Naive...but

Danbo56 · Sep 11, 2012

I have 2 ~6 ac pastures that i mow with my bush hog. They are for the most part square. I'm mowing in decreasing size squares. I'm making alot of clover leaf circles on the corners. Is there a more efficient pattern to mow?
:confused3:
tanks!

kebo · Sep 11, 2012

I do the same thing when I start at the edges and mow to the center. If you tried the opposite and start in the center and mow to the edges you will not have that problem. You will have some corners to clean up after you get the majority done though. The trick is to start as dead center of the field as you can get. Try it next time, you might like it better that way.

pat32rf · Sep 11, 2012

Leave the corners wild and plant some game feed in them......

Soundguy · Sep 11, 2012

i mow my perimiter, then make a pass down the middle.. then I walk that pass so that I cut the outside of one rectangel, and the inside of the other rectange. both rectangles disappear at the same rate and I am driving the same distance of circuit.

sweettractors · Sep 11, 2012

Make a quick circle out on the corners will stop the looping. After you get it down to a acre or so, lay that off in a "Land" to finish. Ken Sweet

ShenandoahJoe · Sep 11, 2012

I do it like Soundguy said, but I do the perimeter last. Nothing to do with efficiency -- I hate killing praying mantises. If I cut towards the center, they'll get trapped. Those girls do such a good job on the bugs around here, that I don't feel foolish making a little extra effort to be sure they can escape into the woods.

Chilly807 · Sep 12, 2012

Mow a few laps around the outside to get some room to move, then one strip down the middle. You now have two rectangles, like Soundguy said, and you can take a strip off each of them with every pass with very few actual stops and turns. I call it a "Zamboni pattern", if you've ever seen an ice rink resurfaced.

Sean

gwdixon · Sep 12, 2012

Like the others, I mow four or five passes on the ends then mow a strip down the middle to define two rectangles. Then you just mow an edge off of each rectangle until the two rectangles are consumed. That way you don't have to mow the entire end pass each time, just half. It is amusing to get to the last few passes to see if you estimated that down the middle pass just right so it all comes out evenly.

The turns are made on already mowed ground so there are no crescent moons of missed grass.

If you have a really large field it can be partitioned into several rectangles to be cut two at a time.

When I disc I do exactly the same thing.

Wish farmwithjunk was here to explain how he does it.

k0ua · Sep 12, 2012

Ok. 4 or 5 of you have described this 2 rectangle thing, and I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I am sure this works, or so many of you would not be doing it, but I cannot visualize it at all.. I understand the mowing around the perimeter, part and then the mowing a pass down the middle and your are left with 2 rectangles. Then what do you do.? None of the other phrases made any sense to me. And it would seem to me you would be traveling over an ever increasing amount of already cut grass and wasting both time and fuel. I am not doubting what ever you are doing is working, but I cannot see it.. Could one of you please draw a few diagrams of the pattern starting after the 2 rectangles are formed. Thanks
James K0UA

smstonypoint · Sep 12, 2012

k0ua said:
Could one of you please draw a few diagrams of the pattern starting after the 2 rectangles are formed. Thanks
James K0UA

This may help: The Geometry of Ice Resurfacing

Steve

k0ua · Sep 12, 2012

Ok I believe I have it now... thanks

James K0UA

LogChain · Sep 13, 2012

James,

Thanks for raising the question. I was similarly confused. And Steve, thanks for the link. It was just what I needed. Now if I had a field and a tractor, I could practice.

--LogChain

kiotiken · Sep 13, 2012

Soundguy said:
i mow my perimiter, then make a pass down the middle.. then I walk that pass so that I cut the outside of one rectangel, and the inside of the other rectange. both rectangles disappear at the same rate and I am driving the same distance of circuit.

The Canadian in me was going to say the same thing, just like a Zamboni cleaning the ice!

Soundguy · Sep 13, 2012

k0ua said:
Ok I believe I have it now... thanks

James K0UA

yep.. you are actually keeping the same distance.. not an increasing distance.. you are just 'walking' the cutting area.. as said.. when yuo get down to the end you get to see if you guessed middle correctly.

k0ua · Sep 13, 2012

Not being Canadian, I was missing out on the Zamboni connection

But I got it figured out now.. thanks all.

James K0UA

LD1 · Sep 13, 2012

I guess I just do it like the OP first described. Yea, its a PITA, but nothing around me is square. Everything is odd shaped, triangles, ells, etc.

And since I cant drive a straight line

, i'm no good at the zamboni pattern. Cause I usually end up with a LOOONG slender triangle shape that is maybe 30' wide at one end of the field, tapering to nothing 500' away at the other end. And cleaning those up isnt very efficient. Ends up taking more time than just making tight turns on the corners, or cloverleafing. If it is just a darn field, left and right braking helps speed the turning up too:thumbsup:

Ideally, a field would be perfectally round and you can just spiral in or out and NEVER have the cutter out of the work. But I think I would get dizzy:confused2:

Grandad4 · Sep 13, 2012

Soundguy said:
yep.. you are actually keeping the same distance.. not an increasing distance.. you are just 'walking' the cutting area.. as said.. when yuo get down to the end you get to see if you guessed middle correctly.

Every time you get to the end of the rectangle, you drive over an already-mowed area. The wider the rectangle, the more time it takes to start the next strip of actual mowing, so dividing the field into several narrow rectangles is somewhat more efficient. But you have to accurately eyeball a parallel "plunge cut" for more rectangles, and cleaning up when you make a mistake can offset the time you gain. :wink: If you get good at it, it's about as fast as using the turning brakes to make square 90 deg or 180 deg turns when mowing.

B Hoofed · Sep 13, 2012

Does everyone lift the cutter when making sharp turns (assuming you have a lift type) or do you just sling it around on the tail wheel?

Chilly807 · Sep 13, 2012

Part of the trouble with square mowing patterns is that towards the end of it, you're making almost nothing but turns, since the legs are so short. Once you have the rectangles established, I try to cut mostly on the long edges to prevent that. I'd sooner drive a few more feet ahead unloaded to get to a long steady cut than spend more time stopping and turning, or doing cloverleafs.

Sean