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.