Educate me please

[handirifle]

Looking for a 3pt mower for my MF1010, Cat I. I have found a reasonably priced one but it is a finish mower, What is the difference between that and a rough cut mower? I have 3 acres, one of which is developed, the other two are tall field grasses and heavy weeds. Do not have an issue with saplings, but there are occasional broken limbs from my trees.

Would a finish mower do it for me?

 

[crusty 1]

Looking for a 3pt mower for my MF1010, Cat I. I have found a reasonably priced one but it is a finish mower, What is the difference between that and a rough cut mower? I have 3 acres, one of which is developed, the other two are tall field grasses and heavy weeds. Do not have an issue with saplings, but there are occasional broken limbs from my trees.

Would a finish mower do it for me?

A finish mower should work well.Keep it a little higher till you get the heavy stuff down first then you can lower it to lawn hieght,and mow slower to start:thumbsupave

 

[leonz]

Depends on your pocket book;

Look at the Caroni flail mowers on Agri Supply - Farm Supplies, Tools, Lawn Mower Blades, Cast Iron Cookware then
look at the lets talk flail mowers thread(all 93 pages)
a small flail mower with the Finish cut rotor would be fine for 3 acres and less work.
and will not have issues with heavy growths of grass and weeds

leonz

 

[kebo]

To answer the OP's question.... a finish cut mower gives a nice level cut for lawns. They are NOT intended (or designed) for rough cutting such as in brush or the woods. Rough cut mowers, on the other hand, are designed for cutting in brush/woods/heavy grass. They are built with a much heavier construction to take the extra abuse.

 

[Scotty370]

Ditto to Kebo......Guess we always want to strech capabilities, when, what you really need is two implements!! The 'finish-mower' is for lawn areas. Can ya cut like a Brush Hog? Well, high, maybe, but my sense is you'll beat it up! ~Scotty

 

[crusty 1]

I was assuming you,d pick up the branches before mowing.I,v mower a bunch of tall heavy grass with my JD garden tractor,just started high and kept lowering.Two acres handly seems like a very spendy mower is justified.Dave

 

[handirifle]

A flail mower, any size, is way out of my budget. I have not seen one, even used, that is in the three figure price range, even used ones here are over a grand.

That said, I have been searching all the local, and not so local listings even for an upper teens or low 20 something HP riding mower. As I mentioned there are no saplings and the worst issue is some tractor ruts causing uneven ground. Other than that, its a pretty flat lot. In fact I have been grading it off and on to try and make it even flatter. I don't own a lot of property (3 acres) and it has about 200-250ft road frontage, and I am trying to make it look as nice as possible.

I realize the rough cut mowers were meant for brush etc, I have no brush, or saplings, or heavy wooded areas to contend with. I really just need the equivilent of a heavy duty riding mower. Would the finish cut mower meet this level of performance? I hate to spend $500-1000 on a used riding mower when all I need is an attachment for the tractor.

To be honest, I am looking at a finish mower from Harbor Freight. It's on sale for $499. I have experience with HF's tools, and am well aware some stuff is decent, some isn't. For me, this would see use about 3-4 times a year. For the "lawn" areas, I have a walk behind mower that will work perfectly fine. This is just to keep the weeds from making it to the 3-4ft level, and keep the field grass cut down.

By the way, at $499 that is probably slightly above my budget limit, and I think my chances on a new one, even from HF are better than buying a used one, that's been beat up, for the same price.

 

[handirifle]

I was assuming you,d pick up the branches before mowing.I,v mower a bunch of tall heavy grass with my JD garden tractor,just started high and kept lowering.Two acres handly seems like a very spendy mower is justified.Dave

Yes I would pick up any heavy ones, ones that I probably wouldn't run over with a walk behind. Yea I cannot justify spending a lot of money, besides I don't have it to spend anyway.

 

[handirifle]

Actually, now that I look closer, I'd need the drive shaft also, another $70, plus shipping. That's over my budget by a lot. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[jmc]

I've never used a finish mower but heavy weeds with a brushcutter generates a lot of debris. Would a finish mower's discharge chute handle it all?

John