Advice you would give someone getting into Bush Hogging?

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Thanks everyone for the insight and advice. I have read all the comments and they have been helpful.

Bush hogging is simplistic yet more complicated than I realized which is why I started this thread. Most of you brought up things for me to look into or info I haven’t come across in videos or knew to research.

I just hooked the hog up this evening, adjusted it, adjusted the draft control etc. couldn’t find the grease gun so that’s next. Along with checking oil in grease box. Didn’t even have grass to test it on, my yard is way too short lol.

Also didn’t think I would but even managed to squeeze it in the barn with the hog attached! That was a plus.



ROPS are only folded to get it in the barn, mowing I plan to leave them up.

Thanks again for advice. Keep it coming. I plan to call about insurance in next couple days.

 

[3Ts]

Yep. Besides hitting the concealed dead animal carcasses, there's tires, trash, tie-down straps and metal ratchets, metal bars, T-posts, chunks of concrete

And rebar sticking out of concrete to puncture tires and an old truck axle. You'll be amazed at what you'll find and the damage it can do to your equipment. And hornets/wasps that build their nests underground, carry bug repellent and bug killer as well as something like Benadryl for when you get stung.

 

[4570Man]

The road isn’t R1 tires friend. They wear pretty fast. But that aside I hate driving equipment any distance. My vehicle carries my grease gun, leaf blower, enough tools to handle most problems, a cooler, a much faster way back if you don’t get the job done, and a way back at all if you break down or get stuck. And I hate mowing with a loader on. It’s not a slight reduction in visibility it’s a huge reduction in visibility and turning radius. If the field is in such bad shape you actually need that protection you’d probably be better served to quite while you’re ahead and get a skid steer brush mower.

 

[Sonny580]

ditto on what 4570Man said!

 

[Liquidsilver]

If your experience is like mine when I started, you'll break so many pieces of your your equipment that you didn't know you had.

I don't do it professionally, but reclaiming old fields is really tough.

If it's somebody's back field that's in good shape and they'll pay you 50 bucks an hour, I'd buy the insurance and try it. If it's a tough mess, I'd say, "I'm sorry, but I don't have the right equipment for that."

 

[Hay Dude]

The road isn稚 R1 tires friend. They wear pretty fast. But that aside I hate driving equipment any distance. My vehicle carries my grease gun, leaf blower, enough tools to handle most problems, a cooler, a much faster way back if you don稚 get the job done, and a way back at all if you break down or get stuck. And I hate mowing with a loader on. It痴 not a slight reduction in visibility it痴 a huge reduction in visibility and turning radius. If the field is in such bad shape you actually need that protection you壇 probably be better served to quite while you?*e ahead and get a skid steer brush mower.

So the problem with that is that renting a skid steer loader is fine, but in MY area, my competitors wont do that. Theyll cut it with a 15 foot mower like I do. So youll probably lose the job to a lower bidder over the outside chance you hit something. Skiddy with a mower is $500 or more per day.

The loader down low solves this problem and allows for greater chance of getting the job since you dont have to rent a skid steer.
And by the way, you can tear up a skid steer with a front mower really bad. You have no chance of feeling an object until its too late. Read about more than a few guys killed in skiddys with front mowers.
When my loader bucket is down low and curled back, my hood is more of an obstruction than my bucket. Most first time cuts, the grass is 3-6 feet tall, so you cannot possibly SEE junk down low in the field anyway-even with bucket removed.
The bucket physically feels for things in the field and alerts you to what you cannot see. Id rather have a sense of sight and touch than only a sense of sight.
Once the field has been cut, you might feel safer about conditions and leave the bucket home.
I actually prefer a bale spear tilted back to a bucket. They work great for branches.

One other piece of advice: NEVER trust the property owner that theres “nothing in the field” always assume there is something!
I lost a $10,000 cutter bar last year when a owner cut a tree down and left the stump. Luckily, I was amply insured.

 

[4570Man]

If there’s a 15 foot batwing in the picture the 7 foot guy has probably already lost the job.

