Mower type?

[devongarver]

After searching for a while, I am not finding an answer to my question so I hope this thread will help and has not already been covered excessively lol. I recently purchased some property, and I also recently purchased a New Holland 1510. There is no "yard" anywhere on the property yet.The area near the house is mostly clay that was leveled somewhat last year by the previous owner. Eventually this will be a normal yard with grass. I have about 3 acres of brush that was terribly thick until last week when I had a friend come by with his massive brush hog and knock it down for me. I will be mowing most of this area minus where the pond will be dug, but not going to plant grass in the outer areas. There are lots of "ruts" on the property as it used to be a tiled field 20 some odd years ago. I was gun-ho on buying a brush hog(rotary cutter) until I realized that it might not cut low enough for a normal-ish lawn once i plant grass. Now, I have push mower, so i suppose I could push mow, but I intended on using my tractor to mow with. So, I am trying to decide on buying a rotary cutter or a finish mower..what are the physical limits of a finish mower? How low can a rotary mower cut? I am not necessarily concerned with a clean looking cut just as long as it's cut. I live in the sticks. I have been considering just buying a rotary cutter from TSC for now, and if I absolutely have to I could pick up a different mower after the grass is in. What do you all think?

 

[brin]

A bush hog or rotary cutter is nice to have since it will handle real tal grass,brush and saplings, howerver a finshing mower will mow a lawn as low and as clean as a small lawnmower will. The finshing mower should not be used like a bush hog or rotary cutter..it is not built for that and you would ruin it so it just depends on what you envision needing to do. If you never think you will want to go into your woods and clean them up then you don't need a rotary cutter. If all you are going to do is maintain a 3 acre yard then a finishing mower is what you need.. You could always get a new finsihing mower and keep an eye out for a good , cheap used rotary cutter and then you would have both..

 

[teg]

Or get both used... I got my 6' bush hog finishing mower for $750 and a 5' Landpride rotary cutter for $250

 

[sweettractors]

We have a used 5 ft Woods RM59 rear finish mower that sells for $595 and a assortment of new and used brush hogs starting in the $450 (used) and new $895(new) range--Ken Sweet

 

[JCB]

Devon,

Depending on your definition of lawn a rotary cutter can cut low enough to mimic a lawn, but it won't be a nice looking cut. It'll look like an alfalfa field with the grass laying down as opposed to being finely shredded and mulched.

I'm live in the sticks and don't have to compete with a neighbors lawn, so sometimes if I have the rotary cutter attached I'll just use that to cut the lawn. More often than not, I'll use the ZTR because even though I want to think that I really I don't care, the ZTR truly give a nicer looking cut.

A rotary cutter WILL cut your lawn, and cut it as short as you want (say 3"), but eventually you'll probably want a nicer piece of equipment.

 

[savageactor7]

Hi devon, think about getting a rear finishing mower and continue to hire out the brush hog. At least until an opportunity presents itself on a deal you can't refuse.

If the brush hog goes over the same patch yearly by year 3, maybe 2 you can knock any small 2" rotted stumps with your bucket then 'maybe' carefully use the RFM.

As far as any ruts go the quickest way to deal with them is to fill the deeper ones with any unwanted riff-raff and with the FEL back-blade with sand. Sand is cheap, easy to work with and if spread thin enough it disappears cause the grass grows right threw it.

 

[dangerdoc]

How many acres do you have? If you are really only talking about keeping 3 acres mowed, there are better tools than a tractor and pull behind mower.

 

[devongarver]

Or get both used... I got my 6' bush hog finishing mower for $750 and a 5' Landpride rotary cutter for $250

That's a couple of good prices!

We have a used 5 ft Woods RM59 rear finish mower that sells for $595 and a assortment of new and used brush hogs starting in the $450 (used) and new $895(new) range--Ken Sweet

I'll check those out thanks!

Devon,

Depending on your definition of lawn a rotary cutter can cut low enough to mimic a lawn, but it won't be a nice looking cut. It'll look like an alfalfa field with the grass laying down as opposed to being finely shredded and mulched.

I'm live in the sticks and don't have to compete with a neighbors lawn, so sometimes if I have the rotary cutter attached I'll just use that to cut the lawn. More often than not, I'll use the ZTR because even though I want to think that I really I don't care, the ZTR truly give a nicer looking cut.

A rotary cutter WILL cut your lawn, and cut it as short as you want (say 3"), but eventually you'll probably want a nicer piece of equipment.

This makes me feel a little better...I likely won't have a lawn that can be mowed with a normal lawn mower for a few more years atleast...So maybe a RC is in order atleast for now.

Hi devon, think about getting a rear finishing mower and continue to hire out the brush hog. At least until an opportunity presents itself on a deal you can't refuse.

If the brush hog goes over the same patch yearly by year 3, maybe 2 you can knock any small 2" rotted stumps with your bucket then 'maybe' carefully use the RFM.

As far as any ruts go the quickest way to deal with them is to fill the deeper ones with any unwanted riff-raff and with the FEL back-blade with sand. Sand is cheap, easy to work with and if spread thin enough it disappears cause the grass grows right threw it.

Well alot of the ruts will be gone as literally more than half of the property is going to be regraded when my pond is dug in a few months here. Good to keep in mind though.

How many acres do you have? If you are really only talking about keeping 3 acres mowed, there are better tools than a tractor and pull behind mower.

well, if it were a lawn, I would have just bought a lawn tractor, but I needed the tractor and FEL to do alot of other clearing and digging etc. Plus we have future plans and we couldnt pass up the price we got on the tractor. So now i figure why not just work with what I have you know?



Thanks to all for the fast responses! I am going to keep my eyes peeled for a good used RC. I am looking for 5' minimum if anyone here is in the northeastern Ohio area and has one for sale haha.

 

[JeffinNE]

Now that you have the area knocked down a finish mower will do the job if you don't let the grass get too tall.

 

[TripleR]

Or get both used... I got my 6' bush hog finishing mower for $750 and a 5' Landpride rotary cutter for $250

There you go:thumbsup: