Flail mowers

[Ultradog MN]

I have never used a flail mower but I see the highway department uses them a lot for roadside mowing. I am familiar with rotary mowers and use a real heavy old 5' Bush Hog to keep the brush and weeds down up at my land. I need a wider mower though and have been thinking about a flail mower as I like how many of them are offset.
How big of stuff will they cut? I don't expect one to whack off 1 1/2" stuff like my rotary will but do they handle heavy, thick hay/weeds as well? Do they need more or less horsepower? Will they do a cleaner job of mowing? How about the cost of replacing chains and knives? How wide of a flail could I run behind a 50 hp tractor?
It does seem like they cost more than a rotary does.
Any thoughts on one would welcome.

 

[Jim in Ma.]

A flail mower don't like wood but for tall grass and weeds they will cut very good.
Unlike a brush you type - They need to run on the ground. If you try to cut, say 6" off the ground you will gat a ratty cut.
You can't mow when wet.
Takes more HP to run a flail.
When grass is dry, It's a dusty - dirty job.
They sell grass and heavy duty cutters and you can grind them to sharpen.
If you mow over a stump or tire it will strip the cutters from the machine.
With a 50 HP tractor I think a 6' would be pushing it. I hope this helps

 

[hd6gtom]

I have an old Mathews Rotary Sythe. It will make a field look like a golf course, if you go slow enough. It is a 9' cut. I pull it behind a 70Hp tractor. Dont have any horsepower problems. This has no chains, just paddles hooked to a big drum. They were about $9.00 each. I only replaced somt that were bent. I have taken the front off and used a 7" grinder to sharpen the paddles. Eats gopher mounds. It is hard on small hay, will cut the plants into pieces about 9" long. We used to set big bales into mother in laws barn and she could take her pitchfork and pull off what she needed to feed her horses. I used a reg mower/conditioner one year and she could not do that. Heavy thick hay is no problem for this.

 

[BushogPapa]

I use a 6 1/2' Ford Flail on my JD 630 and 720 D..it can give them all they want, but they handle it well..
I see that out Township uses heavier flail mowers with heavy Steel cutters that must weigh 10 lbs each..
Those mowers could cut about anything and survive..!!
For Pastures, etc..you can't beat a Flail...you do not need to over-lap, to cut where your rear tire went on the last round..
My Ford (937?) has chains and wedge-shaped cutters that will not cut brush..just weeds and grasses.
I can pull and run a 6' Bush Hog with my JD "B" in about anything..BUT, I would not ever attempt to run the Flail without "Live PTO"...they can really take a lot of HP..
I had the Flail on a JD 60 All-Fuel and it was pathetic..I could easily stall it even in 1st gear..
I find that the cutters on my Flail stay sharp and last many seasons...Last I bought were about $3.00 each..there are 39 of them..
If you run it very close to the ground, they will do a good job of cutting a lawn, but still not as good as a good Finish Mower..
Ron..

 

[Fordfarmer]

Never run a flail mower, but I've run flail choppers for years. Most are 6', though the one I have now is 7'. The 6' I could (and did) pull with a 850, 950, and 971, besides the 4600. The 4600 is the minimum on the 7'.

 

[embarr]

I run a Mott flail, with the finish blades in it (fun time replacing them last year, 120+ flails) It does leave behind a good finish out in the pasture, I have used mine to mow down fields that had overgrown for a few years, and it did so withough much trouble. Takes out brambles, small saplings, no problems. I HAVE run over an old wheel with it, and it dulled the flails that hit it, and wound up having to replace them.
The major advantage for me on this type of mower is it is less likely to fling something half way across the field and hit one of our horses. Generally whatever rock, kids toy, tool, basketball, or whatnot you run over will just get thrown straight back down to the ground.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Thanks for the replys.