Pictures from a skid steer mowing contractor

[paulsharvey]

There are some other things, technically any fence other than an agricultural fence, technically requires a permit, so either the homeowner or the "contractor" would need to get that permit, and require a license, But, there isn't a "fencing" license, so a General Contractor (residential, building, or general) could pull the permit, but thats pretty ridiculous.

There also is a pretty vague line between light clearing, grading, fence work, even driveways, that boarder between "contracting" and "custom agricultural work for hire"

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Our contractor laws are general, yes, you need to be registered or certified for almost everything. There is a catch, or a no-mans land, on basically site work, that can be confusing. Anything (at one point, the numbers might have moved) contracted at more than $1000 must be a contractor, but which one? CUC, Certified Utility Contractor, that's for underground, but not necessarily for grading. "CGC", certified general contractor, is the catch all, and can do almost everything, including unlimited height, value, and occupancy, but is really a license for building a building...

Certified state licenses, every single one requires a background check, an ethics and financial tests, and then a skill/knowledge test on the license you are getting. With that, you must have insurance based based on the license.

Registered, that's a local city/county thing, at least at one point, some counties made you come to a county commission meeting, and stand up there, and for a lack of better terms "kiss the ring", tell them about yourself, and request permission from the "crown" to work in their fiefdom... and pay a small amount for the privilege

This customer is an elderly man who takes care of his brother and wouldn't have been able to afford this if he jumped thru all of the hoops that the county wants people to jump thru permits, inspections, etc, they have gone as far as requiring a homeowner to purchase a permit to change out a hot water heater in their home, I personally stood in line the other day to write my County a check for about $7k in property taxes and said to myself then that I can't believe that we have conditioned ourselves to do this, but there is some legislation being discussed about doing away or at least reducing property taxes and our fine Governor is in full support of these measures. I am a licensed business in the State of Florida and carry a 1 million dollar liability policy and I don't feel bad a bit about doing these types of jobs for people.

 

[paulsharvey]

Without taking over Mr Linemans thread, from what I have seen, the shady folks keep on keeping on, and the big guys are helped by strict permitting/licensing requirements. It's the small guy trying to do things right that is typically hurt, both on the consumer side and the contractor side.

On a mild different path, our worst jobs are the small scale commercial jobs. The kind that either hire a residential guy, or contract each trade out individually... It's still commercial, so it falls into a more stringent category, but without the expertise/skill that normally comes with true commercial contractors.

Think of it like this, trying to explain an ADA sidewalk ramp, to Joe, who is Bob's cousin, and does block. It's not really his Fault, but cross slopes, ramp slopes, ect, and there is Zero forgiveness for not meeting ADA

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Yesterday I burnt some brush piles for a customer where I had cleaned out a fence row last year and a little storm debris that was leftover, was finally able to get a burn permit and by 4PM only a few of the bigger logs were left that I bunched up before I loaded up and headed home and completed a little pasture dragging. Hope everyone has a good week and God bless. Charlie.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Today started mowing hay fields, mostly wild flowers and what we call red sorrel and a few weeds, won't be long it will be time to spray and ferilize.

 

[EddieWalker]

That sure looks nice were you mowed it!!!!

 

[Lineman North Florida]

That sure looks nice were you mowed it!!!!

Thanks Eddie.

 

[Rustyiron]

Very pretty and not my (wrongly stereotypical) vision of FL!
But it's still too hot there for too long.
Where's the new mulcher pictures.
Nice work Charlie!

 

[paulsharvey]

Very pretty and not my (wrongly stereotypical) vision of FL!
But it's still too hot there for too long.
Where's the new mulcher pictures.
Nice work Charlie!

FLa is a big place. It's about the same drive time from Miami to Pensacola, as it is from Houston to El Paso. Key West to Pensacola is more like Chicago to New Orleans

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Very pretty and not my (wrongly stereotypical) vision of FL!
But it's still too hot there for too long.
Where's the new mulcher pictures.
Nice work Charlie!

