The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[dodge man]

Do you ever get poison ivy clearing the fence rows? That stuff scares me.

 

[Jchonline]

Yeah that piece is a real head-scratcher. The HOA has a lot of cash coming in, but they are very tight with money. I have offered to hay that parcel for 10 years now for free, but they’d rather pay. My guess is there’s a “farming hater” on the board that doesn’t want hay to be produced.

It’s not bad down here-still very sparsely populated. I live in a very unique area. You can go 20 miles northeast and be in crime ridden Philadelphia. You can go 10 miles southwest and be in very rural, remote farmlands where ATV’s and horse & buggies run on the roads.

Some of the ground out here is tied-up in conservancy or private restricted space. LOTS of farmland remaining, too. Takes a while to get in touch with the owners & managers of these lands and get them to trust you into caring for it.

The other complaints we have run into is the dust generated. Not sure if thats an issue around PA but it is in TX.

 

[Hay Dude]

Do you ever get poison ivy clearing the fence rows? That stuff scares me.

I haven’t yet. Usually we are clearing in colder weather, so we are in long pants and long sleeves. Maybe thats why we don’t?
I try to wear gloves when pulling on vines, too. My hands look like baseball mitts from years of work.

 

[Hay Dude]

Cutting detention basins while frozen.

Have a few customers left to cut that wait until January and February. Pics coming.

 

[Gator6x4]

I hope you are in a cabbed tractor and wearing a mask. It looks like you are generating a lot of fine particles or the pictures of the top of your rotary cutter looks like it.

 

[Hay Dude]

Mowed about 40 acres today. Another 40 tomorrow.

Started about 9 AM. I like to wait until cars are mostly off the road from morning rush. Here’s a pic taken right on the PA/DE border.

A few more:

Making some progress

Pretty much done by 3PM

Now on to a little bigger field- about 40 acres.
Started about 3, worked until about dusk.

Caught a nice Red Tail Hawk in a huge Sycamore.

 

[Doorman63]

How’s the ground conditions?
Still a bit soft in southern Illinois.

 

[dirttoys]

Good looking work, I especially enjoy the fence rows, need to invest in better weed eater............ Well done.

Best,

ed

 

[Hay Dude]

How’s the ground conditions?
Still a bit soft in southern Illinois.

It’s a bit soft, but with the temporary warming trend, there’s nothing that can be done. Still needs to be cut, so I wait until its dry as possible. So far this winter we’ve only had 2-3 days of lightly frozen ground.
Rain coming later this week, so I need to finish up and wait for it to dry out again. Have my biggest customer left to do.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Good looking work, I have been doing a little land and property maintenance as well , here is a few pictures of a 16 acre parcel that I did the other day with the skid steer as there were just to many stumps for me to put either of my tractors in.

 

[EddieWalker]

I understand mowing the fields with the weeds, but in the first set of pictures you posted, it looked like you where mowing a nice hay field. Is that correct? Is there a reason for mowing a hay field now that improves the hay?

 

[Hay Dude]

I understand mowing the fields with the weeds, but in the first set of pictures you posted, it looked like you where mowing a nice hay field. Is that correct? Is there a reason for mowing a hay field now that improves the hay?

Its because they only wanted 1 hay mowing that year. We took hay in July and then did a final mowing to return some organic matter back to the soil.
Some guys will cut hay for years and never put anything back, which just results in diminished tonnage.
Gotta put something back.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks. I'm trying to learn about hay, and improving pastures for cattle. It's kind of overwhelming.

 

[Hay Dude]

Thanks. I'm trying to learn about hay, and improving pastures for cattle. It's kind of overwhelming.

Once you get that backhoe up to your brothers land and clean it all up, you’ll be well on your way.
I will help you however I can. I bet TxJim will be able to give you some great advice since you are in similar climates.

 

[big bubba]

looks like some heavy duty elec corridor lines traversing your place. bucolic property you have

 

[Hay Dude]

I believe those are the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant or power lines from the Coniwingo Dam hydro electric power plant.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Good looking work, I have been doing a little land and property maintenance as well , here is a few pictures of a 16 acre parcel that I did the other day with the skid steer as there were just to many stumps for me to put either of my tractors in.View attachment 782804View attachment 782804View attachment 782806View attachment 782807View attachment 782808View attachment 782809View attachment 782810

How long to complete that job? 72” mower?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

How long to complete that job? 72” mower?

It took me 12 hours, it had been logged 3 years ago so I was able to pretty much turn most of the debris into smaller chips , but it was rough due to the stumps.

 

[Hay Dude]

Getting ready for next big cut…..

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Getting ready for next big cut…..

View attachment 782969

Good maintenance and a nickle's worth of grease saves a lot of money and helps for many trouble free hours of work.