Can you mow a hayfield with a BX24?

[SPYDERLK]

Im with Rusty....We have a std 54"MMM on our BX1500. It is a surprisingly strong mower and weve cut a lot of trees up to 2" with it. The only problem with pasture cutting is that it doesnt cut high grass cleanly because it lays it over so all of it doesnt get to the blades. Some MMMs do a lot better, so I think its a design issue. If yours has the 60" you might give it a try set at max height. If it cuts clean, make sure everythings tight and serviced and go for it. The fast spinning blades chop the grass up fine and it recycles into the field better. A sickle bar would end up messing up the turf over time because the matted cuttings would kill it.
larry

 

[Tom_H]

MowbizzI have mowed a 5 acre horse pasture with the MMM under my B7500.....I would not say the MMM is the best implement for this job, but it is what I have, and it has worked for me. I actually prefer the MMM to the rear rotary cutter.

A B series tractor is taller and has greater clearance than a BX.

So you wouldn't say the MMM is the best implement, yet you prefer it? I must be missing something.

Im with Rusty....weve cut a lot of trees up to 2" with it. The only problem with pasture cutting is that it doesnt cut high grass cleanly because it lays it over so all of it doesnt get to the blades.

I have the 60" deck on a BX2200. Before I got the brush hog, I cut the rough pasture with it. If the stuff is only 12 or so inches tall, this can work. When an inch or two taller, it will lay over like this. By the time you reach 18", mine will clog and stall. I don't know what your secret is, but your experience differs greatly from mine. As to sapplings, if they are soft material, high water content and not too stemmy, and you hit only one or two, I could see an MMM cutting it. If any more stemmy and numerous, that seems very difficult. The MMM depends upon sharp blades traveling at high speed to cut through material. Any degree of substance is going to provide resistance and slow those blades down. Much stemmy material is also going to dull the edge, requiring reshaprening prior to cutting lawn (if you want a cut that is clean as opposed to a ragged tear).

To the OP:

A rotary brush cutter does not actually "cut". It breaks material. The blades are massive and at full speed they have great inertia. The impact of this high inertia simply breaks and pulverizes whatever it hits. Furthermore, if it hits a hidden object of substantial mass/resistance, the blade will not stall the drive mechanisms and the engine. The free pivoting blades are attached with hinge bolts to a spindle pan (aka stump jumper) and when hitting something immovable, they just change angle and glance off while all of the drive mechanism continues to move at full RPM.

A siclebar mower is for harvesting hay on a small plot where a combine is too large to use. It scissor cuts the hay, which falls to the ground with the stem completely unmangled elsewhere. Other devices would damage and mangle the stems, not what you want for a vegetable product you intend for sale. I had a walk behind self-propelled siclebar mower once. When the blades need sharpening, there is a lot of work to do and working on them can be hazardous. If a small piece of fence wire lying in the field gets caught between toe sliding teeth, it can jam everthing up and throw plates out of allignment. When any of the numerous teeth need to be replaced, it is a real PITA.

Under favorable conditions, an MMM or sicklebar mower CAN do a marginal job. Neither of them is going to do the optimal job that a rough cutter will do, however. I mean no disrespect toward other posters. Nevertheless, I have experience cutting in the rough with all 3 types of devices. I also believe the vast majority of members here will agree with me that a rotary rough cutter is the best tool for this job. It costs less. It has a simpler design. It has fewer parts to maintain. It is less prone to damage. It needs maintenance less often and the maintenance is far faster and easier. It does the job faster. It applies the horsepower in the most efficient manner (brute strength) to simply smash and pulverize the material where it can decompose and return the nutrients to the soil without thatch which will obscure sunlight and kill the remainder of the plant below. I respect the opinion of those who disagree, yet I posit these points of logic and the number of posters who support the rotary cutter as evidence for it as the best choice.

 

[SPYDERLK]

A B series tractor is taller and has greater clearance than a BX.

