Advice you would give someone getting into Bush Hogging?

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

I bought a Mahindra 5555 a few days ago, it came with a 7ft bush hog. I advertised locally offering bush hog work and driveway maintenance, to my surprise I have gotten many folks needing bush hog work done locally.

What advice would you give someone that’s never ran a bush hog before? Walk the field first? Run with bucket down? Take pallet forks off and put on a bucket?

What size tree is too big to hog? At what point do I bring a chainsaw? Do I keep a saw on the tractor? When is a field to far gone and it’s just land clearing at that point? What to charge for land clearing?

What advice would you give bidding jobs? Written or verbal contract to mow? What kinda insurance if any?

I don’t have a trailer, how far would you run the tractor on the road? 5 miles? 10 miles? 100 miles? Not wanting to eat my tires up for a few hundred bucks but farmers run on roads all the time and get a long life out of tires. (I have R1 tires on my tractor)

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[caver]

Be prepared for things that sting.

 

[MossRoad]

Ask yourself:

Do you have insurance?

 

[shooterdon]

Do not operate a BH near people, vehicles or buildings. I have seen stones flung a long way.

Get insurance...unless you have nothing to lose.

I would never BH a field until I walked it.

If you need a chainsaw, you are not BH'ing. Charge extra for that work. And you likely need to move anything that large off the field.

You need to cover the cost of insurance, maintenance, fuel and your time...whatever you think that is worth. No need to cover depreciation as you suffer that cost unless you bought the equipment just to use in the business.

I use a local guy for the limited back hoe work I need. He is 4 miles away and trailers the tractor to my property. I do not have a trailer but would run my tractor 5 miles to help a friend. I think 10 miles is too far.

If you are dealing with checks, you are safer claiming the income for taxes. Since you have advertised your services, a disgruntled customer could turn you in anyway. People expect a discount for cash because they know you are likely not paying taxes.

My buddy and I are looking at starting a portable mill and firewood processing business. If we move forward, I will be talking to a CPA for tax advice and attorney to form an LLC. If your business is successful you will need both. You will need to cover those costs as well. Attorney is one time cost, unless you get sued.

 

[Hay Dude]

I bought a Mahindra 5555 a few days ago, it came with a 7ft bush hog. I advertised locally offering bush hog work and driveway maintenance, to my surprise I have gotten many folks needing bush hog work done locally.

What advice would you give someone thatç—´ never ran a bush hog before? Walk the field first? Run with bucket down? Take pallet forks off and put on a bucket?

What size tree is too big to hog? At what point do I bring a chainsaw? Do I keep a saw on the tractor? When is a field to far gone and itç—´ just land clearing at that point? What to charge for land clearing?

What advice would you give bidding jobs? Written or verbal contract to mow? What kinda insurance if any?

I don稚 have a trailer, how far would you run the tractor on the road? 5 miles? 10 miles? 100 miles? Not wanting to eat my tires up for a few hundred bucks but farmers run on roads all the time and get a long life out of tires. (I have R1 tires on my tractor)

Thanks for any and all advice.

You have a lot of questions, and they are mostly good questions. I brush hog over 1000 acres per year along with farming a lot of hay. I started in a similar way to you, but didnt advertise much. I run 2 130HP tractors and 2 Deere CX15 folding mowers with CAT 6 drive lines.
I try to walk any new fields I do first, before bidding. Wear tough shoes and long pants and spray to avoid ticks.
I wouldnt be opposed to running with a bucket on a new field. Keep it about 10 off ground curled all the way back and use it to feel for stumps or objects. Once I know the field, I remove the bucket, but keep loader on for pushing downed trees away or brush down and protecting front of tractor. Can also save your butt if you get stuck.
The size of the tree you can bush hog depends on the grade/gear box/driveline of your bush hog. Look your model up and see what it can handle. Mine will handle up to 4 inch material, but I rarely have used it to do that. I would cut the tree down first with a saw. I will back over 2-3 inch material carefully then grind it up.
I keep a saw on the tractor most times, especially on new fields. Handy for fallen trees on existing/known fields and gives you the opportunity to make a little more money along the way. I keep mine in the cab. I also keep an older gas powered blower bungee corded to the bush hog deck to clean debris off mower when Im done.

When you say what to charge for land clearing? I would say thats a totally different business. Land clearing usually involves chain saws, Fecon style mowers mounted on tracked skid steer and a tub grinder to chip all the debris up. Are you going into the land clearing business? Thats a pretty expensive undertaking and a step above field mowing and brush hogging.

