Mower pros and cons.

[bigpete]

If the terrain isn't too bad and there are not too many stumps and rocks, it may pay to rent or borrow a rotary cutter for the first few cuttings, then buy your finish mower. That is, as long as you intend to cut it pretty frequently.

 

[jgh]

20051202

Uh, I'll post pics of the blades on my 1287 Hog and let you be the judge of what a finishing mower's blades would look like going over the territory I have been "mowing".

And make sure you clear the rocks before using a FM. Those are what undoubtedly did most of the damage to my cutter.

I agree with the sentiment that if you get the land in shape with a RCutter you MIGHT be able to keep it nice with a FMower. But go just a little too long without mowing (hey this applies to some lawns) and you are back to brambles, small trees, and all other manner of blade bangers. Your spouse may not like the news but if a pristine stand of grass of any large size is your goal, 2 machines probably are going to be needed.

Let me take this discussion briefly in another direction that some of you may be overlooking.

In Virginia our counties are facing annual budget crunches, and thus are looking all around for new revenues. Enter the owner who has land use taxation on his "farm". Once upon a time, almost no parcels were kicked out of land use due to "failure to farm (or do forestry)", but no longer. The renewal form this year for Fluvanna County was downright hostile compared to prior years, and focused on active management of land considered in ag or forestal use.

In short, bush hog (or finish cut!) it and lose. This has always been technically true, but all of a sudden much more important. To keep your favorable tax treatment, ya gotta pursue production of some now more serious sort.

I won't belabor the point not knowing how important it is to all of you or whether you even care, but don't think county gvmts aren't looking for money in just about every jurisdiction so if not yet, maybe soon on land use "abuse".

Full disclosure: I was partly responsible for our county (Goochland) first taxing cell phones like other phone service back when I was on our board, since I thought it was a fairness issue and did take some pressure off other (property) taxes. If I had not brought it up, someone else probably would have... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Just my 2 mils worth,

J

 

[bigpete]

jgh--More than you had to share, but honesty makes a man's pillow pretty soft. The land use (or lack of use) issue isn't just isolated to your area. In my county right now, the best and highest use is overwhelmingly extra-municiple clustered multiple-unit developments of 75 to 500 homes. Many of the smaller and mid-sized farming farmers from the 70s and 80s are now "kinda'-farmers" with land use applications in queue down at the county council development board. There's a six month back-up and three proposed moratoriums.

Anyway, a fellow might as well plant a grass crop and keep his daughter off the cell phone around here. As they say, it will change thrice before it clears up, so pick a spot to stand on and watch the show. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[stevejd990]

I have a D990 and bought a JD MX5 rotary "bush hog". It does an excellent job on the pasture, and cuts small brush. I have also used to mow my front yard, which I usually mow with Woods finish mower. I also did an excellent job on the nice grass. The only problem I have found is when turning a sharp 90 to the left or right, the side of the mower deck tends to dig a bit into the dirt. To get around this, I now lift the mower a little bit when turning, set it back down after the turn and keep cutting. This being the case, I can't go in a continuous circle, but rather back and fourth. I have not found an eay way to sharpen the blade, though, but the blade is very durable considering the rocks I have hit in the pasture. I got most of them out now.
The smaller rotory bush hog type mowers like the MX5 have two blades attached to a centered steel hub. The are attached with one big bolt. If the blade hits a rock or log, it simply swivels.

The finish mower has sharper blades, and one lke mine, a 5' unit, has three blades connected by a single belt. The MX5 is gear driven. The finish mower is for fine grass and if you hit a rock, it can take a good chunck out of the blade. Usually you can get a closer cut with a finish mower also.

A flail mower is finer yet, as I understand it, these a good for golf courses, but I could be wrong on this.

I think for your application a bush hog, like the MX 5 or MX6 would be great.
I had a JD 790 before I bought the 990. The 790 did a great job handling the MX 5, no problem at all. But I also have a FEL on it for counterbalance.

I bought the 990 because I needed the lift height to dump into dump trucks. I hope this helps.

 

[AKfish]

I haven't looked at this thread for a while. The comments about land use are downright scary! Almost as scary as the idea that maybe the best solution is to buy 2 mowers -- like Steve's got. (Maybe I can convince the wife that we don't need to feed THAT much oats to the horses next year!) Since I'm just really gettin' started with establishing my pastures; I think I'll start out buyin' a brush-hog to begin with and see where things go in the next couple years.
We haven't signed up for the Ag tax exemption on our property (yup, even in Alaska..) There's a pretty ugly penality if you change your mind in the future about your land status. We got California money heading up here and buying up river frontage, lake frontage and view properties. Like they say, "don't guess anybody will be making any more land -- right away"! Some of the ol' homesteaders around here are strugglin' with the idea of bein' rich with no place to live or stayin' poor and livin' where they are... AKfish /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif