right equip. to mow field?

[bgshgrr]

I bought a home on 9 acres 2 years ago. There is a 3 acre cultivated field previously used as a market garden on the property. I mow the grass with a JD 332. My plans previously were to simply keep the field black for a kept look. I have a Kubota b7610 and have tilled it with a 60" tiller. I have since decided to minimize soil erosion and overtilling of the soil. I would let natural grasses move back in and simply mow it a few times a year with a rear finish mower. My question to you folks is would a 5 ft. finish mower be ok to use a few times a year for this pupose and to share the work on the lawns with the 332? Or would a brush mower be the way to go. Thanks in advance!

 

[polo1665]

If you are only going to cut this field a couple of times a year I would recomment the you get a rough cut or brush mower for the b7610. I would not think that a finish mower would be suitable for that application.


Mark

 

[RoyJackson]

I agree with polo1665. A finishing mower is an expensive piece of equipment to ruin on a field that is only mowed a few times a year. Cutters are considerably tougher, yet considerably cheaper then finishing mowers.
Personally, I'd still go with a 5' cutter (some guys will disagree with me on this). Your B7610 is on the lower end of the power requirements for a 5' cutter but can handle that mowing fine...you may have to slow down if the tractor bogs though.

 

[bgshgrr]

Well thanks guys, that does help! I have neither owned or used either piece of equipment. I will look into a rough cut mower at 5 ft. max. Thanks again!

 

[Will_C]

I have about the same situation as you-I bought a 10 acre piece last year that I hope to build a house on soon. I can keep 6 acres mowed on a bi-weekly basis with my ZTR or with a 5' finish mower, but if it goes any longer, I have to use my bush hog. I bought a 54" Woods cutter, because I also use on some hunting property that only gets cut 2-3 times yearly. I have a B2620, the newer version of your tractor-if I was only planning to mow the field every month to 6 weeks, I would have bought a 5' cutter.

Will

 

[jenkinsph]

I would agree on the 5' brush mower and would suggest that planting some type of native grass while it is tilled would be a better bet. If it has been used commercially for a long period of time most of the native grasses may have been killed off. Grass tends to be easier to cut and would look better too.

 

[Soundguy]

no way I'd mow 'native grasses' with a finish mower if I was only cutting a few times a year.. you will get some brush in there, andthey will get too tall and really load and wear out the mower and the tractor lugging it.

get a rough cut mower and slightly sharpen the blades.. it'l do fine..

soundguy

I bought a home on 9 acres 2 years ago. There is a 3 acre cultivated field previously used as a market garden on the property. I mow the grass with a JD 332. My plans previously were to simply keep the field black for a kept look. I have a Kubota b7610 and have tilled it with a 60" tiller. I have since decided to minimize soil erosion and overtilling of the soil. I would let natural grasses move back in and simply mow it a few times a year with a rear finish mower. My question to you folks is would a 5 ft. finish mower be ok to use a few times a year for this pupose and to share the work on the lawns with the 332? Or would a brush mower be the way to go. Thanks in advance!

 

[dangerdoc]

I bought a home on 9 acres 2 years ago. There is a 3 acre cultivated field previously used as a market garden on the property. I mow the grass with a JD 332. My plans previously were to simply keep the field black for a kept look. I have a Kubota b7610 and have tilled it with a 60" tiller. I have since decided to minimize soil erosion and overtilling of the soil. I would let natural grasses move back in and simply mow it a few times a year with a rear finish mower. My question to you folks is would a 5 ft. finish mower be ok to use a few times a year for this pupose and to share the work on the lawns with the 332? Or would a brush mower be the way to go. Thanks in advance!

Lets see if I understand the question. You are currently mowing 6 acres with a lawn tractor and you are asking about what to do with the 3 acres?

Personally, I would get somebody to disk it for you and seed it with an appropriate native grass then keep it mown along with the 6 acres you are already maintaining. It would not add that much to your mowing and will look much better.

 

[Soundguy]

9ac on a rider lawnmower? you got to be kidding? by the time he got to the end of the week and finished it, the beginning would need mowing again!!!

that guy needs a tractor / mower combo.. not a rider mower..

soundguy

 

[gwjd]

just a thought and this is open for discussion but flail mower ?

