Pictures of this morning's mowing job...30 acres

[LD1]

I have seen two different estimates of "average" diesel consumption in the ag. engineering literature: 0.044 and 0.048 gallons/hour/PTO HP. The 0.048 is right on the mark in your case.

Steve

Indeed it is. Allthough my old L3400 w/29pto HP was spot on 1 gal/hr. Maybe 1.1 at worst. Far better than those numbers.

And a 5055e w/45 PTO HP should come in at 2.1-2.2 gal/hr and not over 4. Nebraska tests show 3.0-3.2 gal/hr for the 5055. Still more than I would want to burn.

 

[LD1]

Have you thought about getting a canopy? I sure like mine. It keeps that burning sun off of your body.

No, but I wish I had a cab

The sun dont bother me. Its all the stuff the mower kicks up and sticks to my sweaty body. And I also ran over a hornets nest. Right at the end of a pass where I was turning around to do a 180. I saw it right as I was finishing my turn and saw them coming. Never thought I could hit high range so fast. And pedal down. This was in one of the thinner sections of grass, and the nest was maybe the size of a softball. The mower actually cut pretty good at 16 MPH:laughing:

 

[namesray]

Didnt really mow in a circle. Normally, I do mow down and back. But given the odd shape and tons of things to mow around, I though it best to just go around the perimeter, and keep working in.]

"Go around the perimeter, and keep working in." That is what I ment by circle mow. My bad for not being clear.

All the bush hogs I have run were the same width as the tractor tires and I always found that if I mowed back and forth, I could pick up the grass that the tractor tires knocked down on the previous pass and get a much cleaner cut. I would always start at the bottom of any hill and mow across the slope, working my way up if the situation presented itself. Always would give me the best cut.

7 mph is pretty fast in my book. Must have smother ground in ohio then here in pa. About 4 mph is where I stay. Sometimes a gear faster if a smooth field. My bush hog can keep up, but those darn groundhog holes will thrash me and the trctor around if I go much faster.

your mx5100 uses about twice the fuel that my mx5200 does. I am sure your bigger hog acounts for some of this, mine is a 6ft woods. Maybe the tier 4 engine of the mx5200 has an advantage a little in fuel usage. I clocked mine at 1.12 gal per hour at pto rpm the whole time in moderate grass field on side hill.

I do a little over 100 acres a year, and love the acreage lotsize finder that you mentioned on here a while back. How does your 8ftr fit on your trailer for transport?

 

[LD1]

I don't like overlapping passes as it is inefficient. The tractor is 6' and mower is 8'. So I'd lose 2' in order to overlap the previous tire track. High blade speed and high lift blades are all thats needed. I mow about 300 acres a year commercially, so efficiency matters big time.

As to fuel usage...are you HST? $2.50/hr fuel difference ain't nothing in the grand scheme of things. And yes, I mow as fast as I can stay on the seat. Which is probably faster than most just mowing for themselves. I think the cut quality is superb with the higher blade speed of this mower.

 

[2458n]

I am starting on a 115 acre Crp field tomorrow morning. Yes I am a few days early but working on controlling thistles. 92 degrees in Northwest Ohio today. Tomorrow the same. Maybe early morning and late evening work-we will see how equipment and operator hold up.

 

[TSO]

Nice, I'm sure it helped that the material was so light... Looks mostly like short weeds and field grass, easy peasy for a b'hog. How many times a year do you mow that?

 

[LD1]

I am starting on a 115 acre Crp field tomorrow morning. Yes I am a few days early but working on controlling thistles. 92 degrees in Northwest Ohio today. Tomorrow the same. Maybe early morning and late evening work-we will see how equipment and operator hold up.

115 acres is ALOT. What do you have for a tractor and mower?

I personally like starting at 5:30 or 6 in the morning, still cool and usually moist. And my average jobs of 4-5 acres, I can be done by 8 before things really start getting unpleasant.

Nice, I'm sure it helped that the material was so light... Looks mostly like short weeds and field grass, easy peasy for a b'hog. How many times a year do you mow that?

Yes alot of the area was light, some areas the grass was pretty dense and 5' tall. If this was 30 acres that hadnt been touched in 5 years, I would have charged a good bit more. But this has gotten mowed 1 a year for the last several years. But this was MY first time mowing it. The owner has an older case tractor.....didnt look at what it was for sure but guessing ~40HP, and a 6' mower. Said it takes him 16-18 hours to mow it over 2-3 days.

 

[k0ua]

LD1, it sounds like you have just about the ideal mowing setup. The only thing I would do is the canopy. That cab sure would be nice from the insect and dirt prospective.

 

[LD1]

My only concerns with a canopy, or cab for that matter, is the tree branches next to stuff. I dont what to have to try to explain to a customer why I left a 10' strip of unmowed stuff around all the trees and fences when the competitors using an open station machine can get right next to stuff.

 

[k0ua]

My only concerns with a canopy, or cab for that matter, is the tree branches next to stuff. I dont what to have to try to explain to a customer why I left a 10' strip of unmowed stuff around all the trees and fences when the competitors using an open station machine can get right next to stuff.

I guess wear a big broad brimmed hat.