So you wouldn't say the MMM is the best implement, yet you prefer it? I must be missing something.

I have the 60" deck on a BX2200. Before I got the brush hog, I cut the rough pasture with it. If the stuff is only 12 or so inches tall, this can work. When an inch or two taller, it will lay over like this. By the time you reach 18", mine will clog and stall. I don't know what your secret is, but your experience differs greatly from mine. As to sapplings, if they are soft material, high water content and not too stemmy, and you hit only one or two, I could see an MMM cutting it. If any more stemmy and numerous, that seems very difficult. The MMM depends upon sharp blades traveling at high speed to cut through material. Any degree of substance is going to provide resistance and slow those blades down. Much stemmy material is also going to dull the edge, requiring reshaprening prior to cutting lawn (if you want a cut that is clean as opposed to a ragged tear).

To the OP:

A rotary brush cutter does not actually "cut". It breaks material. The blades are massive and at full speed they have great inertia. The impact of this high inertia simply breaks and pulverizes whatever it hits. Furthermore, if it hits a hidden object of substantial mass/resistance, the blade will not stall the drive mechanisms and the engine. The free pivoting blades are attached with hinge bolts to a spindle pan (aka stump jumper) and when hitting something immovable, they just change angle and glance off while all of the drive mechanism continues to move at full RPM.


Under favorable conditions, an MMM or sicklebar mower CAN do a marginal job. Neither of them is going to do what a rough cutter will do, however. I mean no disrespect toward other posters. Nevertheless, I have experience cutting in the rough with all 3 types of devices. I also believe the vast majority of members here will agree with me that a rotary rough cutter is the best tool for this job. It cost less. It has a simpler design. It has fewer parts to maintain. It does the job faster. It applies the horsepower in the most efficient manner (brute strength) to simply smash and pulverize the material where it can decompose and return the nutrients to the soil without thatch which will obscure sunlight and kill the remainder of the plant below. I respect the opinion of those who disagree, yet I posit these points of logic and the number of posters who support the rotary cutter as evidence for it as the best choice.

The key issue with a bushog for cutting a hay field is that the blades swing below the deck front and have a clear shot at the grass before it folds down. Nevertheless I have seen MMMs do a fine job 1st pass in high grass. I wish mine did. Yesterday I cut at 4" some 3' that was very thick. No problem with stalling but had to cut it twice to get the remaining uncut sprigs and spread the clods. We set our mower higher at the rear and I modify the blades to assure they are lower at the cutting tips [they are not optimally formed as supplied]. Both help alot. I think those are probably your main problems with clogging. Kubota decks just dont seem to have as good a discharge as they should. Iv had many lawnmowers with better.

Im not saying the MMM is necessarily better for what he wants to do - only that it can do it. If hes already got one he should give it a try. Cutting thick tall grass wont hurt his MMM and he ll know soon enuf if he can deal wth it.
larry

 

[Tom_H]

Im not saying the MMM is necessarily better for what he wants to do - only that it can do it. If hes already got one he should give it a try. Cutting thick tall grass wont hurt his MMM and he ll know soon enuf if he can deal wth it.
larry

Fair enough. I agree that it CAN do the job marginally, but I believe not as well or quickly as I'd prefer and with hassles I would not want to deal with.

I also agree that trying first is worth it. He may decide it does well enough for the relatively small amount of work he needs to do. He needs to balance this with 1) Is the expense of an extra implement justified? 2) Does he have the space to store an extra implement? 3) If he doesn't have a dolly and slab, is the difficulty of putting the extra 3ph attachment on/off justified?

 

[megaboz]

Well, I am going to throw my two cents in here. You can get a brush hog for about $400 used (if it is any good , is a different story).

You can use your MMM and take a chance on breaking a $1500 (roughly) piece of equipment, you'd better scout the area well.

My MMM doesn't work worth a nickle in high grass, I have to cut it twice.

