Please give me safe bushhogging advice

[suttles]

We bought a new Kubota L3130 DT last week.
My husband was raised on a small farm in east TN.
He has some knowledge of operating a tractor. He is often careless on a riding lawnmower. He promised to be careful on this tractor. We recently bought 10 acres that is fairly level for TN. There are some tree stumps that were cut back in the winter. Also some small outcroppings of limestone rocks.
I have done some bushhogging with this tractor and just love it but I am so scared that my husband will do something absent minded.
Last weekend the first time he used it he had the bushhog down as low as it would go and was mowing over where the rock out croppings were. There were tall grass and some stumps.
The bushhog is a 5ft Grizzley stump jumper.
I had only used it the day before and learned a little about raising the pto when it looked like a low place could be around in the weeds.
I cought him with the tractor in 3rd gear and the bushhog at the lowest level and he had scraped some stumps and a few rocks.
Then this week end he went to another part of the property that also had stumps and mowed in 3-4 speed and these areas you cannot see the ground for the tall grass.
He is wearing a seat belt and we have a roll bar.
My concern is that he is going to fast in these areas and with his history of doing things like he did with the riding mower and I am not experienced enough to know what he is doing ok.
He always tells me what he is doing is ok even when he has to put a foot out on the ground to keep a riding lawn mower from tipping over.
I have read him all the horry stories from tractor accidents I could find.

Please advice. I have read all over the internet for information on these answers.
If I cannot find out I am leaving or he is selling this tractor.
We have needed one for a few years. But I am not going to baby sit him and worry about what he might do next.

I do really like this Kubota.
Thanks,
suttles

 

[ronjhall]

Welcome to TBN .
You should not have to leave your husband to keep him and the tractor safe. Make sure that all safety equipment is in place and being used.
1. PTO shaft cover & chains. PTO slip clutch is adjusted properly or proper shear pins is installed.
2. Use of protection chains on front and rear of rotary cutter.
3. Proper adjustment of 3PH. To allow correct movement of cutter on uneven ground.
4. Using safety equipment as required by tractor, rotary cutter manufactures. Which may include hearing and head protection.
5. Never leave tractor seat with rotary cutter.
6. Never enter a field where rotary cutter is being used. Unless it is turned off. These attachment have been known to throw rock and other item a great distance.
Most of the above items should be included in the owners manual for the tractor and rotary cutter From your description of how he is using tractor. I would be more worried about tractor or rotary cutter breakage.
I'm sure others will have more to add.

 

[roxynoodle]

I don't have a lot of bush hogging experience. I will add that several people told me to use one that is not much wider than the tractor. Use an over-run clutch so that the mower doesn't keep pushing the tractor forward when you want to stop. And, yes, they can shoot out rocks at a rather high speed! The first poster gave you good advice.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Beyond the obvious, which is all the saftey and common sense items expressed above, BE ALERT! Pay careful attention to EVERYTHING going on around you while mowing. (That applies full time, not just when mowing)

BE PREPARED! When mowing around rocks, you're going to hit one now and then. Most people keep a hand on the lift control to raise a mower up in a big hurry. Raise it, but not all the way up. (operator will develope a "feel" for when the mower is "high enough" to clear obsticals.) Takes time for some, but enough rocks exploding under you makes the learning curve go quick. The reason you don't want the mower "all the way up" when it hits something? That mower deck is your first line of defense from anything hitting the operator, or sending a projectile into flight. If the deck is low to the ground, it will catch MOST things sent flying. In a perfect world, nothing will get hit. In an ordinary day of bush hogging rocky terrain, well, it ain't a perfect world.

Go SLOW. Especially as the operator is just learning. Don't test the limits of your reaction time. That applies as well to experienced operators as new ones.

Keep in mind that injuries recieved with equipment like this ISN'T usually a minor deal. There's the possibility of serious-to-fatal injury. One mistake can be the last. I'm not trying to scare you, just call your attention to the reason why you HAVE to be safe. No margin for error.

Bottom line is though, it isn't "rocket science". Most anyone can learn to run a tractor SAFELY. You just need to have a healthy dose of RESPECT for the forces you're dealing with.

