estimating mowing time per acre

chuck t · Jun 28, 2011

I have a 35 HP tractor and a 5 foot mower, looking to mow some grass and weeds that have not been mowed since spring 2010, it's about 3 feet tall. How many acres per hour would be reasonable guss?

oldtanker · Jun 28, 2011

Width in feet X ground speed in MPH = acers per hour. Not dead on but close becuase it will not caculate overlap.

Rick

chuck t · Jun 28, 2011

I don"t have any idea how fast I can doing this. Just looking got a ballpark figure so I an estimate how much time to allow for the project.

dmiller · Jun 28, 2011

(Implement width * MPH)/ 10 = acres per hour

this equation takes into account a bit of inefficiency. You will not be using the whole implement (skips, overlaps etc).

Is this a brush hog or a sickle mower?
You should be able to go about 2 1/2 to 3 MPH.

So... (5*2.5)/10 = 1.25 acres per hour

old · Jun 28, 2011

Ah but not all 35HP tractors have the same ground speed so with out knowing what tractor you have very hard to tell you. Just to give you an idea. A 1954 Ford NAA in first gear at 1500 RPM travels at a speed of 2.68MPH. But not all tractor travel at the same speed in the same gear so fill in the blanks and maybe some one can help you better

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2011

You'll have to go pretty slow if it's 3ft tall. It wouldn't be a bad idea to lift the mower for the first cut and then go over it again at the preferred height of cut. It would really help to know what type of mower you're using and what kind of discharge it has, ie/ side, rear, front etc. Hard to answer your question without knowing these things. It also might be better to just charge by the hour and be very specific about how nice of cut it has to be. You won't get a real nice finish cut in one pass with a rotary mower in 3 ft. grass. A good flail mower, maybe but I'm guessing it's a rotary. Bush hog type or finish type with multiple blades?

GordoSD · Jun 29, 2011

Rick. So when I am spraying with my 30 foot boom at 7 mph I can cover 210 acres in an hour? Seems a little less than that to me.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2011

(quoted from post at 21:17:26 06/28/11) I don"t have any idea how fast I can doing this. Just looking got a ballpark figure so I an estimate how much time to allow for the project.

You'll drive yourself nuts trying to do that.........I do the same thing and a lot of stuff gets left undone (priorities adjusted to fit spare time ) just to find out that they went quicker than expected and I coulda done them a year ago....... And if you are always looking at your watch, Murphy will most certainly sneak in and take control of things. I mowed 5 acres of hay with a 41/2 ft drum mower in about 4 hours. Coulda prolly went faster but was getting to know how things worked.
You'll feel better when it's done, so just wait til the dew dries off and get started and mow as much time as you have then hit it again if necessary.

If you just gotta know, try going by the width of your field divided by 4ft (get you the number of passes and allow some fudge room). Then number of passes x length of your field. Divide that number by 5280 to get miles and figure 1-2 mph.

Good Luck.

Dave

Anonymous-0 · Jun 29, 2011

Simple, fast, and fairly accurate system I use;

Width of cut (in inches) X ground speed (mph) divide by 100 = acres per hr.

Don't just use the width of the mower, but actual cutting width. You'll have some overlap. A 60" mower generally isn't cutting a full 60". You'll probably average around 50" to 55" of actualy cut width.

Loss of efficiency due to turns, dodging obstructions, ect....100 is max efficiency. If you estimate loss of efficiency @ 10%, divide by 110....20%, 120...and so on.

Allen Goodman · Jun 29, 2011

I charge by the hour. Tell my customers on the average what I can mow a lot/acre with no trees, rocks, or any other hinderances. I charge $75.00 per hour with my 8 foot on my JD 5425 and $65.00 with my 6 foot on my Super C.

Tony in Mass. · Jun 29, 2011

What difference does it make? Go at it wide open, 4th high, in 4 seconds you will be spending 2 days repairing things. Go nice and slow and look around for things you migh run over the next swath, and it will take a few hours, but be done without incident. I had a 9 foot haybine, thick timothy, it was always an acre an hour. You got half as much bar, so almost twice as long, so all one 8-10 hour day. But.... at the end you will need gas and grease, but no parts and extra labor.

Rick Kr · Jun 29, 2011

35hp compact (gross hp) or 35hp, ie MF135, Ford 3600 etc???

I think you'll push 2 acres an hour. 3 foot weeds shouldn't tax 35 hp.

I see guys in 5 foot weeds with little compacts just about killing the tractor. If thats the case you better have a creeper gear, but a standard utility tractor should handle 3 foot weeds no problem.

Rick

David G · Jun 29, 2011

I would make two cuts on it, with the first one 6" higher than the
final cut. The second cut tends to chop the first cut up when it is
long.

Geo-TH,In · Jun 29, 2011

My 5 ft woods finish mower on an IH C will cut about 1 acre/hour in first gear. 3 ft tall and at least 2 cuttings will be lucky to do an acre in 2 hours.

A 6 ft woods finish mower on the back of a Jubilee will cut 1.25 acres in 45 minutes in second gear.

If I let the grass get over a foot tall, I'll have to cut it twice.

IHC is around 20 hp. Jubilee is around 30 hp.

I'm talking grass, not tall weeds.
George

estimating mowing time per acre

chuck t

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oldtanker

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chuck t

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dmiller

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old

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Anonymous-0

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GordoSD

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Anonymous-0

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Anonymous-0

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Allen Goodman

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Tony in Mass.

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