The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Hay Dude]

Myself I lean more towards the JCB lineup. My nephew has a Cat skidsteer with the tracks over the tires. Even with the added lift from the tracks with anything but the stock bucket on it can be difficult to exit the machine. It takes maneuvering to get the arms down low enough to get out of the cab by opening the door as it will not clear the implement. He actually ends up removing the door much of time to make it usable.

Climbing in and out of the SS is a young man's game - Keeps me from using it as much as I could. The other thing that makes me choose the forklift or the tractor are the reduced work area visibility (I installed 2 rearward cameras), and the slow rough ride...

I’d love a JCB tracked teleskid, except that its only about 75HP.
That Takeuchi I posted the link to is like 112HP and will lift or run anything high flow you can put on it. It’s a beast.

The JCB tele skid has the side entry door, which is a great feature. It could also potentially stack and unstack bales higher than a standard skid steer.

Wish they’d build a 100HP teleskid. It gets rid of the claustrophobic feeling with that side door and would have enough ass to get really heavy jobs done.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

We are 98% done all cutting of hay & fields. Just one place left to do.
Suffice it to say, we are in “off-season” mode.

I just started a fence clearing project. About 1000’ of fence with about 15 years of unabated growth. A real mess. Briars, vines, olive, etc. Just started on Thursday & Friday. Here’s about 50’ of this glamorous work underway.
I’m using My Stihl HT-103 pole pruner and Stihl Kombi 91 with a Stihl tri-blade.

I will benefit a little from this clearing because it’s along a hay field I cut and should help me get a little relief from overhanging branches.


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Can you believe there’s a fence in there?

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Some more progress. Can you see the railroad berm in the background?


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My fence row was almost just like this when we got our property. I did mostly the same as you are doing. I had a lot of blackberry vines and for me a sling blade worked faster than a trimmer. But I did not have one with a metal blade at the time. I was able to basically fillet the vines off the fence like a fish slab. Then once I could get enough off the fence that I could get it to lay down I mowed over them to mulch them. This was also pre-tractor so I took very small bites with my riding lawn mower, or push mower.

 

[Hay Dude]

Making some progress on the fence line. All hand to hand combat. 30’ deep swath of brush and cars on a blind curve.
I have a “WORK AREA AHEAD” sign down the road and cones. Yet people still miss me by 1-2’ and I see them looking down & texting.
Have about 1000’ done and about 500’ to go.

 

[EddieWalker]

Seeing how bad that fence looks, wouldn't it be better to just rent an excavator and take all of it out in a day, then put in a brand new fence?

 

[Hay Dude]

Seeing how bad that fence looks, wouldn't it be better to just rent an excavator and take all of it out in a day, then put in a brand new fence?

Yes, definitely.
The owner wants the old craggy fence to keep kids in 4-wheelers off the property.
He’s limited on funds to install new fence.

It’s also noteworthy that a dozer would push the debris onto the road, since the road is less than 10’ from the fence. You’d probably “rake” it back into the field with a mini-ex, as you suggested, then burn all the plant material, then cram all the fence wire into my dump truck and haul away.

But he wanted to keep the fence to discourage off-roaders.

My guess it we will probably try to prop-up some of the fence before it completely falls over.

 

[Hay Dude]

The fence posts and partial wire still do a decent job of discouraging off road vehicles.

 

[Jason05216]

The fence posts and partial wire still do a decent job of discouraging off road vehicles.

I don't understand people thinking it's OK to ride on the property with their off road vehicles without the fence being there. The way I was raised, you didn't go on someone else's property without permission, with or without a fence. Especially with something like an ATV or UTV that could cause damage.

 

[Hay Dude]

I don't understand people thinking it's OK to ride on the property with their off road vehicles without the fence being there. The way I was raised, you didn't go on someone else's property without permission, with or without a fence. Especially with something like an ATV or UTV that could cause damage.

Agree.

Originally, the fencing was used to keep cows contained on the land. Cows been gone 20 years. Now I just farm it for organic hay. Owner likes the rustic look of the fence and also the deterrence effect.

 

[mrmikey]

Yet people still miss me by 1-2’ and I see them looking down & texting.

That's scary as he77. Brings the expression "watch your azz" to a new meaning. Make sure you do watch your azz HD, there are some idiot drivers out there.
Don't 'spose there's any way to park your truck a couple hundred yard before you is there? Road looks really narrow

 

[pmsmechanic]

My guess it we will probably try to prop-up some of the fence before it completely falls over.

A "T" post inserted behind a few posts and wired on would prop up the fence and wouldn't interfere much with the rustic look.