I haven't had as much time to mess with it as I would like but I am pretty impressed with a few things about it, 1. There are only 3 grease fittings on it and 2 of the 3 have grease lines attached and are accessible without having to take covers off, the third one does not but will before long as I will add it for ease of greasing before every use. 2. I sent an email to the manufacturer with some questions and within 24 hours they responded and answered my questions and sent me a owners manual and part's diagram with an email and phone number for me to contact them for part's should I need any. The only thing that really didn't suit me was that the SSQA plate bottom holes were to large and made it fit sloppy instead of secure but I think I got that fixed this afternoon by adding a couple of 5/16th's pieces of flat stock to help fill the gap, the pictures are when they were just tacked for test fit not the finished product, time will tell if it's any good but I was able to purchase it brand new for $6k, 500 hundred less than what I thought. I will try to keep you posted. Charlie.

 

[jyoutz]

Can't shred cactus. That just makes more of it. It's like potatoes. A little piece will grow a whole new plant. I've been fighting that battle for years, but I've made head way on most of the front. The brushy area is too thick to get the tractor in to dig them out or spray. And way too many Rattle snakes to go traipsing in there on foot.

To take out cactus, use Tordon. Put a sprayer in your loader bucket and use a dye. Drive around and direct spray the cactus with a wand. One pint of Tordon plus surfactant and dye in a 20 gallon tank. Your cactus will be dead in 2 months.

 

[jyoutz]

To take out cactus, use Tordon. Put a sprayer in your loader bucket and use a dye. Drive around and direct spray the cactus with a wand. One pint of Tordon plus surfactant and dye in a 20 gallon tank. Your cactus will be dead in 2 months.

There is also a new product named Surmount that is specifically formulated for cactus. The main ingredient is Tordon, but there is another herbicide incorporated to make it even more effective. Both Tordon and Surmount are restricted use chemicals, so you will have to take a class and test with your local cooperative extension service to get an applicator’s license for personal use in order to buy the product.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Did a little job today that really needed minimal brush cutting but I wanted to try the new drum mulcher, I believe my forestry mower does a better job in this small stuff than this mulcher.

 

[2manyrocks]

I've never really thought about this before, but I suppose that a drum mulcher wouldn't be a good choice for mowing what most of us mow with rotary cutters. IMO, teeth designed for mulching small trees shouldn't be expected to be as efficient at that job as a rotary cutter. I suppose that running the mulcher on light vegetation helps to break it in before trying it on a harder job?

 

[jyoutz]

I've never really thought about this before, but I suppose that a drum mulcher wouldn't be a good choice for mowing what most of us mow with rotary cutters. IMO, teeth designed for mulching small trees shouldn't be expected to be as efficient at that job as a rotary cutter. I suppose that running the mulcher on light vegetation helps to break it in before trying it on a harder job?

Drum masticators (mulchers) are typically used for forest thinning of small and medium diameter trees and brush. And it’s preferred to operate them to create chunks of wood and not chips, at least in the dryer western forests. The chips tend to cover the ground and suppress grass and other vegetation growth and smolders when burning so that a ground fire will cook tree roots and kill trees. The chunks leave bare ground and discontinuous fuels so the effects are more positive.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I've never really thought about this before, but I suppose that a drum mulcher wouldn't be a good choice for mowing what most of us mow with rotary cutters. IMO, teeth designed for mulching small trees shouldn't be expected to be as efficient at that job as a rotary cutter. I suppose that running the mulcher on light vegetation helps to break it in before trying it on a harder job?

It's the work that I had and I already had it hooked up so I figured I would test it on the light stuff, I'm still new to these so I'm in the testing/practice stage.

 

[Fixastuff]

Did a little job today that really needed minimal brush cutting but I wanted to try the new drum mulcher, I believe my forestry mower does a better job in this small stuff than this mulcher.View attachment 3171799View attachment 3171800

Looks good to me.

 

[EddieWalker]

I like how low to the ground you are able to get with it.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Yesterday's job consisted of fertilizing some fields that I no tilled in rye back in December and some lower cow pastures of bahia that are coming out, one old gobbler had his hens gathered up and was putting on a show yesterday morning.

 

[EddieWalker]

We don't have any wild turkeys in my part of Texas, so I'm raising a few so we can hear them gobbling!!!