Mowing 32 acres with a 4' mower

[riptides]

I routinely care for 20 acres with a five foot hog.

No biggy if you like doing it. Plus it keeps me off of other jobs. If you know what I mean.

-Mike Z.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I routinely care for 20 acres with a five foot hog.

No biggy if you like doing it. Plus it keeps me off of other jobs. If you know what I mean.

-Mike Z.

For 35+ years, I mowed the pastures and edges of fields on my 188 acres mainly with a 6' mower. Altogether, I probably cut 25 to 30 acres. But I never cut all of it at once. A little here, a few acres there, just when I had a little spare time. No rush. And if I wasn't mowing, I'd be looking for something else to do anyway, so why not mow.

Nowdays with the mowing business, it's all about productivity. How many acres an hour can we knock out. But that's at work. I STILL spend most of my hours on one of the smaller tractors with a 6' cutter.

I mow at home with a 6' cutter when the 15'er is sitting behind the barn at times.

I never did see the point in hurrying to finish something I love doing anyway.

 

[Soundguy]

I looked into getting a LandPride 10ft brush hog. $5800!!!! Mmmmm...think I'll keep the 6 footer.

Although the 10 footer would go fast, there's an intangible that I will share: Being out there alone, watching the hawks, the deer and being at peace with the myself. I only mow about 3 - 4 hours a day, so I'm not hurried. As long as I get it done by July 4th, I'm happy.

You can get kodiak and howse for nearly half that price.

Also watch the paper.. i see JD MX10's all day for 2500$.. I could buy 3 right now if I needed them.. same with batwings.. anywhere from 10' v wings to 12's and 15'ers inthe used paper for 1500-2900$

Soundguy

 

[schmism]

That's cause the blades of the mower acted like the propellor of an airplane and helped push the tractor along. Unless the field was moving in the opposite direction at the same speed, however, I don't think it would have taken off.

CLASSIC! (nice refrance)

 

[jsborn]

I looked into getting a LandPride 10ft brush hog. $5800!!!! Mmmmm...think I'll keep the 6 footer.

Although the 10 footer would go fast, there's an intangible that I will share: Being out there alone, watching the hawks, the deer and being at peace with the myself. I only mow about 3 - 4 hours a day, so I'm not hurried. As long as I get it done by July 4th, I'm happy.

I also find that mowing at my pace on my terms is cheeper than paying a shrink to listen to my trouble and serves the same purpose.

 

[Jae]

You can get kodiak and howse for nearly half that price.

Also watch the paper.. i see JD MX10's all day for 2500$.. I could buy 3 right now if I needed them.. same with batwings.. anywhere from 10' v wings to 12's and 15'ers inthe used paper for 1500-2900$

Soundguy

I guess out here in Texas them mowers are gold plated or somthin, as a quick search on Tractorhouse and Machinefinder pretty much comes up empty. With most 10 footers commin in at 5000+ and goin up from there. I did see a few for about 3500! but they were not in working order and needed repairs. I guess mowing is big business out here and the sellers know it. I wish i could find a 12 to 15 footer for a mere 1200-1500 but it just dosent happen, we pay that for 6-7 foot hogs out this way....

 

[Robert_in_NY]

You can get kodiak and howse for nearly half that price.

Also watch the paper.. i see JD MX10's all day for 2500$.. I could buy 3 right now if I needed them.. same with batwings.. anywhere from 10' v wings to 12's and 15'ers inthe used paper for 1500-2900$

Soundguy

Chris, the Kodiak mowers around here have a terrible reputation for build quality. The Howse has a King Kutter reputation. Heck the new John Deere batwings have a terrible reputation as the farmers who have them hate them and either already traded them or will trade them soon. Anywhere from the grass windrowing out the mower (JD has a kit you can buy to fix this problem ) and the pivot points for the wings wear out too easily.

Right now as far as brush choppers go, Rhino and Bush Hog have the best reputation for an entire line. I don't know anyone who has a Landpride chopper yet but would be interested to hear what they think of them.