 

[bgshgrr]

Of my 9 acres, 2 are bush, 3 are cult. field, and 4 are yardsite currently cut with my JD garden tractor, I would like a ztr, but home renos and young children are getting to my money before I can. The Kubota dealer has a nice zd 326, but alas... mucho dinero. I have heard good things about a flail mower, but I think for the amount of use the cost would be too great. I don't really want another 3 acres of "lawn", but would like something natural and maintained. I am not sure what would come up if left to grow and jenkinsph made a good point about what is left to grow. To the best of my knowledge the plot was used for two years with little chemical use. As mentioned above I may have to look at seeding at some point. This is all fairly new to me and so I will learn as I go, with the help of those such as yourselves.

 

[bgshgrr]

WillC, what type of ground speed would you say you average brushhogging at about 18" of growth?

 

[dangerdoc]

9ac on a rider lawnmower? you got to be kidding? by the time he got to the end of the week and finished it, the beginning would need mowing again!!!

that guy needs a tractor / mower combo.. not a rider mower..

soundguy

I mow about 12 acres on a riding mower. It takes about 5 hours including trimming. My riding mower is narrower than the finish mower but it is faster with the mower than the tractor. Looks better with the riding mower too.

I'd agree but with a tractor on 9 acres, you spend more time turning than mowing.

 

[Soundguy]

what kind of rider mower are you talking about... sounds like a ZTR.. NOT a standard rider like a snapper or crapsman like most homeowners have.

I don't agree that you spend more time turning on 9ac than mowing.. I mow a 10ac pasture and plan it for the least turns as possible

soundguy

 

[dangerdoc]

what kind of rider mower are you talking about... sounds like a ZTR.. NOT a standard rider like a snapper or crapsman like most homeowners have.

I don't agree that you spend more time turning on 9ac than mowing.. I mow a 10ac pasture and plan it for the least turns as possible

soundguy

I'm using a ZTR.

You may be right, I just googled JD332, it's a little smaller than I expected. My brother mows about 10 acres with a JD lawn tractor but it has a 5 ft deck and more HP.

 

[Soundguy]

yeah, big difference in teh average ZTR and the average rider ( which is usually 36-48" cut unless you get a monster rider.. ).

given the slower ground speed of the average rider.. large acerage mowing is a daunting task.. not to mention hard on the mower. My neighbor mows 3ac with a rider.. in 10ys he's on his 3rd one.. has already wore out one craftsman, and one jd, and on his 2nd jd....

soundguy

 

[BeezFun]

I mowed 6 acres of pasture with a 48" craftsman mower pulling a 60" swisher trail mower for a few years after we bought our house because I couldn't afford a tractor. The mower came free with the house, I paid $1200 for the swisher. So that gave me just over an 8' cutting width. I finally got a tractor and have a 5' bush hog and it takes longer to mow with that than it did with the lawn tractor. One of our boarders likes to mow so she uses the tractor to mow the pasture. When I was mowing I attached the swisher to the back of the bush hog so I could cut about 9' but it was hard to maneuver around trees and corners, and nearly impossible to back up. The swisher still works fine, I loaned it to a friend who bought 10 acres and can't afford a tractor, so he pulls the swisher with his garden tractor that came with the house. History repeats itself.

 

[big e]

This is based on my plans for my overgrown pasture fields... may or may not be for you.

Stop tilling it. You'll just bring up millions of old weed seeds. Spray it with round up after spring green up, let it green up, spray again. Drill seed in some praire grass/flowers so as not to disturb undesirable seeds (county farm services have seed drills to borrow). Then hog it, or better yet, burn it every three years to keep trees and woody growth from getting a foothold. Natives love being burned, invasives don't. Best practice is to hog/burn one third each year so animals can move to a different part of the field for nesting... as opposed to doing the whole thing at once, then it'd be bare one year.
The deer, rabbits, birds, bees, voles, butterflies, etc., will love it.

Exact timing for spraying/planting can be gotten from your local version of this:
Ohio Prairie Association

Pheasants Forever might even do matching dollars with you and provide expertise.

 

[bgshgrr]

Some interesting suggestions there Big e, I will look into that. Thanks!

 

[Diamondpilot]

My thought is a Bush Hog. You will tear up stuff if you only mow it a few times a year using anything else.

Chris