Sickle Bar sickle vs. disk vs. drum mowers

[little1406]

I think a fair amount of this decision depends upon the type of grass you're mowing. I'm in Central Texas and all my grass is coastal Bermuda (or a variant). It's really limp and has no stem strength at all. I have been struggling to use a sickle bar mower and even when freshly sharpened, it just doesn't cut my grass very well. Grass tends to pile up on the bar and in front of the bar. When that happens, the incoming grass is pushed down and it slides under the bar without getting cut. We've also got gophers and really sandy soil. When that sickle bar mows down a gopher mound, it dulls the cutting edges really fast.

My neighbor's vocation is cutting and baling hay for other folks. He's used every mower type extensively and he now has only discbine type mowers. He agrees that sickle bar mowers are really poor for a lot of Bermuda grass situations. I asked him today about drum mowers (which apparently rub on the ground to maintain desired cutting distance and he said to stay away....far away from them. I didn't find out why.