12’ Batwing - can my L6060 handle it?

[NonTypicalCPA]

I think I want a 12’ batwing chopper to maintain a hunting lease. Mowing around 60 acres annually of 4’ tall grass/weeds and brush up to 2” thick. The field isn’t all that thick, but some is. The property has some rolling hills but nothing steep. My 6060 is open station with a loader. Will it handle the 12’ or should I go with a 10’?

 

[JWR]

I mow about that same amount of acreage every year (some of it twice a year) with a 7ft Bush Hog using an 81hp MF2660 tractor, open station. With the rocks here and there, it is very times consuming but I can cover about 2.2 ac per hour. Have tried a 7'5" flail mower which works great BUT will not stand the frequent limbs and hidden obstacles. Too much down time replacing flails, etc. Woods for example says you can use a min 45hp at PTO to pull their 15' batwing. You have about 53hp at your PTO and I would think at least on paper you should be able to handle a 12' batwing in a fairly robust manner. I assume this gets mowed every year and is not "first time ever mowed" or some ball-buster like that. You are not clearing property with arm thick thorn trees I assume and from what you say once in a while a 2" limb or small tree of some sort. I don't know your constraints and variables but these large batwings are too darn expensive for my blood. Like 4 times what I paid for a 7ft Bush Hog. If your time is very tight and at a costly premium maybe you can justify the batwing. Another issue I would think is maneuvering in tight places and other issues from size. I say that having zero experience using a batwing however.

 

[oosik]

Your 6060 should handle a 12 footer. A ten footer would probably go easier.

A suggestion - get all the hunters together for a day of "fod detection". Like they do to clear the deck of an aircraft carrier. Have them either remove or mark all foreign objects.

This will save major repair costs to any mower. You are not going to see hidden objects as you mow four foot tall grass.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm pulling a 12 foot batwing behind my 70 hp tractor without any issues. I know that some people pull a 15 foot mower with the same tractor.

In my opinion, your 60 hp tractor should handle a 12 foot batwing without any issue.

The best thing about the 12 foot batwing is how it bend to fit the ground. I just love mowing my ditches and seeing the deck in three different positions as it fits into the ditch.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

First off, the 6060 is an "L" series tractor, it's just not built as heavy as an ag tractor.

Seems light to me for that big of a mower, and it's not a 60hp tractor either, at least not at the pto where it counts.

SR

 

[dieselscout80]

The Woods and Rhino 12’ batwings rotary cutters list 35HP as their minimum, so if you’re at +50 a L6060 should work. If you’re in really steep terrain maybe it might push it around as they are +2000 pounds.

 

[Fastball714]

I pull a 11' finishing mower with a L4060. It does a great job. It does slow down a little on this one hill, but it maybe the anti stall.

 

[SDT]

I think I want a 12’ batwing chopper to maintain a hunting lease. Mowing around 60 acres annually of 4’ tall grass/weeds and brush up to 2” thick. The field isn’t all that thick, but some is. The property has some rolling hills but nothing steep. My 6060 is open station with a loader. Will it handle the 12’ or should I go with a 10’?

Your 53 PTO HP L6060 should handle a 12' BW in many conditions so long as you do not expect to set speed records. That said, 2" is getting up there unless the brush is rather soft.

Sounds like you plan to mow only once each year. If so, August, or even winter is the time when it will cut most easily. Keep in mind that heavy grass requires much more HP than does tall brush and weeds.

Before buying your mower, carefully research the required distance between the drawbar and PTO shaft. Some cutters and, I believe all with so-called self-leveling hitches, require more distance between the drawbar and PTO shaft than your L6060 has. Yes, Kubota offers a dropped drawbar to address this condition, but your hitch will be very close to the ground when using one.

FWIW, I used a heavy Woods BB720X 6' cutter with my L6060 ROPS, since sold, and it was all it wanted in some conditions. Yes, I do cut close but also keep blades sharp.

 

[Fallon]

I run a 7.2' flail on my L4060. I wish I had L6060 to spin it, but it works. I'm usually limited by power. When it's in the mid 90s I get limited by cooling after a few hours. At 1,500-1,600lbs even close up that's as much as I want on my 3pt.

No clue what that means for your L6060 & a towed or semi mount rotary though.

 

[rutwad]

Since you're mowing once a year, I can imagine it's pretty thick. That may slow you down some. You could get a 10 ft batwing and likely not have to slow down as much, so cutting time may be about the same. And the 10 ft will fit through a 8 ft gate of that matters.