Mower comparison: sickle bar, flail and rotary

[Freep]

Update bump, too: I bought an 852 and a 34" flail mower. Both have worked well. I have not typically mowed in first gear, except for maneuverability's sake. For grass up to a foot tall or so I am usually in third gear. The only time I downshift is when mowing actual 'brush'. I use the mower to mow about 3 acres of pasture a few times per year when it starts to get out of hand, and have this spring been making some trails in the woods.

 

[Maine Hills]

Where do you set the throttle for flail mowing? I always have it at maximum engine speed, and that is too fast for me walking in third gear, so I use second gear or first gear depending on the terrain. The large diameter 6.50 x 12 tires cause the ground speed being faster than it would be with smaller tires, but I really like the tires when working on rough ground.

 

[Freep]

Same here - full throttle. In third gear it is quite quick. I do touch it back just a wee bit sometimes if I'm having a hard time keeping up. It's fine at 3/4 throttle with the BCS 852/3 at least. I also have an Earthtools mowing sulky, which I recommend, but which can get rather bumpy.

 

[Maine Hills]

Any where the ground would be smooth and flat enough to use a sulky I mow with rotary cutter (brush hog) on a Kubota 4 wheel tractor.

 

[Maine Hills]

Updates fromm my previous posts in this thread: The flail mower is our favourite mower until we hit it's limitations. I don't try to cut thick grass much over 2 feet / 600 mm high with it and also avoid tall, fiborous plants such as mature burdock. The rotary brush cutter is great for conditions which are too much for the flail mower. The sickle bar mower is only used for open fields and in those conditions can be fastest mower to use and the least tiring. While it will cut small diameter woody plants it is not great on plants with thorns since it only cuts the plants near the base. The cut plants can tangle with themselves and the tractor, and will scratch my legs. But with tall grass and similar it is great.

In addition to mowing the flail mower is used as a mulcher. Spread cuttings from bushes and small trees up to 3/4 inch / 19 mm diameter on the ground and run over with the flail mower set to a low height. A nice mulch is left.

While the rotary brush mower cuts plants into multiple pieces the result is not nearly as fine as when cut by the flail mower. Also cutting height of the US version is set to 4 inches / 100 mm so it does not cut up anything laying on the ground which is lower. The flail mower is set for a cutting height under 1 inch / 25 mm so it picks and mulches most sticks etc on the ground.

Power: We have a 749 with a 11.7 HP Honda GX390 engine. There has always been enough power for the 59" sickle bar mower with half throttle, including with 6 foot / 1.8 m tall grass. I usually use full throttle with the 32 inch rotary brush mower and almost always there is sufficient power. The 32" flail mower is also used with full throttle and a few times it has bogged or even stalled, usually when trying to mower tall fiborous plants such as mature burdock which can wind around the mower drum. Also in heavy, high grass the mower can be limited by how quickly it can discharge the cuttings even with the baffle removed.

The caster wheels were reinstalled on the flail mower with the updated mounting bracket. Berta flail mower caster wheels The flail wheels are great for transport and for mowing as long as the not mowing across as steep hill. When mowing across a steep hill with the caster wheels lowered the unit wants to turn downhill. Engaging the diff lock helps but I usually also raise the caster wheels. With the Berta flail mower raising the caster wheels only takes a minute or so.

 

[Jens767]

Hi Maine Hills

I have read your posts in this thread a number of times, and I think they are by far the best ones in the 2-wheel tractor forum, when it comes to comparing different mower types

I have no experience with a brush mower, so I can’t comment on that one. Concerning the sickle bar mower and the flail mower, I fully agree with all your comments - they fit perfectly with my experience as well, and they should be a great help to anyone considering to purchase some type of mower.

There is one subject though, that I would like to add to your comments, which I think is important to consider before choosing a mower, and that is what you want to do with the clippings. This question might seem obvious to the experienced user, but might be overlooked by someone with little or no mowing experience, and might therefore lead to the purchase of the wrong type of mower

In principle, there are two options when mowing: either you leave the clippings on the job to decompose, or you remove them.

If you want to leave the clippings to decompose, mowers like the flail and probably the brush mower are the obvious choice. If you want to collect the clippings, mowers like the sickle bar, the drum mower - and of course, the lawn mower are the better choice, depending on the job in question.

Sickle bar and drum/disc mowers all cut the material at the base, allowing it to be easily collected either by hand or by machine. In principle, it is of course possible to leave the material to rot, but that is usually not desirable. The brush mower - and especially the flail mower - both chop the cut material into smaller pieces, thereby allowing it to decompose better. On the other hand, it is difficult/impossible to gather the material for removal.


Best regards

Jens