As far as bidding, thats up to you, but right now I charge $150+ per hour. I am running 15 mowers on 130HP tractors, so I can cut more and faster than your set up. When I first started 20 years ago, I had a 75HP tractor and a 8 twin spindle mower. I charged about $100 per hour. Whatever you do, dont undersell yourself. I can guarantee you you WILL break things and get flat tires. Make sure you save some of your earnings for future repairs. And while we are on the subject of tires DO NOT fill tires with liquid. You WILL be sorry. Use cast center wheels/wheel weights.

Yes, you MUST have insurance if its a business. Its irresponsible not to carry insurance. Its part of the cost of doing business.

I Road all machinery within 10-15 miles. Anything further and I usually get on my trailer. All depends on available road conditions. I can run on back roads that are much more dangerous than driving in a straight line down a 4 lane highway for 15 miles. Make sure you have lots of lighting 4 way flashers on and SMV emblems on mower.
R4s are ok tires, but for bush hogging as a business, I only run R1s. They get far far better traction and youll need it on soft or sloped ground.

 

[workinonit]

The first thing I would do is take that front end loader off of the tractor. That is one thing that I think is the most dangerous thing folks do with tractors. It distorts the balance of the tractor, blocks the forward view and hangs something on the front that is a good 8 to 10 feet in front of the tractor. And you don't cut trees with your bush hog. Fluid driven cutters can cut larger brush but shaft driven hogs put too much stress on the PTO if brush gets too big. Hopefully your cutter has a clutch.

 

[jeff9366]

I bought a Mahindra 5555 a few days ago, it came with a 7ft bush hog. I advertised locally offering bush hog work and driveway maintenance, to my surprise I have gotten many folks needing bush hog work done locally.

A light duty or medium duty Rotary Cutter will soon expire in commercial service.

You need a heavy duty Rotary Cutter which would weigh about 1,200 pounds in seven foot width and have a Category 4 drive line. You will need chain trash guards front and rear. Solid guards are for (flexible) grass only. When solid guards bend, blades cut the guards and the deck - $$.


People do the "regular" jobs themselves. They hire out the tough jobs.

 

[Hay Dude]

The first thing I would do is take that front end loader off of the tractor. That is one thing that I think is the most dangerous thing folks do with tractors. It distorts the balance of the tractor, blocks the forward view and hangs something on the front that is a good 8 to 10 feet in front of the tractor. And you don't cut trees with your bush hog. Fluid driven cutters can cut larger brush but shaft driven hogs put too much stress on the PTO if brush gets too big. Hopefully your cutter has a clutch.

Distorts balance? It actually counterbalances the mower on the back.
Blocks view? Yeah maybe a little, but one can easily see over the curled back and lowered bucket.
8-10 feet in front of the tractor? When my bucket is lowered, it might stick out 6 feet, not 10 feet.

In a new field, the safety and potential damage saved by having a loader on the tractor far outweighs and minimal visual obstruction. Besides, if you are mowing a new field, you won’t be able to see anything at the bottom of 4-5 foot weeds anyway. If you drive slowly and feel for obstructions with the curled back bucket, you could save yourself thousands in tractor and mower damage and possible bodily injury.
On reliable, known fields, much less need for loader bucket.

One other thing to note. If you are cutting a field and you see that a vehicle drove into the field, be aware of dumpers. They will dump trash and objects into fields you may hit.

 

[LouNY]

A light duty or medium duty Rotary Cutter will soon expire in commercial service.

You need a heavy duty Rotary Cutter which would weigh about 1,400 pounds in seven foot width and have a Category 4 drive line.

People do the "regular" jobs themselves. They hire out the tough jobs.

A cat 4 pto shaft is only rated for 35 hp at 540rpm, thats not heavy duty.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

A light duty or medium duty Rotary Cutter will soon expire in commercial service.

You need a heavy duty Rotary Cutter which would weigh about 1,400 pounds in seven foot width and have a Category 4 drive line.

People do the "regular" jobs themselves. They hire out the tough jobs.

It’s not the heavy duty bush hog but I’ll see how it holds up. If I trash it I’ll buy a heavier duty one if I have enough of a demand.

It’s got the cat 4 drive line and a 130hp gear box on a 55hp tractor lol.

I’ll be sure not to chop anything more than 2” like it says.