The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Lineman North Florida]

Not mowing , but another little small job spreading a dump truck load of fill dirt for a 12' by 40' portable shed

 

[Hay Dude]

Boy, some of your pictures sure look familiar. I do a whole lot of hiking in and around White Clay Creek State Park and also Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area. Also some in ChesLen, Stroud, Brandywine Creek State Park, Ridley Creek State Park, Goat Hill, Chrome Barren, and other areas along the PA/DE border or not far from it. Beautiful land around there!

It certainly is. Most all of it was owned by the DuPonts at one time or another.
Try State Line Woods and The Brandywine Conservancy walking trails.

 

[Dale Binkley]

It certainly is. Most all of it was owned by the DuPonts at one time or another.
Try State Line Woods and The Brandywine Conservancy walking trails.

You have posted many photos of areas I am familiar with. Grew up living near Longwood Gardens and worked as a teen-ager on a farm near the PA/DE border. Also had family with a farm in the same area. The photos brought back a lot of good memories. I mowed fields on a farm with a Ford Workmaster tractor and a bushhog mower. It was easy to mow around the ponds but you had to watch for the gulleys that were hidden in the weeds near the ponds. I had to change my pants a couple times after hitting a gulley with the rear wheel of the tractor (in the days before ROP's). I had hopes of being able to farm in the area but the farm ended up being sold and it was replaced with houses.

 

[Hay Dude]

You have posted many photos of areas I am familiar with. Grew up living near Longwood Gardens and worked as a teen-ager on a farm near the PA/DE border. Also had family with a farm in the same area. The photos brought back a lot of good memories. I mowed fields on a farm with a Ford Workmaster tractor and a bushhog mower. It was easy to mow around the ponds but you had to watch for the gulleys that were hidden in the weeds near the ponds. I had to change my pants a couple times after hitting a gulley with the rear wheel of the tractor (in the days before ROP's). I had hopes of being able to farm in the area but the farm ended up being sold and it was replaced with houses.

Would like to know where you lived, PM me if you feel like it.

 

[TractorTYMe]

Nice to have large equipment covering large acreage, I stick to properties 10 acres or less that needs brush/weed control. My 68'' Flail mower can do about 1.5acres/h if it's not too thick.

 

[Hay Dude]

I also have a John Deere 390 flail mower for small jobs, but haven’t used it much in last few years.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Did a little custom pasture re-seeding job for a customer who had mole crickets wipe his pasture grass out, 22 acres of Pensacola bahia drilled in with no-till grain drill.

 

[m1garand762]

You have to have the patience of Jobe to work with the these Conservancies.
The way I see it, I keep my opinions to myself and give them what they want. It’s their property and they do as they see fit.

One interesting thing is there’s another Conservancy who allows me to hay their lands 1 time per year, then pay me for a mowing in early-mid fall (see post #1).
I think this saves them money and keeps the invasives down, while returning some nutrients back to the soil.

Either way there is some money to be made and their vision of land stewardship is achieved.

Ain’t that the truth. I trapped beaver for the land conservancy for a few years and finally told them what to suck after 1 too many insults from management and the land owners

 

[Hay Dude]

Did a little custom pasture re-seeding job for a customer who had mole crickets wipe his pasture grass out, 22 acres of Pensacola bahia drilled in with no-till grain drill.View attachment 787767View attachment 787768View attachment 787769View attachment 787770View attachment 787771

Damn LNF, up in my parts, we’d call that a beach!
I only NTD in the fall.

I’m pretty much done with any Conservancy mowing for a few months. I got this one done a few weeks ago in beautiful weather-about 55-60* and nature all around.

Parked in the tractor shed. I’ll probably pull the mower drain & refill all the gearboxes to get ready for spring & summer

I was up at my local dealer and spotted a newer used Deere FC-20R. I still like the CX-20 better.

These have that funky “torsion” suspension. Looks cheap to me. Just rubber strips pinched into tubes. I prefer the air bags myself.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Damn LNF, up in my parts, we’d call that a beach!
I only NTD in the fall.

Bad part is, he had about 30 head of cows on it, the mole crickets wiped his grass out, good side is we got rain today with more supposed to come Monday so his seed should begin to germinate, the mole crickets have wrecked a lot of pastures and hay fields down here, I have had 2 more people call me and line up for me to re-seed their pastures in the next 2weeks.