Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics

   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics #1  

Doyle670

Bronze Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Messages
75
Tractor
Ford 1900
So i've scoured the internet and this forum for some pics of people that mowed hay with a brush hog. Alot people said they've done it, alot of people said their fathers, uncles, grandfathers, neighbors have done it, but nothing with pics. I had considered buying a sickle bar, rake and small baler, but being this is my hobby, it doesn't always get the finances it deserves(wife, kids, house, etc. prevent that) So this year i'm using my brush hog, a $300 rake I bought, and my great grandfather's dump rake to collect it. I'll be storing it loose in my barn and also some outside.

Here is my attempt at haying old school. Hopefully I can provide insight to anyone else that may be considering doing this.

I've only just begun haying. I mowed about 7 acres worth 2 days ago(wednesday) and it was ready to be baled last night. However i'm going to let it dry until this afternoon because of the good weather. I'll have another 7-10 acres to go once this is done.

As a last note, this is actually my pasture. I only have 2 smaller cows now and they can't keep up with the grass, so rather than just brushhog it all off, I decided to hay it. Therefore the hay isn't quite as thick and therefore won't produce the max amount of hay. I do have about 5 acres worth that isn't pastured that I will take pictures of when I cut it in a few weeks.

As you can see the cows already love it.
 

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   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics
  • Thread Starter
#2  
Also a concern brought up before is the loss of quality. I have nearly 0% of waste by using the brushhog. I'm brushhogging at lower rpms, and faster ground speeds. I've tested various spots of the hay and it looks just as good as if it was cut with a haybine.

I will have more pics hopefully later today of a 4th generation dump rake in action.
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics #3  
This used to be not so uncommon. I remember seeing ads in Progressive Farmer as late as the latter 1980's from a company called Buffalo that produced a variety of implements and of them was a "hayside" rotary cutter. Older "square back" cutters like yours were rather good about windrowing the cuttings to one side of the machine. We have an old Corsicana cutter like this and it leaves a nice row of cut material on the left hand side of the cut. Most modern cutters have the tapered back which tends to disperse the cuttings more evenly and leave much less of a windrow behind them.

You would never see it today for a commercial cut or one where hay quality was a premium, but.......on your property, on the cheap, to take care of just a few sookies......yours looks okay.
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Yeah once I get done i'm going to figure the production costs to get an idea of how much it cost me to feed my animals for the winter. It will be tough to judge how many bales(standard unit of measure) I get off my fields, but i'll let it settle for a few weeks and do it based off of cubic feet of hay. Then I should be able to get an approximate amount it would equal in square bales. Right now i'm into it for about $320. That's counting the cost of the rake and some fuel. For $320 I would've been able to buy 80 square bales. No where near enough for the winter.
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics #5  
There are pics of using a bush hog type mower on this site. I used the ole trusty bushog for over 4 years (3 cuttings per year) doing hay. Here is a link to my old 2009 thread (it does appear one of the original bush hogging pictures has been corrupted though but one it still there).

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...146362-hobby-haying-pics-compact-tractor.html

My experience using my bushog was that it worked fine without any issues in regards to hay quality and on a good note even served a poor man's conditioner to help with drying times. I personally did leave some hay in the field as my bushog lacked suction type blades so some of grass what the tractor tires would mash over would not get lifted back up to be cut. If the mower had suction blades it would have helped my situation. I did not suffer any yield loss whatsoever with my hay being cut up or mangled into too small of pieces for the rake or baler to pick up like many claim. My yield loss was less than 20% to 25%. Insiginificant on a hobby low budget operation compared to purchasing and maintaining an alternative cutter.

Regardless, your bushhog cutting job looks very good and even better than mine cut so should work very well for you. Hard to beat the limited expenses of using the bushog too - my expenses were limited to a few minutes sharpening the blade with a hand held grinder and thats is it - simply does not get much cheaper than that.

Lastly, I applaud your independent thinking on putting up your hay loose. It was done for centuries that way either in a shock outdoors (precursor to the modern round baler for outdoor storage) or loose in barn mow for the lucky ones that had nice big barns. Hay Balers were not invented until the 1930's or so. Skipping the baler saves an expense and an even bigger headhache for a small time hobby operation especially for those who lack a tractor big enough to run a baler to begin with. Really, a small time operation only needs a baler if they plan to sell the hay. For personal use - loose hay works fine.
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Lastly, I applaud your independent think on putting up your hay loose. It was done for centuries that way either in a shock outdoors (precursor to the modern round baler) or loose in barn mow for the lucky ones that had nice big barns. Hay Balers were not invented until the 1930's or so. Skipping the baler saves an expense and an even bigger headhache for a small time hobby operation. Really, a small time operation only needs a baler if they plan to sell the hay. For personal use - loose hay works fine.

Trust me i'd love to have a baler, but to buy a baler that you have to worry about having issues, and then have to store it 11 months out of the year in a barn that is already too full, just wasn't worth it. If I can get the equivalent of 400 square bales i'd be happy. Which should be no problem considering the last few years a local farmer has taken 30 5x5 rounds off of it. And that wasn't including an additional 5 acres that he couldn't get to that i'm going to do this year.
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics
  • Thread Starter
#7  
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics #8  
Well, I'm no hay expert, but I love your seat cushion.;)

272282d1341585479-mowing-hay-brushhog-pics-haying1.jpg
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Well, I'm no hay expert, but I love your seat cushion.;)

View attachment 272300

Well when you have a 6 year old boy that just has to ride with you, and you have to share the seat with him and with half my butt on the seat the other off, I need some extra padding. When he isn't riding I get to sit in the throne all by myself...
 
   / Mowing Hay with Brushhog...with pics #10  
I didn't see any pics in that thread, only 1 red x. Maybe my settings aren't right?

Give it added time to load as it seems to take a bit for the pics to load. There are several pics, including raking and baling too (6 of 7 total pics are still there). I am guessing the pics are slow to load due to the conversion from the old forum software to this new software that came online a couple months ago. Feel free to read all the commentary as there are several interesting replies within that thread too.
 
 
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