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.