Brush Hog or Finish Mower??

[Commoner#5]

Good Day All, I am trying to decide if I need to purchase a brush hog or finish mower for my 1957 International Harvester. We have an 11 acre
field that was brush hogged last Fall by a friend of mine. Most of the big stuff has been mowed already and mulched up. I would like to keep
the growth down and wonder if a brush hog or finish mower would serve the purpose better. Thanks for any and all comments.

 

[Buzzman72]

How big a tractor do you have? Sometimes that makes a difference in what mower to recommend. If you're talking about a Cub, a Woods 42 can be used like a brush hog, but if you keep the blades sharp it'll give you the look of a finish mower as well. Then again, if the ground looks like all you need to do to keep it looking like a lawn is to use a finish mower, then either a Mott Hammerknife flail mower or a Woods 59 3-bladed finish mower would be a good choice. With the Mott, the grass ha to be fairly dry to get a clean job. I'd stay away from the Danco/IH 60" 3-bladed mower. It's about the size of the Woods 59, but pulls twice as hard. If you know how a Cub mows with a Woods 59, imagine also pulling a plow at the same time; that's how badly the Danco/IH saps the already-short power of a Cub.

If you're talking about a bigger tractor, your options change.

 

[Farmallhal]

A finish mower is to maintain a lawn like appearance similar to your yard and not to keep brush and weeds in check. I use a finish mower to maintain an extended yard surrounding our fenced yard but it is certainly not in the same condition that a "bush hogged" field would be in the following spring as it just contains pasture type fescue grass. A finish mower is not designed or to be used to maintain brush, weeds and briers or other undesirables but just lawn type grass. After brush hogging the field you are most likely going to have tire issues if it contained brush or woody weeds to deal with as any remaining cut brush stubs remaining are going to want to puncture your tractor tires. I would think you have a lot of cleanup that must be performed before you can even remotely consider subjecting a finish mower for maintenance of the 11 acres you noted unless it just contains yard type grasses and similar to a normal lawn, Hal.

 

[Ferd]

I have a bush hog, a finish mower and a flail. For 11 acres, if you aren't concerned about looks that much a bush hog will work. If you want to maintain it as a lawn and have only grass and keep it short a finish mower is fine. If you want to mow it just occasionally and still have it look good buy a flail.

 

[mkirsch]

International Harvester made at least a dozen different models in 1957 in the USA alone. You will have to be more specific on which tractor you have.

After the tractor, the important question is what do you want to accomplish? The more you mow it the finer the grass will become and eventually it will become a lawn. If you only mow it once or twice during the growing season the grass will remain coarse and it will look like a hay field.

 

[jeffcat]

I would think you question answered it self. Brush hog will do anything and though it beats the crap out of stuff it will do the job. If you keep the blades SHARP on that machine it will do a much nicer job. FINISH mower means FINISH. All you will do is beat it up to make a giant lawn. Brush or mott type mower.

 

[Commoner#5]

All great advice, thanks to everyone. I am a new first time tractor owner so I appreciate your insight. My International Harvester is a 350 Utility. I do not want our field to look like a lawn, we will mow around the house for that look with a smaller rider. The field is full of course grass and weeds. There are hundreds of stubs that look like trouble. Not sure how to go about that? Maybe cut them level with the ground by saw? Sounds petty labor intensive to say the least. I do not want to end up with a flat tire either. We plan to mow like 2-3 times a year, or as needed to keep the growth down. I assume I will also need to size the brush hog to my tractor? I am thinking about a 4-5 foot wide one? It seems like a brush hog will serve my needs better. Keep the blade sharp and it will mow the course grass and goldenrod stubs better. Thanks again.

 

[Buzzman72]

Go no bigger than a 5-foot...and go with the brush hog.

 

[Brendon-KS]

A summary of what has already been said is that a finish mower is designed to mow lawns while a "brush hog" rotary cutter is designed to cut any kind of vegetation you can drive through up to and including saplings. (Really heavy-duty rotary cutters will even take down small trees but you probably aren't looking for something like that.) It won't leave the grass looking as nice as a finish mower but you won't tear it up, either. A finish mower will struggle in tall grass and weeds, especially if it is wet, but even waist-high growth is easy work for a rotary cutter. For what you describe this is what I'd be looking for.

