Mowing Mowing A Corn Field

MikePA · Nov 13, 2001

Once the farmer harvests his corn, I was going to use my mmm to mow the field as preparation for turning it into a pasture next spring. Any problem doing that with a finish mower?

RobS · Nov 13, 2001

Mike, if you are talking about mowing the left over corn stubble, I think that would be pretty rough on a MMM. Even a light duty rotary cutter will suffer in stubble like that. The other problem you may have will be the uneven ground due to the furrows. You might be better off having the farmer disc it. That will incorporate the stubble and smooth out the furrows. Hope this helps /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

MikePA · Nov 13, 2001

The farmer used no till, so there are no furrows to traverse, but your comment about the stalks is a good one. I was looking for more seat time /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif and I thought this might provide some. Thanks.

RobS · Nov 13, 2001

Here's what you need Mike...

115 Drawn Flail Shredder

Side-slicer knives provide maximum shredding and pulverizing action (drawn models)....more
Center-cut knives with center divider (drawn models)....more
Cupped knives provide lifting action for clean, thorough cutting (integral models)....more
Dynamically balanced rotor....more
Vibration and dirt-free rotor bearings....more
Spring-loaded powerband belt....more
Heavy-duty John Deere designed gearbox....more
Drive shafts....more
Heavy-duty, versatile rockshaft design (drawn models)....more
Endwise transport (drawn models)....more
Disk hitch (drawn models)....more
Safety shields help confine material inside the rotor housing....more
Warning lights (118 Integral Model)....more
Press wheel rollers (118 Integral Model)....more

Of course, you'll need a few more horses to run this thing through your field /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

MikePA · Nov 13, 2001

Of course, you'll need a few more horses to run this thing through your field

Not to mention a few more dollars /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Anonymous Poster · Nov 13, 2001

Mike,

Either buy or borrow a regular duty {1" stuff} rotary cutter and save your finish mower... most finish mowers have 1/4" thick blades as rough cut are usually 1/2" thick...

Those stalks are pretty hefty and will win against the finish mower blades... {not to mention the thinner deck and sidewall potential damage}/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

lblair · Nov 13, 2001

I wouldnt use my mmm to cut the stalk, she mowes like a fine watch would keep time. On the other hand with my KK rotary cutter id blast it off. Lots of corn fields around here are always heaving rocks so ide be carfull. I would think he would want to plow it really. Ive cleared a few achers of saplings and brush in the 1-2 inch range with out a problem. Thats with my TC21D and a 4' King kutter. It cranks!
Larry

Edited by lblair on 11/13/01 07:48 PM (server time).

ecard · Nov 15, 2001

I used my 60" Rotart cutter to mow under about 2 acres of corn and garden vegetation and it did just fine. I kept the mower pretty high to avoid the furrows as mentioned above - didn't always work though. Then I used my 2btm plow to turn the soil under to prepare for spring planting. Worked fine for me.

ec

ecard · Nov 15, 2001

Forgot to mention one thing - when I was in Iowa this past week I saw several farmers cutting their corn stalks and bailing just like hay for the cattle - kind of cool.

ec

MikePA · Nov 15, 2001

I went out to the Bush Hog site and looked through the Owner's Manual for one of the Squealer models. In the Preparation For Use section, they talk about cutting both the driveline shield and the driveline itself. Did all of you have to do this with your rotary cutters?