Brush Mowers

A

ajdillon

Member
<P mce_keep="true">I purchased 13 acres up on the Lampasas River that I'm planning on building a retirement place on. Went up there with the architect the other day and was a little taken back by how the brush had grown up. People in the neighborhood seem to mostly keep their parcels natural looking, but it seems to me that the brush still needs to get knocked down some, or I might lose a pet or small child in it. I was thinking that I didn't want to purchase a tractor if I could avoid it and that there might be something my RTV could drag around that would do the trick. I started looking at the DR Field and Brush Mower that is designed to be towed, offset to one side, behind a 4x4 or small tractor and wondering whether something like that would do the trick. I'm thinking I would have to unbolt and take off my high rack, and probably my doors, in order to be able to get near the trees and see what's going on. Brian (the Zoomer) suggested I start another thread in order to collect the best ideas. Anybody have experience mowing brush with an attachment for their RTV?</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Thanks in advance for any advice.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Andrew</P>
 
<P mce_keep="true"> Mr. Andrew, </P>


<FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3> Know a gentleman, that owns 17 acres of land over in Mississippi, he uses a brush / bush mower to keep his place cleaned up. I will check with him and see what he has. But if I remember correctly, it has a Honda engine, and been using it now going on five years now. It is pulled with a Honda Rubicon four-wheeler. Does a complete / perfect job for him....itmust be a tough set-up, for this is the kind of man who runs over everything. Seen him working that thing just before hunting season last year, and my God, he was covering some ground, and he don't stop and pick up nothing, runs right over it and the thing keep on cutting. ( I hate to know he was running my equipment ) >>> So it must be a reliable machine. I will check and let you know what brand, etc >>>>></FONT></P>


<FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><FONT face=JohnHancock color=#ff0000 size=4> ~~~~~ Two Guns ~~~~~~</FONT></FONT></P>


<FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></P>


<FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT></P>
 
<P mce_keep="true">Thanks Jamie, the DR mower I was looking at had swing away blades and would cut at 8 inches or so, so rocks wouldn't be that much of a problem. I just wonder about towing it behind the RTV, I run into enough stuff just driving it by itself, dragging that rig behind might require more attention than I'm normally willing to spend ;-)</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Andrew</P>
 
Without pics of the land it's hard to judge your conditions and what you're up against. Will you just be cutting trails or do you pretty much want to clear the entire acreage? </p>

When you say brush, how big of diameter things are you going to be cutting through. My biggest concern is going through after it's been cut once and having all the mini-stumps sticking out of the ground. At 1", it may be like running over spikes. You'll need to watch your tires.</p>

13 overgrown acres is a parcel screaming for a tractor. A compact tractor with a front loader and rotary cutter would do wonders. Are there any local farmers or others that have a tractor with a cutter that can take the first few passes for you? The tractor model rotary cutters are substantially stronger than what they offer for behind ATV/UTV's. They'll address logs, rocks and whatever else it encounters with normally no damage to the equipment. </p>
 
<P mce_keep="true">There are many folks now days, who don't want the out of the pocket expennse of buying a tractor & bush hog, they are renting them by the week. And doing all the " harder & bigger cleaning " . And then, from there, keeping it up with simpler methods. Going by what I know a local man did on his nine acres. He rented a tractor with front end loader & bush hog, used it for five days, spent $ 625.00 ..... and it was over. Now, he can keep it up with the smaller pieces of equipment he has. He now has no tractor and bigger equipment notes and having something he don't need no more just gathering dust, or just sitting there waiting for someone to borrow it ( which usally happens ) >>>>>>></P>
<P mce_keep="true"><FONT face=JohnHancock color=#ff0000 size=4> ~~~~~ Two Guns ~~~~~~</FONT></P>
 
<P mce_keep="true">Sorry Brian, I should have included more info. The top of the property is 4 or 5 acres that is relatively flat, covered in live oak, cedar and small brush. There is about a hundred foot drop down to a portion of a hay meadow that one of my neighbors fertilizes and mows. Several of us have a deal with him, he takes care of it and gets the hay, we get an agricultural exemption on the property tax. (It's a gated residential community and my property taxes last year on 13 acres was $18!) The meadow is 7 or 8 acres, about 900 feet across and then there is about 300 feet of river front with big live oaks and pecans and twenty or thirty feet of brush along the edge of the meadow, so my brush cutting would only be on 5 acres or so. I wouldn't think that justifies a tractor, but I thought I heard a rumor that the manufacturers of the RTV might also make tractors ;-) so maybe I look into it. My neighbor and I went halfies on a switchback road that traverses both our properties to get down to the meadow, so we wouldn't have to drive the long way around to get down to the river. It's still pretty steep, but no problem for my F250 4x4 or the RTV. I plan on building up top, out on the edge of the drop. It will have a view for 30 miles or so. I'm thinking a feeder down by the river will be a 300 yard shot from my back porch!</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Andrew</P>
 
<P mce_keep="true">[quote user="ajdillon"]


I'm thinking a feeder down by the river will be a 300 yard shot from my back porch!</P>
<P mce_keep="true"></P>


[/quote]</P>


Sounds like your fixin' to build a hunter's paradise !!!! </P>
 
<P mce_keep="true">Andrew:</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Just my two cents about brush cutting. I use a medium size utility farm tractor (340 International) and a 5 foot rotary Brush Hog to do some clearing, of whichsound somewhat similar to what you have (but without the river view). I clear our brambles, thorn trees and other saplings up to about 2-3 inches in diameter. Also includes high weedy growth and high grasses. This ishard work on mowers and tractors as I'm sure you are aware. More than once I have hit something and have had to replace shear pins.You mentioned using a pull behind brush mower behind an RTV. My technique for the first cuttingof this type of growth is to mostly cut it while in reverse gear. I tackle the stuff while going backwards and letting the Brush Hog (with a composite rear wheel) take thebrunt of the brush and thorns. That way, the tractor, or me, is not getting all scratched up, not getting a branch through the radiator or getting lights knocked off.I use this idea on areas of 2-3acres at a time.I also use a walk behind DR brush cutter for smaller areas. (Another great machine I've rigged up with a two wheeled seated sulky attachment.) Ever see a baseball cap after its been through a rotary brush cutter? It's not pretty. LOL. Just some thoughts to ponder.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">still a RTV wanna be, Keifer</P>
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<P mce_keep="true">Thanks Kiefer, one of my buddies bought the parcel down the street and we're talking about sharing a tractor, so maybe that's the way I'll go. Hitting it backwards is probably a good thought.</P>
<P mce_keep="true">Andrew</P>
 
<P mce_keep="true">I'd also discourage a pull behind mower. Driving over stuff first can't be good for the drivetrain. You can get walk behind mowers like the DR, one word of warning on the DR stuff, its typicaly not the best value around, you can get better stuff for cheaper prices. All the TV ad's they run are expensive and your paying for that in their product. Ferris / Snapper had a nice hydrostatic walk behind that we sold for awhile that was about $2500 and would take down stuff up to 1.5" Those are about 2.5ft wide, so its going to take some time, but its a minimal investment. </P>
 
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