 

[bjr]

I'm glad I'm in the desert. You guy's stories scare me. I couldn't imagine mowing 1-2" or bigger tress with my mower. I just mow grass. I did mow a old vineyard that wasn't cleaned very well and getting into a lot of wire and old small poles and it took a toll on my little 5' Brush Hog Razor Back (RZ60). I gave $750 4 yrs. ago brand new. The stuff you guys mow over must require converted deactivated Army tanks to cut. Even as smooth of ground I got I'm sure not able to watch the birds fly, I'm busy tryin' not to run into the fence or my irrigation mounting posts. I mow 2 acres, kinda small confined spaces. bjr

 

[Podunkadunk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farmwithjunk
I bid one tonight where a guy had started mowing 155 acres with a 5' mower behind a tired 9N ford. He thought it would take him about 10 hours.

43560*155/5/5280 = number of miles traveled = 255.75

I guess he thought the old 9N was good for mowing at 25.5 mph.

By my calculations, it would have taken the poor guy 73 hours to bushhog that 155 acres, and that's just seat time, not counting breaks, etc. Plus, he'd have to maintain a steady 3.5 miles per hour with the 5 foot strip he was cutting. He'd be moving at 5.1345 feet per second, every second. At that speed cutting (and I'm being nice) he'd have to cut an exact 5 foot strip as he goes. Of course there are variables like slowing for turns and having to turn around in general, which would just tack on more seat time....man, I'm bored, can't you tell?

Where do I sign up? When I'm on the tractor, the world stands still and I'm too far away from the hacienda to hear the Misses fussing with me!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Z-Michigan]

Not a dumb question at all; I WAS cutting/raking/baling the timothy and alfalfa, but I have nowhere to store the hay, got to be too much work for one guy and I recently started working full time; no time to make hay.

I felt it was better to keep the farm mowed rather than let the goldenrod and every weed on the planet to take over the fields.

Makes sense. Bit of a shame since hay prices are so high this year though. I would say hay yields in Michigan are only about 75% of normal so far this year, and we're not officially in a drought! And like every other state where corn could possibly be grown, there's more corn this year than ever (since 1943?) with less hay and soybeans in the fields. On the plus side, I guess your soil should be enriched with all that extra organic matter decaying into it.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Quote:






By my calculations, it would have taken the poor guy 73 hours to bushhog that 155 acres, and that's just seat time, not counting breaks, etc. Plus, he'd have to maintain a steady 3.5 miles per hour with the 5 foot strip he was cutting. He'd be moving at 5.1345 feet per second, every second. At that speed cutting (and I'm being nice) he'd have to cut an exact 5 foot strip as he goes. Of course there are variables like slowing for turns and having to turn around in general, which would just tack on more seat time....man, I'm bored, can't you tell?

Where do I sign up? When I'm on the tractor, the world stands still and I'm too far away from the hacienda to hear the Misses fussing with me!!!!!!!!!!

I just got back from checking in on my guys who're there mowing the place. Moving right along with it.

On average, a 5' mower probably cuts closer to 4' with overlap. Turns, fuel stops, lunch, and "pit stops", I'd suspect that old Ford would have been on the move closer to 110 or 120 hours. Lots of thistles too. My guys have to stop every hour or so to clear radiator screens.

 

[patrick_g]

I haven't mowed for hire since high school with a walk behind lawn mower but mow my own place as needed which is a quarter section less 10 ponds and some trees. I use a 40HP Kubota and HD brush hog. I have only a little flat smooth ground wilh the rest rough and or hilly. I soon learned that it takes longer and costs more to mow a good sized chunk of it than I ever originally thought.

What a hoot some of these stories are. Folks are really into self abuse in the name of saving $.

Pat

 

[IslandTractor]

behind lawn mower but mow my own place as needed which is a quarter section less 10 ponds and some trees.Pat

Pray tell, for us New Englanders, what is a "quarter section". I'm having mental images of something related to the midwestern land grant era of the mid 1800's.

 

[TwinWillows]

Island:
160 acre = quarter section. Try this link for more info on land "sections".

What is a Quarter Section?

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I have a 48 inch Taylorway brush hog. I mow two separate half acre pastures. This is what 4 ft. mowers were made for. It's perfect.

I just pretend that I'm really a farmer because I know all of you here on TBN.

 

[riptides]

Island:
160 acre = quarter section. Try this link for more info on land "sections".

What is a Quarter Section?

Obviously we have some land barons on this site.

I thought squatters rights were outlawed way back when.


-Mike Z.

 

[Soundguy]

While I did go look at a kodiak.. I do not have one. They did look about as 'economy'.. or maybee a little moreso thant he howse.