 

[workinonit]

The road isn’t R1 tires friend. They wear pretty fast. But that aside I hate driving equipment any distance. My vehicle carries my grease gun, leaf blower, enough tools to handle most problems, a cooler, a much faster way back if you don’t get the job done, and a way back at all if you break down or get stuck. And I hate mowing with a loader on. It’s not a slight reduction in visibility it’s a huge reduction in visibility and turning radius. If the field is in such bad shape you actually need that protection you’d probably be better served to quite while you’re ahead and get a skid steer brush mower.

Amen brother. And if you are dragging a bush hog that is that heavy on the back that you need the loader to balance it, it's probably too large. That's what front weights are for. Certainly not a loader.

 

[workinonit]

Thanks everyone for the insight and advice. I have read all the comments and they have been helpful.

Bush hogging is simplistic yet more complicated than I realized which is why I started this thread. Most of you brought up things for me to look into or info I haven’t come across in videos or knew to research.

I just hooked the hog up this evening, adjusted it, adjusted the draft control etc. couldn’t find the grease gun so that’s next. Along with checking oil in grease box. Didn’t even have grass to test it on, my yard is way too short lol.

Also didn’t think I would but even managed to squeeze it in the barn with the hog attached! That was a plus.

View attachment 671120View attachment 671123View attachment 671124

ROPS are only folded to get it in the barn, mowing I plan to leave them up.

Thanks again for advice. Keep it coming. I plan to call about insurance in next couple days.

I'm not sure about your cutter but mine has a floating top link. Most do or run on chains. Thus draft control is a mute point.

 

[Hay Dude]

If there’s a 15 foot batwing in the picture the 7 foot guy has probably already lost the job.

Even if he has a 7 footer, which by the way is less susceptible to damage, renting a skid steer with a mower makes you a much higher cost bidder than the guy down the road with a 7 footer.
I used 15 foot as an example because thats what Ive run for over 20 years.

 

[Hay Dude]

Amen brother. And if you are dragging a bush hog that is that heavy on the back that you need the loader to balance it, it's probably too large. That's what front weights are for. Certainly not a loader.

Ok so the OP already has a loader. So now you suggest he pulls off loader bucket and buys a front weight kit and mount which is north of $1000 bucks when the front loader he already has provides just as much weight as front weights, gives him better FWD traction and with the bucket may feel a stump he otherwise could destroy his equipment with? And Lets not forget these other very important advantages, a loader tractor gets unstuck better than one without a loader & bucket and a loader can push fallen trees an branches aside. Saved my butt dozens of times.
You a rich guy? :laughing:
You sure like to spend the OPs money and possibly open him up to safety issues.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Great thread, and all good advice.
I bought adjoining land here a couple years ago and was about to bush hog a cluttered up area. It just looked like weeds, grape vines, etc. Since I was on a mower I thought I'd just cut through there a bit. Son-of-a-bee!!!
It was used as a dump site!!!!! I had no clue until I went in then it sounded like a dump truck loaded with bottles crashed. My deck was wiped out. The barbed wire, old T posts, glass, wire fence, garden hose, etc.
I had to strip, re-weld cracks, repaint, replace all spindles and blades on my deck.
As others said...I'd wear really good boots, gloves, repellant, maybe carry a brush axe (snakes!)...just get an idea of what you'll be dealing with first. That also would (to me) give you an idea what to charge.
At my home place 15 acres need bush hogging right now...but the fellow doing it only charges $300. That's because he will be working close by and he's been doing it, no rocks, trash, trees, etc.

 

[4570Man]

Even if he has a 7 footer, which by the way is less susceptible to damage, renting a skid steer with a mower makes you a much higher cost bidder than the guy down the road with a 7 footer.
I used 15 foot as an example because thats what Ive run for over 20 years.

If it’s just grass and weeds go for it with the tractor. But in my experience these severely overgrown properties you speak of have 3” saplings and that’s no place for a tractor. Plus you usually have a tightwad owner or it wouldn’t look like that to begin with. Personally I don’t hardly waste time giving estimates to bush hog or build decks. That’s the starting place for beer money hacks and I can’t get a job for decent money.