Like Tom said, got to weigh the costs. If the new equipment can't pay for it's self in the first year, then it isn't worth buying, IMO, especially if you are not guaranteed to get the job again next year and you have no uses for the equipment.

If you get the grass cut down to a manageable level and can keep it that way the MMM will do a good job, but the first cut in high grass will probably suck.

 

[Mowbizz]

I rough cut 4 of our 5 acres with a Gearmore 40" rough cutter on a BX2200. This unit is the only small sized "heavy duty" rough cutter that I am familiar with. I can sut stands of 2" sapplings with no loss of rpm. In one marshy place, weeds have been over 10' tall. Only broom grass lugs down the rpm, and I just have to slow the forward momentum a bit. I bought the unit in the year 2000 for $649.

If you are cutting nothing more than tall grass, I would recommend a 48" light or medium duty unit. For sapplings, my own experience with the hd 40" Gearmore makes it my recommendation.

A brush hog is aka rotary cutter and rough cutter. "Bush Hog" is the name of a manufacturing company that makes many different tractor implements, including rough cutters. Some people refer to all rough cutters as bush hogs, just as generic tissue is usually called by the brand name "Kleenex" and drywall is often called by the brand name "Sheetrock".

http://www.gearmore.com/Intermediate/Cat_Pg63.pdf

Bush Hog&reg - Performance You Can Count On

Thanks for the info...I'm on the fence about buying this for one account, and I'm not sure if it will get enough use to warrant the purchase. Of course, it's always nice to have "toys" to play with...

OK my question for you is: In order to cut 2" saplings, wouldn't you have to "run over" the saplings with your tractor to cut them with this implement? I would think you'd be risking undercarriage damage (thinking of my BX's delicate underbelly) I do not envision ever having to cut trees on this particular account...just "hay" type grass.

 

[Gem99ultra]

If so, what implement is the correct tool for this task?

Opinions are like ... well anyway... IMHO with the BX24 a 4' rotary cutter should be fine. Any larger and you'd be stessing your tractor too much.

Best bet would be to buy a 4' used rotary cutter. Anything new and decent that will hold up is going to cost you over a grand, and that'd take a long while to pay for itself.

 

[megaboz]

Thanks for the info...I'm on the fence about buying this for one account, and I'm not sure if it will get enough use to warrant the purchase. Of course, it's always nice to have "toys" to play with...

OK my question for you is: In order to cut 2" saplings, wouldn't you have to "run over" the saplings with your tractor to cut them with this implement? I would think you'd be risking undercarriage damage (thinking of my BX's delicate underbelly) I do not envision ever having to cut trees on this particular account...just "hay" type grass.

You back over them mower first, depending upon the actual thickness, you might raise the mower some before backing over it.

Never run over trees with the tractor.

 

[TUG HILL ADDICT]

OK my question for you is: In order to cut 2" saplings, wouldn't you have to "run over" the saplings with your tractor to cut them with this implement?

When cutting sapplings with a Rotary Mower you lift the mower all the way up, back over the sappling, then lower the implement....move back and forth until the sappling is turned into mulch.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[radioman]

Yeah- getting a bush hog is a must, or preferred way for hay feilds. You never know if you dont have time in beginning of every growing season to keep feilds down so you may need to do this again. On the other hand bush hog is best thing for saplings. if it less then inch, driving over it is fine as long you got a skid plate on BX. Anything larger, I'd rather back into the sapling with bush hog up then lowered over it. I MIGHT use the MMM if I only need to do 1 acre and don't mind the grass stalks sticking up the first mow. I would mow it again in a week or 2 to clean up then afterwards keep it mowed. I would just hope I wouldnt have to do high hay like grasses again with a MMM., otherwise I be getting a bushhog. Even a brand new 48 inch from TSC is $800. How much is the belt and spindles/bearings on the MMM ? It would be cheaper to get a bush hog and then if you never use it againnext year or after, sell it. The cost of selling it used is cheaper then repairing the MMM IMHO.