer. All this takes time that customer doesn't want to pay for. Big acres pays off but the small 1-2 acres will kill you.
k0ua
Epic Contributor
Yikes! . and you are still alive to tell the tale? (reference the acetylene bottle)
Citydude
Elite Member
I contract mow. As mentioned before, liability is a must. Don't expect to make a lot of money if the terrain is steep, the brush thick and tall or wet. Do I think it's worth it? Yes.
akroeze
Member
Nope, he didn't make it.
RDrancher
Veteran Member
Now THERE'S a sense of humor! :laughing:
I ran over it with the front tires and felt something out of place, so I stopped to check it out. I found the bottle resting against the front of the mower and caught it before it went under. I was mowing in 5'-6' tall johnson grass with the bruch hog pretty high to keep from bogging down. After I cleaned out my shorts I swept the entire place with my bucket low to the ground before mowing it. I had a pretty big pile of junk rounded up including a couple of truck rear axles, a hundred feet of 4' tall no-climb fence / t-posts and other assorted auto and tractor parts.
Mowing over the roll of barbed wire still attached to the fence line was pretty thrilling. I was mowing an off camber section angled toward and next to a fence. The brush hog grabbed the roll and sucked me into the fence with both right side tires off of the ground. It took over an hour to cut the mess out from around the blades. It pays to carry a set of bolt cutters in the toolbox of the truck.
That kind of mess is when the rates go up. Drastically.
I ask before I quote a job "is there anything on the way?",
they always say "no"
and I'll start rambling off things like "stumps, logs, rocks, microwaves, tires, wheels, broke down fences, farm equipment...??"
Then it's usually "oh well come to think of it I left a ...insert something you do not want to mow over... right over here."
--I'm sure some of you remember my thread from about this time last year showing when I backed over/into a sink hole with the mower. It got pretty nasty and was locked but the pictures are worth seeing. I think it was titled "my stupid problem".
I ask before I quote a job "is there anything on the way?",
they always say "no"
and I'll start rambling off things like "stumps, logs, rocks, microwaves, tires, wheels, broke down fences, farm equipment...??"
Then it's usually "oh well come to think of it I left a ...insert something you do not want to mow over... right over here."
--I'm sure some of you remember my thread from about this time last year showing when I backed over/into a sink hole with the mower. It got pretty nasty and was locked but the pictures are worth seeing. I think it was titled "my stupid problem".
amigauser
Veteran Member
In this area, the field mowing adds I have seen on craigslist were an older 2wd small utility tractor with a brush hog so the guys costs were low along with his price. Hard to compete with someone like that just like the guys that mow residential lawns on the cheap with no insurance etc.
paulharvey
Veteran Member
Well, really they have the equipment needed for the job. What you mean is you can't afford luxury equipment on field work pay. If I where to bush hog for profit, I would want an older 50-70hp MF or Ford, and a used, ugly 7 ft heavy duty bush hog. There's not money in it for a $50k machine, and the wear on that $50k machine. Run the $6k machine till it pukes; scrap it and get another.