 

[jrdellaratta]

Knowing nothing of your situtation, may I suggest that you do all the cutting, if only to prevent him from having to? You're concern for his safety, and your own, suggests that you have the most important thing in mind: safety. You know, at least generally, what NOT to do.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Please advice. I have read all over the internet for information on these answers.
suttles

Simple, hide the keys. Don't let him use it. Better to have him angry for you saying no than having a life threatening injury because you did not want to hurt his feelings.
Bob

 

[ptfarmermd]

The safety advice given by the others is solid advice.
I have been using a bush hog to maintain 60+ acres of pastures for the past 4 or 5 years.
My tractor has a 12 x 12 synchronized shuttle shift transmission. It has a range selector of low, medium or high. The gears are 1st through 4th gear, with a lever for forward or reverse. If I have the range selector in low, I put the gear selector in 3rd or 4th gear to bush hog. If I have the range selector in medium, then the gear selector is in 1st or 2nd.
The range and gear selection depends on the terrain, obstacles like rocks or stumps, and the thickness of what I am cutting. Most of the time I bush hog in medium range 1st gear.
Safety is the first rule to follow. If your husband is using the bush hog in third or fourth gear, I believe he is running it too fast, unless it is in the low range like mine.
This is just my two pennies worth of advice.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Is it possible you are overreacting and thinking somethign is extemely dangerous when really it isnt?

On my tractor I almost always mow in third gear, sometimes in second and i can't really think on anything that I have routinely done in first gear.

Again I am not there and don't know the situation but if you are freaking out over someone putting their foot out to keep the mower from tipping you may be freaking out to easily!

Asfar as safety advice, make usre all of your gruards are in place, everything is in proper working order and go slow in areas you are unfamiliar with.

 

[Dargo]

I have a couple hundred acres of property that still has some rather unexplored areas that I'm using a rotary cutter on. I didn't read to see if you have a FEL. If you do, it can make a world of difference in safety and in protecting equipment. I always bush hog with my loader bucket at about the same height as my cutter. That way I catch most all of the bad things with my loader. I've found hundreds of rather large rocks that were hidden by the growth. Also, I've used the FEL to prevent from tipping over as well.

Other than that, I'd advise making sure you have a slip clutch in your PTO line to your cutter. That will save a lot of repairs and is far superior to shear bolts.

 

[suttles]

Thanks for all the suggestions,

We don't have a FEL and my husband has a history of being absent minded.

He is very smart but just does not think.
The grass he has been mowing in is taller than the tractor.
He just cruses along and then sometimes looks around the area he is mowing.
The first week end he was mowing he had the bush hog so low it would leave marks in the dirt.

He also got stuck on some rocks or stumps a couple of times.

We do have a clutch for the bush hog but it has not came in yet so it is not on it at this moment.

I was wrong about the type of bush hog it is a Kodiak not a grizzley.

One of these areas did have a sink hole that we had filled in last winter, it is close to a manure lagoon that has not been used in a few years.

His history with lawn mowers is bad enought that when he used them on a hill and had to put his foot out on the ground to keep from tipping it.
I watched that and he said he had not done anything dangerous
He would mow that bank every week. There was a page in the booklet that came with it that showed when a angle was to steep.
I even had a neighbor look at the diagram and he said it looked steeper than what it showed.
After all my nagging he still would mow it.
He always looked to see if I was watching.
I gave up.
I watched and he said he had not done anything dangerous.

These things do cause us a lot of arguing and I have to learn so that I can make sure what is safe with a tractor.
I sure wish there were some safety classes.

I love to use the tractor and I don't have experience until now.
If I tell him he cannot use it that is never going to work.
I am scared because I think about all the years that we will be needing to use one and how an I going to keep watching him.

I may not be right on some of these things but I am trying to learn.

The first week end I was mowing where some of the rock outcroppings were and it is in a large dip that is probably a 1/4 acre .
I would back up the steep parts and leave the pto disengaged until I reached the location that I would mow.

I did have it raised all the way and would slowly lower it.
Is this the wrong way?

I didn't realize that the rocks could hit the driver.
Reading on these forums I am learning things I had not realized.

I would lower it to about the half way then if it looked ok to mow I would go back over it with the pto lowered to about the number 6 .

Husband just didn't want to take that much time. That is why he lowered all the way.

I am sorry for all these questions but I do love this tractor and I am a middle age female with experience with a riding lawn mower that usually was treated like a tractor.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

travis in the east tn hills