 

[Haas]

Get a 6 ft brush hog. The 350 will easily handle it. 4-5 ft is too small for your application.

 

[L.Fure]

What about the wild life that lives in that area? If your not going to put the land into some kind of crop production you might consider just leaving it alone so the song birds and other critters have a place to live.

 

[Tom Dowling]

I've got a 350 utility that I pull an old lilliston 7'6 sod field cutter. The tractor handles it easily up to about a foot tall of heavy grass. Ocassional stickers and such aren't a big deal. You can cut light brush and small as in finger size diameter trees with it. Pull behind type w/ cylinder lift. They can be found used pretty cheap and are built better than most new stuff. Three spindle, six blades with shear bolts in case you hit something that doesn't move the blade will swing away.
I used that set up for cutting utility right of ways back in the 70's and 80's. Nowadays I still cut my yard and few acres with it.

 

[Buzzman72]

A 350 is a glorified H, more or less. I'll stick with my recommendation of a 5-footer for a 350. Mow, an M, 400, 450 would handle a 6-footer just fine. DON'T FORGET to use an overrunning clutch on the PTO!

We sold a ton of SideWinder 5x5 and 6x6 mowers back in the day, and never had a customer complain that we hung too much mower behind his tractor. So I'm not likely to recommend a 6-footer behind a 350, unless we ARE talking about a finish mower. For guys who expect to cut whatever they can run down with the tractor, a 5-footer is plenty for a 350.

That's just me...because we wanted satisfied customers.

 

[DR. EVIL]

I ran a pull typw six foot Billion rotary (bush hog) over thousands of acres with a stock Super H and could mow over ANYTHING I could drive over. I could mow light stuff and chop corn stalks in 4th gear, mow heavier stuff like dense alfalfa hay axle high on the rear wheels in 3rd gear. Never had to run in 2nd.

350 utility should run a six foot just fine, may need a little weight up front for a fully mounted mower if it's heavy like a good Bush Hog brand, and with live PTO NO overrunning clutch needed. Just a slip clutch or shear pin coupling in case you hit something. The Billion used two soft grd 2 5/16" bolts about 3-1/2" long for shear pins. Worked fine with Super H, the 4010-D could shear then just engaging the PTO, Dad replaced the grade 2 with grade 5 or 8. Was running down a grass waterway in 3-4 foot tall grass about 5 mph, twisted off the vertical shaft the blades bolted to flush with the oil seal on the bottom of the gear case. Better Dad than ME!

 

[Commoner#5]

My wife also mentioned the wildlife. I do want to keep the growth down though. Maybe mow in Spring and Fall to keep the growth down each
year. Not looking for a lawn, just a field. Thanks.

 

[Commoner#5]

Thanks again. I believe that in my application a 5 foot brush hog might be best. Not looking for a finished lawn by any means. Just keep the growth down. As far as the many stumps, maybe the brush hog we purchase could be lowered a little to cut them off? I might have to get at the big ones that we can see though. Great thoughts.

 

[DanMD]

Anybody have any advice on how to deal with the hidden tire stabbing stumps the OP mentioned earlier? I am in the same boat and have wondered myself if it is safe to drive through to mow it or not worth a set of tires. How resistant are 6 ply tractor tires to small 1/2" to 1" stumps?

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Haas]

Tractor data lists the 350 at 45 belt HP. That is more that enough to run a 6 ft brush hog. I ran a 6 ft for years with a 424 which I believe is 38 on the PTO. It would go through heavy tall grass no problem. Don't recall what gear I ran in, but I think it was low range 4th about 4 MPH.

 

[GordoSD]

Have someone seed it into alfalfa. Mow rake and bale it three times a year. You should get 7-8 years with little anuual input .You will get about 35 tons of hay every summer, which sells for anywhere from $100 to 200 per ton depending on quality.Or 4-5 bucks per small square bale.@ 40 per ton.

 

[R Dahs]

A 350 has a wheelbase over 5 foot I would get a brushhog that would cover the back wheels. 6FT If starts pulling hard move over afoot