Tractor Sizing The right size?

[PaulinSD]

When I lived in Northern Michigan, we had 78 acres, and mowed 44 of them. I traded the Ford 8-N in on a Ford 3000 diesel. We also had a 5' rotary cutter, and a 5' flail mower. I could mow the entire palce and trim it in 24 hours, or about 3 eight hour days. The 3000 had 38 HP at the PTO, and we paid $3500 plus the 8-N. Greaty machine. Live hydraulics and PTO. I certainly could have used a much larger mower, but I took a couple of years off work when my dad died, so I had plenty of time. The guy who had a small farm across the road had the same tractor, but a gas job, and baled with a JD 14T and pulled one hay wagon on gently rolling land. At that point in time, it worked very well for us.

Paul

 

[Bird]

Paul, tell me why you had both a rotary cutter and a flail mower, which one you used for what, etc. I've never seen a flail mower used except along the highway right-of-way in West Virginia, but a rancher neighbor recently watched one mowing a pecan orchard and thinks he wants one, so I've been trying to learn a bit more about them.

Bird

 

[rf33]

I went with the 8' disc because I use it to work the dirt in some more confined areas like round pens and riding arenas, and I think that a 12' disc would be a little harder to get in and out through the gates. If I were only using it in open fields, I would probably have a 15' flex wing disc.

rf33

/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[PaulinSD]

We bought the rotary first, and kept the tall grass down with that for the first year. On a visit to the Ford dealer, he had a 5' flail demo, and the price was right. The flail will cut down to 1" high, I usualy mowed at 2". It is more of a finish mower, and did produce excellent results. The Ford model we had, placed 2 flail blades back to back in each mounting bolt. the result was not a T, but a Y. 96 of these on a 5' unit, and being reversable, turn them around and twice the cutting life. This mower, like many other flails, had the 3 point offset about a foot so the right side extended past the right rear tractor tire, you could mow very close to objects, and keep trimming to a minimum.

Paul

 

[Bird]

Thanks for the information, Paul. The more I learn about flail mowers, the more I think I'd like that, but it definitely not in the budget in the near future (might be for my neighbor though).

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks to all for your input, you've be a great help!