rotary mower - rear or front discharge. What works best.

[prof fate]

There are 3pt and pull brush hogs (rotary mower) - wen they start to get big (and heavy) the pull behind is the preferred choice. 6' and up you usually have the choice. pull behind's cut a bitbetter as they ride mroe consistently - but depends on the area you're mowing - lots of backing up then a 3pt is a better choice.

I've not noticed much diff in speed with 10" weeds vs 4' weeds. Some are thicker than others and uphill means going slower as HP is sucked up with climbing the hill.

I'm currently mowing 18-20 acres of horse pasture with a 29hp pto HST tractor and 6' bush hog brush hog. The 'rule of thumb' is 1' of hog for every 5 pto hp. I could probably do a 7'. Last tractor has 15pto hp and was geared and i pulled a 4' king kutter. It worked, but toook more time.

Some of the grass will stand back up- brush hogs don't 'suck' up the grass like lawn mowers and the wheels will compress it and it won't get cut fully. The taller the weeds the more you'll notice this. a second cut a few days later will correct it.

I've nto used a flail mower, but from my research it takes more HP for the same size cutter, a LOT more maintenance (more parts, more blades) but will give a nicer finish.

An 8' pull behind should work for you - again, terrain and conditions may be a consideration.

You can find used ones for less than half the price of new.

 

[leonz]

Researching versus owning and operating a flail mower are 2 different things.

If my father could know down 12-15 foot goldenrod and brush using a Ford Jubilee gas tractor with a two range gear drive with an oil bath air cleaner using a low range drive speed mowing it down to a 4 inch height using a John Deere 25A which is a 7 foot finish flail mower on the first pass I can disagree with you as I saw him do it.

Flail mowers are much safer to use and the property damage incidents and injuries caused by rotary cutters are well documented.

SO until you use one and see how well it mows.........................................

 

[LD1]

I will repeat what I always say when somebody asks about mower size for a particular tractor. Wider and slower is better than narrower and faster.

Same thing I have been preaching for the last 6 or 7 years on here.

And within reason....with modern HST tractors.....you can go pretty darn big. Well exceeding the "general rule" of 5hp per ft. Because you can go infinitely slow.

 

[prof fate]

wider and slower isn't getting the job done any sooner than narrower and faster. one could also cut higher and cut twice.

 

[LD1]

wider and slower isn't getting the job done any sooner than narrower and faster. one could also cut higher and cut twice.

That isnt the point of the wide and slow vs narrow and fast argument.

When you have a small mower....like say a 5' mower on a 50hp tractor.....sure you can fly through about anything at 8 or 9 mph and never lack power. But you might have to slow down frequently because the terrain is just too rough, or cut quality suffers (overrunning the blades), or there are things to mow around that slow you down, etc.

Going wider....allows for a much smoother ride, easier on the tractor when it isnt bouncing off a groundhog hole at 8 MPH....and cut quality is generally better because the material to be cut spends more time under the deck.

Just because you have a bigger mower, doesnt mean you HAVE to go slower. If things arent thick and dense....speed up and you can cut much much faster than a smaller cutter if the ground is smooth.

Two things determine how many acres/hr you can cut......ground speed and cutter width.
Three things determine ground speed.....power, cut quality, and terrain (how rough it is)

Bigger cutter in terms of "acres per hour" is gonna require the same power as a smaller cutter, so thats a wash.
Bigger cutter typically has better cut quality
Bigger cutter can go slower and have a smoother ride and still cut same OR MORE acres per hour.

It all just depends on what the limiting factors are in the field you want to mow. But in my book, bigger is better. If all I was mowing was my own property....I'd have a 10 or 12' mower behind my 41 PTO HP tractor. But as it is, I trailer alot and have to fit through 10' gates frequently....so 8' is my limit

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Mowing tall grass and weeds, you will get a lot of chaff and pollen on the front screen. You will need to stop periodically and brush it off, or risk overheating.

 

[RSKY]

wider and slower isn't getting the job done any sooner than narrower and faster. one could also cut higher and cut twice.

It may not get the job done any faster BUT if the field is rough you won't get beat up as bad, won't strain your equipment hitting ruts at a high speed, and you will have more time to stop when you spot a large limb in the weeds. When you get past sixty years comfort is king.

RSKY

 

[LD1]

It may not get the job done any faster BUT if the field is rough you won't get beat up as bad, won't strain your equipment hitting ruts at a high speed, and you will have more time to stop when you spot a large limb in the weeds. When you get past sixty years comfort is king.

RSKY

Pretty much what I was trying to summarize but have a hard time putting it in words I think.

Sure, twice as wide at half speed is gonna be the same amount of time no matter what. And if power (or lack of) is the limiting factor, Then the only benefit to wider and slower is comfort as you put it.

But if anything else is the limiting factor other than power.....you are gonna get done alot faster with a bigger mower.

IE: Maybe you are mowing with a 40hp tractor and a 5' cutter. And are only mowing at 3 MPH because the ground is too rough to go any faster. But you have power to spare and are unable to use due to the rough ground. You are gonna be stuck at 1.5 acres per hour with the 5' mower.

Up that to an 8' twin. Still have the power to spin it. Still limited by 3 MPH though. You just increased your acres per hour to almost 2.5. NOW you are actually utilizing close to the full HP of the machine.

 

[TerryR]

Flail mowers are much safer to use and the property damage incidents and injuries caused by rotary cutters are well documented.

Yes, I suppose that's true. It's also true than in 20 years of mowing my field with a rotary cutter I've never had an issue. Maybe, because like most field mowing, there's never anyone or anything around? But I've never seen anything thrown anyway.

I understand that's a real issue if you are mowing around people or in unfamiliar property around buildings, animals, or other stuff, but for most of us that's just a red herring.

SO until you use one and see how well it mows.........................................

Fair enough. But now I've used one, I can say that the cut quality on my new flail is clearly much worse than with my 20-year old rotary cutter. The only redeeming feature is that it's offset, so most of the time I don't have to run over the grass and weeds before the mower gets to it. If it weren't for that I'd be getting rid of the flail because of its poor cut quality.

 

[LD1]

Flails only have good cut quality (in my experience) on 6-12" tall grass.

They are kinda middle ground. Something that is just a bit too heavy for a regular finish mower, but not something that requires a heavy duty rotary....they do pretty good. But at a much slower pace.

I dont mow alot, maybe ~500 acres commercially in the for, of 4-6 acre lots on average. So I see all kinds of conditions. From once a month mows that are gravy, to 8' tall ragweed and golden rod, to briars so dense you can hardly drive thru.

Old tractor was a L3400 kubota that I ran a heavy 6' rotary on. Ran that setup for years. While I had that machine, I had acquired an alamo flail pretty cheap and figured I'd give it a try. it was a 5' cutter and I had to mow about half the speed I mowed similar stuff with the 6' rotary. Cut quality IMO was no better. Its a business and I am in it to make money. And taking twice as long to do a job vs a rotary....I wouldnt be in business long.