4 ft brush hog

[rickhem]

One of the commenters mentioned a flail mower. I have a 53" flail mower that I use on a JD2025R compact tractor (25HP).
I chose a flail mower because it is more compact & easier to maneuver in tight places, like some trails through the woods.
It does a good job cutting, maybe a little better looking than a brush hog, but you must mow at a much slower pace. I bought mine
with hammer blades because of brush and fallen limbs along the wood line. All of my pasture land borders wooded areas.
I think Dave made the right choice for what he is doing - should give many years of good service.

Interesting. This is the kind of first hand knowledge/experience that I look for. Also interesting that getting hammers instead of blades is an option. Looks like lots of details that I know nothing about. Hate to say it, but that happens a lot.
Thanks Steve. I too have trails and was hoping that the flail mower would do double duty. I'm cutting the edges of the fields at about 4 MPH with my tractor, a JD 3520. It's all weeds, so I can go faster, but they don't all cut, and the tires lay down some stalks that the blades must go right over. It leaves a unfinished look and in a couple days those laid down stalks are straight up again.

[HenryFan]

It has been my experience that tires do lay down vegetation which the bush hog does not always cut on the first pass but since there is some overlap with a 5' or a 6' bush hog, it gets that vegetation on the second pass.

With a 4' implement, I don't know if there is overlap or not since I have no experience with an implement that size.

[Hatchdog]

I offset my mower to the left slightly which helps with the overlap cut. When mowing fields I find sharp blades and a slow pace makes a nice cut.

[HenryFan]

I find it hard to keep blades sharp on a bush hog. Also, removing blades from a 6" bush hog for sharpening is a pain.

I try to keep an extra set of sharpened blades so that when I do remove the blades on the implement, I have a set to replace the dull blades. It is easier to remove one at a time and replace one at a time so that I don't have to fight the belly pan when both blades are removed at the same time.

Hatchdog is right about a slow pace makes a nice cut. In any event, the thicker the vegetation, the operator is forced to go slower.

[Mags]

I carry a couple of extra pto shear pins and tools to install one. Sometimes there are very thick branches hidden in the grass that I don't see or see and decide to run over anyway jamming up the mower and causing the pto shear pin to shear. It's more convenient to have the pins and tools on hand in the field than to go all the way back to the shop to install a new pin.

Separately, looking at how a flail mower works, it seems to have an advantage over my JD513 rotary for picking up grass flattened by tracker tires. The finger blades of the flail look like they would be right at ground level for yanking flatten grass up for shredding.

[Hatchdog]

The first time I sharpened my blades I put a nice edge on them I could shave with. Opps…. They wore down to nothing quickly. I asked the service guy at the dealer about that and he laughed and told me that was a common mistake. These blades are designed to chop not to cut necessarily so be sure to keep a not so sharp edge on them.

At first I would remove the blades and sharpen them and I had to use a 6’ piece of uni-strut as a breaker bar on a 3/4” drive ratchet to remove the bolts. Later I just raised the mower with the 3 pt and put jack stands under it. Then I would crawl under it with an angle grinder and give the blades some love. Mostly knocking the bumps off and smoothing the cutting edge being careful to keep it on the dull side.

[daytime dave]

All good information here for everyone.
I went with a four foot mower as I may do some trails and my Mahindra is on a small frame. It's 28 hp engine gives it some ooomph, but it's small stature is similar the the JD 2000 type tractors. That is what they set it up on at the dealership. With it's weight, I don't think anything bigger would be a good idea on my hills. I had to put the maximum amount of weight on the front just to get it to steer well going up hill. I did get a decent afternoon to do a little more mowing and pictures are here. (I also thought of a flail mower, but the cost was more and I had never used one.) I'm mostly mowing trails through the goldenrod and small bushes for the ATV to go around the pasture.

[Hatchdog]

Looks great Dave, that set up should serve you well. Happy cutting.

[Cowboy Gun Fan]

Bigger sure would not have been better. A 4-Footer is plenty big enough for your tractor. Before I could afford it, I mowed with my old 4-Footer with my big John Deere, lol. It did the job. Until I finally bought a new 5. Many guys let their egos get ahead of them and buy one a foot or two bigger than they should have. The one you bought looks great.

[Steve51]

Even with a flail mower, If the grass or weeds are taller you will notice in a day or two where your tractor tires laid down the grass. The flail will not lift the flattened grass that much.