First mow of the season

Doc said:

I can't tell for sure Cowboy but I don't see the toothbar on your FEL yet. You'll like how much better she'll dig once you put that on.

I'd be interested in your cupholder solution ...or anyone who had come up with a good solution for a cupholder. I've procrastinated on this for a couple of years now. I've been squeezing my huggy between the seat and fender. When I blew that front tire a couple weekends ago what a mess that made.

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Next on the list as well Doc . I put the tooth bar on the Iseki & since there both 60 inch buckets I,m really hoping it will fit this one . The buckets got a bow to it but I,m reasonablly sure the tooth bar will help straighten it back out .

All joking aside , the cheap foam coolies with a touch of super glue on the bottom work great . Eventually the glue will break down as well as the foam & scrape right off of the paint I,m still trying to find a good place to sit my 12 pack cooler & my scabard for my shotgun on . Then I,ll worry about the tool & chainboxes .

OK, make it stop!

I did my first mowing last Sunday. I HAD to mow again Wednesday. Looking at it today, I'll have to mow again this Sunday.

I kid you not, it's growing an inch a day. I wonder if that 50/50 mix of 19-19-19 and 46-0-0 I put on a couple weeks ago at the rate of 150# per acre has anything to do with it...

First Mow is 3 weeks away

Where I am in MT, Sidney to be exact, mowing is still waiting on weather to be warmer than 20 deg overnight. Got the blades sharpened so I am ready to go.... if it will just warm up a bit.

Well, I hope it warms up soon for you so you can enjoy and complain about it with the rest of us.

I've mowed for the 2nd time now, and like BC said, it's growing fast. I should mow again 5 days after the last mow, but I stretch it as I can.

We've mowed the lawn for the second time here in MI today and it's growing well here too! Trying to multitask and go green at the same time. Had five mowers going at the same time to get about an acre mowed and fertilized (two donkeys and three horses with chickens spreading the fertilizer). Haven't figured where to super glue the cup holder either.

Finally got the chance to do the first mow. Wow, was that stuff tall. The weather and some health issues forced me to wait until today.

But being that tall, it was still wet with the rain we got on Friday and the frost overnight. That made even worse to get it knocked down. Just for comparison, the front portion that usually takes 45 mins took 2 hours.

Usually the guy who contracts to maintain and harvest my orchard starts the annual cultivation by going through with a flail mower. This is to shred the pruning debris that didn't make it to the burn pile, as well as to make the grass decay so it will be easier to disc under later on.

This year he has contracted to run too much acreage and says he is way behind. He asked if I would hit it with my 4ft mower now that I have a smaller Yanmar that fits under the trees. This took a while, using such a small mower.

I like this little Yanmar (YM186D). I bought it for the small size, to fit under the trees, but more important because the Powershift transmission is what I need for these variable slopes. Moving the column shift grabs the next gear instantly without losing inertia.

The older part of the orchard with wide open rows is easy. Then going the other way to cross-mow means slowing and climbing the terraces between rows.



Down in the modern semi-dwarf trees that are planted closer, and are on steeper ground, climbing each terrace is an adventure. I stopped here when there was no clearance to ride the tractor under a low limb. I shifted to low range (tiller crawl) then got off and stood to the side, and shifted the column shifter (Powershift) to 1st. At an idle, low-low is *real* slow, way less than walking pace. The steering wheel and seat barely cleared the limb, about an inch space.



Note the chain between the quick hitch and the mower. I set that up to make slack, to hinge going up and down the terraces. I also offset the mower to the right to get the tractor farther from the trees.

The place looks almost civilized after its mowed.




I didn't get a good picture that shows my 'cupholder'. It's an insulated backpack that I slung off the side of the hood to carry a 2-liter bottle of chilled water. Some of the weeds were as high as the tractor.

Nice pics Cali , Thats quite the obstacle coarse You have there . Looks like the Yanmar hadles it perty good though .

I,m mowing Mine for the 3rd time this year I have about 2 acres left to do this morning then I can start all over again .

Cowboy is that the YTO in your photos above?

That looks like the perfect size. What is the horsepower on that one?

California said:

Cowboy is that the YTO in your photos above?

That looks like the perfect size. What is the horsepower on that one?

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Yessir Cali thats it , 30HP . I,m really happy with it so far & its quite a bit bigger then my Iseki as well as it has all the bells & whistles as the fancy ones at half the price . I just noticed the Quick hitch on the back of your , Curious where You got it ?

My QH is from Harbor Freight. I think its identical to the QH that Tractor Supply or Northern sells for twice the price. I see this model (26.8" inside width, same as JD's Imatch) is now mail order only. (harborfreightusa .com). The QH's in their stores are now 27.5", plus also a Cat 2 version.

I keep the QH on this little tractor for rear ballast. With such a short wheelbase, its 65 lbs hanging that far off the back helps traction. I also have water in all the tires and four 60 lb suitcase weights on the front.

With all this ballast plus carrying much of the weight of the mower on the hitch, the ballasting feels perfect. I never ran out of traction even rim-deep in mud, turning at the ends of the rows down in back in the ravine.

I started using the QH for ballast last summer, pulling my utility trailer where I definitely was short on traction going uphill. Here's a picture of that rig - incidentally taken in the same ravine turning area that is all mud this time of year.
http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=3262&d=1253677713

While looking for that picture, I found an old one where I'm pulling the same mower with my other Yanmar - the one that's too tall to get under the orchard trees. I've had this one since 2003. Now I use this mostly for the backhoe.

Forgot to post this when I originally did it, but my first mow was April 2nd. Second mow was then started April 16, but it started to rain so I ended up having to finish it then on the 17th.

I mowed for the 4th time this past Tuesday. Grass is growing really fast even though we have not had the normal April rains.

Guess I am behind the curve of you guys. I just mowed first time yesterday.

cj7 said:

Guess I am behind the curve of you guys. I just mowed first time yesterday.

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I call that 'lucky' rather than behind the curve.

First mow of 2011

I just checked the other "First Mow" threads. Last year I fired it up on March 31st in 2009 I fired it up on April 2nd but both of those times I only mowed the areas fertilized by the dog where the grass is so much thicker.

Today I mowed the entire yard. Some parts didn't need it but you can sure see the stripes where I mowed.

How about you? Have you mowed yet if not post here when you do. Tis the season whether we like it or not.

edit to add link to old threads:
2008 first mow: http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1087
2009 first mow: http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1964
2010 first mow: http://www.nettractortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12760

I have to get new tires on the mower now that it's warmed up some. I'll try to do that this weekend. Then I'll be mowing soon. Time to charge the batteries in the MP3 player too.

Here in NW PA, we got almost 6 inches of snow and slush over the past 2 days. Today, it was 50 and it is all gone. My yard won't be dry enough to mow until early-middle May due to high clay content. It is time to start cutting wood.

Not enough green here to turn the donkeys out in lawn. Maybe next week.