 

[4570Man]

Ok so the OP already has a loader. So now you suggest he pulls off loader bucket and buys a front weight kit and mount which is north of $1000 bucks when the front loader he already has provides just as much weight as front weights, gives him better FWD traction and with the bucket may feel a stump he otherwise could destroy his equipment with? And Lets not forget these other very important advantages, a loader tractor gets unstuck better than one without a loader & bucket and a loader can push fallen trees an branches aside. Saved my butt dozens of times.
You a rich guy? :laughing:
You sure like to spend the OPs money and possibly open him up to safety issues.

The OPs tractor should handle his cutter just fine without any additional front weight.

 

[Liquidsilver]

I'm one that likes the bucket on to carry off big rocks and things I have to stop mowing for. It also comes in handy to break off some low branches.

 

[workinonit]

Ok so the OP already has a loader. So now you suggest he pulls off loader bucket and buys a front weight kit and mount which is north of $1000 bucks when the front loader he already has provides just as much weight as front weights, gives him better FWD traction and with the bucket may feel a stump he otherwise could destroy his equipment with? And Lets not forget these other very important advantages, a loader tractor gets unstuck better than one without a loader & bucket and a loader can push fallen trees an branches aside. Saved my butt dozens of times.
You a rich guy? :laughing:
You sure like to spend the OPs money and possibly open him up to safety issues.

I don't bush hog in places that I'm going to tear my equipment up and neither should he. If someone doesn't have the presence of mind to walk a place before they cut then I'm pretty sure a loader ain't gonna save the day. If his tractor won't handle his cutter without the loader on the front then he has the wrong cutter and/or the wrong tractor. I just think, for me anyway, that the loader on the front is dangerous from a visibility standpoint especially if the bucket is on. I guess part of why I'm uncomfortable with a loader on doing 3 PH work is that It wasn't until 2002 that I got my first loader. Back in the day you hardly ever saw a loader on the old IH and JD row crop tractors around here.

 

[Hay Dude]

The OPs tractor should handle his cutter just fine without any additional front weight.

Truly, neither of us know.
If its a 3 point mount heavy commercial unit, it will lighten the front end, which reduces traction and affect steering performance if the front tires are light.

 

[Hay Dude]

I don't bush hog in places that I'm going to tear my equipment up and neither should he. If someone doesn't have the presence of mind to walk a place before they cut then I'm pretty sure a loader ain't gonna save the day. If his tractor won't handle his cutter without the loader on the front then he has the wrong cutter and/or the wrong tractor. I just think, for me anyway, that the loader on the front is dangerous from a visibility standpoint especially if the bucket is on. I guess part of why I'm uncomfortable with a loader on doing 3 PH work is that It wasn't until 2002 that I got my first loader. Back in the day you hardly ever saw a loader on the old IH and JD row crop tractors around here.

You lack experience if you actually believe walking a property will confirm 100% theres no stumps, rocks, iron pipes, etc.
I can tell you from decades of experience that you can walk the property until you are exhausted and covered with ticks and still miss a stump, pipe or other object.
***Yet another reason to run with loader bucket down***
Theres 5 advantages to the visibility disadvantage. Just look over the hood and loader bucket! Whats so tough about that? :laughing:

Also, if the OP is going into the bush hogging business to make money, and he turns down a field because he *thinks* it might have an object in it, he wont last long. Newcomers to almost any trade need to take on almost all offers, or his competitors will.
Now if this is for beer money or a hobby, thats different

 

[Hay Dude]

If it’s just grass and weeds go for it with the tractor. But in my experience these severely overgrown properties you speak of have 3” saplings and that’s no place for a tractor. Plus you usually have a tightwad owner or it wouldn’t look like that to begin with. Personally I don’t hardly waste time giving estimates to bush hog or build decks. That’s the starting place for beer money hacks and I can’t get a job for decent money.

No doubt 3” saplings are more of a land clearing chore than a bush hogging chore. I’m talking tall grass, invasives like small autumn olive, small cedars, etc.

 

[two_bit_score]

Any updates here @BrokeFarmerJohn? How’s the mowing business?