Mowing 32 acres with a 4' mower

[daTeacha]

I mowed 8 acres with a 4' bush hog behind a B7100 -- once. Took more time than I care to remember since the stuff was tall and thick, the sun was hot and the ground was hilly. Most of it was 2nd or 3rd gear time. I can't imagine 155 acres with a 5' mower.

 

[Soundguy]

Takes me about 40 - 50 hours to mow 80 acres of very tall timothy in the month of June. I use a New Holland TN65 with a LandPride 6 ft. brush hog. I generally use 3rd gear, low range. Got lots of hills and WAY TOO many groundhog holes.

In the end...it really looks nice.

Wow.. to me.. that would be a 'sign' to upgrade to a larger mower!

Soundguy

 

[Glowplug]

Wow.. to me.. that would be a 'sign' to upgrade to a larger mower!

No kidding!

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Wow.. to me.. that would be a 'sign' to upgrade to a larger mower!

Soundguy

The sign I see says put up a fence and start running cattle on that place!

Or find someone to cut and bale on shares.

 

[john_bud]

The sign I see says put up a fence and start running cattle on that place!

Or find someone to cut and bale on shares.

No kidding! I bet I could go down to the local feed mill and get someone to cut and bale it up - and not even charge you!

jb

 

[Soundguy]

The sign I see says put up a fence and start running cattle on that place!

Or find someone to cut and bale on shares.

That worked for me.. I just transfered a few animals over to a pasture that I put a couple cross fences on.. cut about 1/3 of my mowing out... lowered my feed bill too... cattle were in a sand lot after 2 years of drought

Soundguy

 

[Chuck_Lind]

Not to ask a dumb question - but if you have 80 acres of tall timothy, why aren't you cutting and baling it as hay?

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.

It was nice cover for the newly-born fawns, the wild turkey and the rabbits; not to mention those lowest-of-the-low varmints...groundhogs.

 

[Chuck_Lind]

Wow.. to me.. that would be a 'sign' to upgrade to a larger mower!

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.

 

[cp1969]

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.

 

[daTeacha]

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.