As for Howse and KK.. I've had no problems. OF course my KK is one o fthe old 'red' ones.. and my Howse is one of their HD line. Many poeple don't realize ( I'm not implying you.. just people in general ) that howse has a economy, medium, medium heavy and heavy duty lines. My HD 10' cutter has 1/2" plate all over the thing. I've accidentally swung wide and knocke dover trees that were 6" a the base.. and 4" trunked trees... nerry a scratch on the paint. and i won't even tell you what this thing will do to fenceposts (wink).

As for the JD's? I've only had one. and mine is from 98' It is built about like my economy KK I guess.. IE.. less HD than my Howse.. except at the hitch area. I did have one wing pivot break, but some cold rolled stock and a couple pounds of 6011 rod on a big ac stick welder glued that sucker right back on.

Pretty much all of the horse farms in this area are mowing with JD 1517 or 1518 mowers.. or 2018 mowers.

I have formed sheet metal guards on the rear of mine, and heavy duty 'belted' guards on the front... I don't notice any windrowing.. but.. perhaps those metal guards are the kit you refer to??

We only have 1 'bushog' dealer in the area.. and only one 'schulte' dealer., as well as 1 landpride dealer. We have a handfull of KK and howse dealers.. and well.. lesee.. 4 JD dealers in the area... That's probably why so many JD mowers...

Soundguy

Chris, the Kodiak mowers around here have a terrible reputation for build quality. The Howse has a King Kutter reputation. Heck the new John Deere batwings have a terrible reputation as the farmers who have them hate them and either already traded them or will trade them soon. Anywhere from the grass windrowing out the mower (JD has a kit you can buy to fix this problem ) and the pivot points for the wings wear out too easily.

Right now as far as brush choppers go, Rhino and Bush Hog have the best reputation for an entire line. I don't know anyone who has a Landpride chopper yet but would be interested to hear what they think of them.

 

[john_bud]

Obviously we have some land barons on this site.



-Mike Z.

I don't think you get to land barron status with less than 4 sections.
That way a 22 cal rifle bullit will fall on your own land when fired from the center.

jb

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I didn't mean any disrespect to the KK line other then the Howse is very similar in terms of quality as KK along the line. I do have a 5' King Kutter mower that came with the Ford 640 when we bought it. It cuts great but is not very heavy duty and the deck has numerous cracks. I know nothing about the chopper other then it is a KK but it does a good job cutting grass behind the 1920

The one cutter I would never waste my money on is the Kodiak. Isn't Kodiak the one building implements now for Mahindra? If so I hope they didn't just repaint them in Mahindra red.

The John Deere's they are not very impressed with are the CX and HX lines. Here is a recent discussion on them Viewing a thread - JD CX-15 flex wing mower

Not everyone uses their choppers the same way but it seems the newer Deere choppers are not holding up to the heavy use some people buy them for.

 

[patrick_g]

Pray tell, for us New Englanders, what is a "quarter section". I'm having mental images of something related to the midwestern land grant era of the mid 1800's.

I'm sorry, I thought by saying "quarter section" I was being complete and specific Around here anyone would have just said a quarter leaving the section implied but fully understood.

While we are at it lets cover section lines too.

When this area was surveyed it was drawn up in a rectangular grid with the grid lines on one mile centers. many of these section lines became roads using easement land from both sides. As survey crews worked their way through an area the further they went from the baseline and bench marks the more error tended to creep in. There are non-standard sections that aren't quite exactly one mile by one mile (640 acres.)

My property is in a slightly larger than standard section so although I have a neighbor with 1.2 acres cut out of my quarter section (1/2 mile by 1/2 mile) the over size error more than compensates.

If you feel comfortable thinking in terms of city blocks (which range from about 8-12 per mile) you can think of a quarter section as about 16 to 36 city blocks. An entire city block is only about 3.6 to 4 acres.

In the less productive areas of the southwest, larger ranches are required since it takes so many more acres to graze a head of stock. There sometimes land holdings are described as so many sections which to the uninitiated doesn't sound like very much if they "translate-mistake" sections into-for acres which is a common mistake and a times 640 error.

Put in perspective. A quarter section (160 acres) is a very common size land holding here and certainly not associated with bragin' rights. I don't know a single cattleman with less land than me.

Pat