It seem that I remember 7 HP per foot for good results in most conditions. Years ago I used to do some commercial shredding with a 6' shredder on 47 HP tractor and never had problems no matter how tall or thick of stuff I got into. I mowed stuff over waist high on a regular basis. I am no longer doing that and actually have not even owned a tractor in about 3 years as I have lived in town. Anyway we just bought a place with a few acres and I am wondering what is the minimum HP per foot I would need if I mowed on a regular basis and never let it get out of control. I only plan on mowing my own property and I plan to keep it short so I am thinking maybe I could get away with a bigger shredder on a smaller tractor. I was hoping to run a 7 or 8' shredder and would never let weeds get over a foot tall or so.
HP per foot for shredder
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RPW
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I've use a 5HP per foot rule. I could have gone with an 8ft. shredder (40HP) but went with a 6" for convience sake.
Good luck.
Good luck.
whistlepig
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Rule of thumb is 5HP per foot. This is bare minimum. I also did some commercial mowing. For weeds and brush up to my eyeballs 7HP per foot worked better for me. I mow with 5HP per foot now. These are finished pastures mowed three to four times a year.
RalphVa
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If you mow on a regular basis, e.g. not cutting more than 1/3 of the height of the grass off, then you can do with probably about 3 PTO hp/foot. That's what my 4010 with 4' bush hog is. It'll mow grass up to around 6 or 7 inches down to about 3 inches but maybe bogging a bit cutting that much really thick grass. I've even mowed stuff up to the hood of the tractor, but it wasn't thick grass, mostly wingstem.
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I agree with the others.. 5hp in general.. though I see plenty of 15hp machines with 4' mowers.. so you can for sure get buy with a lil less.
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I think your previous Branson 4720 would do fine with an 8' cutter. The problem with 7' and 8' cutters is that they are huge if they only have one gearbox. They stick out way behind the tractor and you need lots of front ballast to be safe on slopes. Going to two gearboxes and smaller blades is expensive, but a two gearbox 8' cutter would be ideal for your tractor. You could even probably do fine with a 10' tow-behind, but those are really for heavy grass, weeds, and small brush, not heavy brush or working in the woods. I think the best overall cutter for grass and heavy brush is a 6' cutter. I have a 5' cutter because I use mine in the woods a lot and that gives me maneuverabilty in the trees even though I'd love to have a wider cutter in the open areas.
Thanks for the replies. My land is flat as a pancake and no trees. Manuevering around and slopes are not an issue. The larger mower I get the faster I can get it done but I am trying to weigh that against the cost of the tractor.
Soundguy
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as jin said.. when you get over 6'.. really consider a dual gearbox mower.. IE.. an 8' dual over a 7' single. they set tighter in and IMHO.. an 8'dual is easier to spin up than a 7' single..
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I had no problem running a 5' cutter behind a 16.5 PTO HP tractor. Slow going, but the rough and rutted ground didn't lend itself to running too fast.
Anyway, that's about 3.5 PTO HP per foot.
Your Branson is probably producing about 40 PTO HP, so you would be fine with a 7' or even an 8' cutter. Those are big cutters.
As long as your land is flat and not too rutted, you'll do fine with a single gearbox cutter. You might want to tow it (unhook the upper link and tow with the lower links and the tail wheel(s)) instead of transporting it raised. That works fine if you're not going more then a few hundred yards (or on the road).
Soundguy has a lot of experience with larger cutters..he's a great source of real world information.