I plan on using my 99 Sporsman 500 for brushhogging on some of my clients properties, plus doing some small plot farming (both for bambi and veg) in areas that are presently overgrown with brush and small saplings (1"-2" tops).

My questions are as follows:

1) what is better for clearing brush and maintaining cleared areas, flail mower or a rotary blade mower and which manufacturer,

2) for cultivating overgrown areas what items do you suggest (i.e. cultivator, harrow, seed spreader, etc..) and which manufacturer

If possible, with your suggestions please indicate your experiences and where to get these items at the best price.

Thanks Swampbuster

 

I've used both. What I've settled on is using a chain saw/brush cutter (hand held)/hand shear to clear an area and then maintain the area with a finish (rotary) mower. Unless you have a lot of acres to clear of big stuff and rough ground, I think this is the way to go.

The best way to prepare an area for seed is to hit it with a good herbicide like Round Up, let it stand for a week then turn it over with a plow and disk it. You can get the shoulder held broadcasters for fertilizer and seed (clover/alphalfa?) cheap....and the do a good job. I would skip the implements for the ATV. For less money than new ATV implements, you could buy an old Ford 8N/9N plus used three point implements and have a lot more capability....by far.

 

Greetings,

I've made several posts about my flail mower experience so apologies to all for any redundancy – but its one of my favorite topics of the moment so here are my thoughts.

I too have fields that tend to grow up in brush if not mowed at least once a year. I looked at rotary brush hogs from Cycle Country and Rhino but (a) didn’t want a rotary blade due to rut and rock problems, (b) didn’t want to give up half my garage to storing it, and (c) didn’t like the space needed to turn it in the field (I wanted to mow around rows of Christmas trees). One of my neighbors had an old flail mower and it really impressed me as it had none of the disadvantages listed above – so I went in search on a new one. The only company I found producing a self-powered flail mower (i.e. no PTO) was Alamo Industrial. It turned out that they stopped making them last year but, after a lot of calls, I found two at Bragco in Towanda, PA. The mowers they had were the bigger of the two offered models (48” cut) and had an optional larger Honda engine – both factors added considerably to the price. The smaller was about $1,800 which is on a par with a good, larger brush hog. The larger with the optional engine was about $2,300, but they dropped it off near my farm for free so what the heck.

Having used it a few months now I can report that it is a hardy machine. Everything is built tough and it chops the grass very fine and throws it straight down – no discharge to the back or side. It isn’t as good on big brush as other machines might be, but once I get ahead of it, that shouldn’t be a problem. One shortfall in the design is the tires – they are just too small. While they are 12” pneumatics, they don’t take the bumps as well as I’d like and I can’t get the cutting height as high as I want. I wonder if this is a problem for bush hogs as well -- they have small tires and always look too close to the ground. I’ve ordered some 18” tires and will try those out in a couple of weeks. Overall, the machine comes set up perfectly for cutting something like an athletic field and I’m sure it will be just fine for my rougher uses once I get the bigger tires on.

For really tough brush and tight areas I use a DR Brush and Field Mower. This is an amazing machine that cuts anything you can push over – even saplings. I put on a pair of noise reduction headphones plugged into a Sony Sport Walkman and pulverize vegetation to music for hours (excellent therapy).

As for cultivating, I’m looking into that as well. I don’t want to get into the whole 3-point hitch thing and the implements seem a bit pricey. Northern has a simple disk harrow for under $150 that hooks right on your ATV hitch mount. I’m sure it’s not as effective or versatile as the high digit models reviewed on this site, but for the minimal investment, it’s worth a try. I’m looking for a cover crop/game food crop that can be planted in some no-till way, but I’m afraid I may need to contract someone to run a plow through things at lease once. If you find a crop and method that is very very low input, please let us know.

 

I have the Cycle Country3pt hitch,with plow and disc implements for my 450es. They work better when you spray round up on the ground you are going to prepare first. While at times I wished I would have gone the tractor route, I can be in fields more often with atv in the soft bottom land I work on. Heavy tractors (MF 85) will sink up to axles, Beleve me I know. So the mountable sprayer with 7' boom is needed in conjunction with Atv implements. Marty

 

I can offer my experiences. I researched the rotary mowers. I looked at the Swisher line (www.swisherinc.com) the Bushhog GT42 (www.bushhog.com)and the Cycle Country line (www.cyclecountry.com). I chose the Cycle Country Rough Cut 48" mower. I have had it for three years now and it works like a tank. It is expensive, and it is heavy, but if you can pull it over it, it will cut it. I have used it to make trails through my wood, cut ATV high grass and just about everything else you can think of.

It will pull directly behind you or offset to either side up to a full mower width. I pull it behind my 98 Grizzly about 8 to 10 hours a week. I have some food plots that I mow as well as a 4 acre yard and pond area. The Grizzly will give a tempature HOT light after about 2 hours of towing up and down hills, then you have to give it a rest for a while. So far I have replaced the throttle cable, belt, and front wheel spindle (about 60$) as maintenance in 3 years. Most of that is attributed to the rough enivronment I have put it through. I change to oil every month and it just keeps on cutting. It also has a user replaceble Timken bearing in the spindle that should probably last the life of the mower anyway. I shoot some grease into the bearing at every oil change.

The one bad point is that pull starting a 12.5hp Briggs and Stratton is not all that easy sometimes. My wife is good for about 2 pulls before she needs help. I wish it had electric start. I would alos like it if it had a taller cut. I have it adjusted as high as it will go and I get about a 7" cutting height. It has large solid tires, so I don't have to worry about punctures or flat tires. I have a LOT of locust trees that have VERY long thorns on them.

As far as fields go, I pay my neighboor to disk up my fields when they need replanted. I have two small fields in the 2 to 3 acre range that have clover in them and a third field about the same size that is just grown up into natural grass that the deer bed in. I would like to be able plant some low till/no till row crop such as corn, but I cannot justify the cost of the ATV impliments. $1500 - $2000 in impliments will pay for a lot of plowing, discing and planting form people that have the REAL equipment to do the job.

I hope this helps and good luck.
Allen L. Grooms - 98 Grizzly - One HOT machine

 

Greetings,

Just want to second the motion for electric start. My DR Brush Mower has an 8HP B&S engine and it is a real workout to pull start. My flail mower has an 11HP Honda engine and it pulls a lot easier, but still requires some real heft. I've seen a couple of retro-fit add-on electric starters, but they look like they will need some tinkering to fit. I've even seen one that hooks to a power drill to get the engine spinning. At any rate, I wish all this stuff would come with electric start as an option.