(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Mower suggestions, maintain 20 acres prairie

F

FallsCity

New User
Researching how to establish and maintain
native prairie. Mentioned that first year
will require multiple mowings, at 6-10
inch height, to remove broadleaf weed
establishment. Have M farmall, but maybe
will have a 50-100 hp tractor as well
eventually. What type of mower would you
recommend, or know from experience does a
great job? 20 acre field, 4% slope, 3
terraces.
 
I am not a mower expert, but i would think you would something with at least one wing,for those terraces if money is not object you can go up from there, too a double wing! But for the M It will be about maxed out, with a 10 foot wide mower,but it all depends how thick it is! With a WOODS brand the first number is the number of spindles, the second Numbers is the width of cut in inches! Example 2120 is two spindles or blades,and 120 is 10 feet cut!
 
I'm allergic mowing. All the pollens, grass molds, dust.

I would recommend getting a tractor with a cab.

Mower size depends on horsepower.

My Jubilee can handle a 6 ft woods finish mower in second gear. First gear in heavy grass.

My L3560 handles same mower . I can go over 6 mph if grass isn't too tall.

Cutting higher requires less HP.

You might look into a mower that doesn't discharge grass out the side like my finish mower.
 
I just put a Titan flail mower into the collection this year and love it. It has hammers vs knives and doesn't leave the windrows like my 6' Bush Hog rotary does.

Regardless, I would think cutting with a rotary at a 10 inch height would be a vibrating nightmare, but then I've never tried that.
 
Well, you have a few options depending on what you intend to do with this crop and how much money you want to spend. First of all, we know that you have a Farmall M. Probably without a 3-point hitch. That doesn't mean you're stuck with only pull-behind mowers. Right now, as we speak, there is a mounted IH sickle bar mower for sale on the YT ads. It's in the TRACTOR PHOTO ADS. Ad #724506. It's mounted to the drawbar of a tractor similar to your M but a little newer. $500. Located in Millington, Michigan. That's about as cheap as you're going to find. A pull behind rotary Brush Hog type mower would do the job but it would chop the grass quite fine and if you wanted to take some eff for hay or bedding either now or in the future, that wouldn't be the way to go. I traded in a good but well-used 6' Land Pride rotary cutter about a year ago and it sold off the dealer's lot in about a week for $995. If you're planning on some sort of future hay crop then there are better mowers than a sickle bar but more $$$ as well. It sounds to me like you're planning to just let this all develop into its natural state. If that's the case then a plain old sickle bar mower might be the answer. The one I mentioned is a 7' cut. If you go rotary cutter a Farmall M will handle a 6' or 7'.
 
Sidewinder pull type on craigslist. Maybe this? Never used a sickle, so do they flex alot if high height?
00b0b_gSSClwb8jEDz_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg

Sidewinder mower
 
First thing to find out is, are there any hidden obstacles? Things like logs, stumps, holes, ditches, ROCKS??? If there are no obstacles, then look for a mower with thinner blades. Thick blades do not like grasses so much, but thinner blades will bend easily. Also look at blade tip speed. Just looking at RPM does nothing. The working part of the blade is at the tip, so have to figure speed of blade at tip. For that, just assume 560RPM. Now multiply circumference of blade tips in feet by 560RPM, then compare that number between various mowers to find which one has the highest blade speed. This method works between ALL the types of mowers, so don't think you can simply judge by gear ratio, length of blades, etc.

When I had a brush deck, it did awesome in the woods, but lousy when I moved here (northern prairie). I ended up using an angle grinder to remove LOTS of material to make a very sharp blade. Took many hours of grinding to get done (without overheating the metal) but gave great results. That way I had the best of both worlds; blades that could handle light brush yet still cut tall grasses nicely. But what works well for one person doesn't necessarily work 'best' for another. Keep up with your research and education!
 
(quoted from post at 07:33:47 08/20/22) Researching how to establish and maintain
native prairie. Mentioned that first year
will require multiple mowings, at 6-10
inch height, to remove broadleaf weed
establishment. Have M farmall, but maybe
will have a 50-100 hp tractor as well
eventually. What type of mower would you
recommend, or know from experience does a
great job? 20 acre field, 4% slope, 3
terraces.
Click to expand...

In my experience, mowing the first year of prairie establishment favored the growth of red clover. It is not your friend.

What broadleaf weeds are you trying to cut? Mares tail will not suppress your prairie: just leave it.
 
Another thing is when your out mowing dont ever let people walk behind the mower, if it pickup up a piece of steel or a fence post, it will threw it back about 40 feet!
 
Old mowing machine will cut the fastest with the least power requirement. Thus using the least fuel. They don't flex a lot nor do they cut very high. Most just lay on the ground as you drive. Keeping the knife in good shape will yield the best results and least problems. Next would be a mower conditioner, or Haybine it can be set to lay a 9 foot cut out flat like the mowing machine will. Wider and they don't do as well at that. Now of course if you mow for several years and just leave the material lay there this will build up such it will be tough cutting. And will not be as good of hay later as the old mulch like stuff is half rotten and just makes a mess to cut through and will pick up with the rake into your windrow.
 
If its a native prairie contact local extension offices. You probably shouldnt mow it, a controlled burn may be more appropriate.
 
Anything that cuts behind the tractor will likely leave strips of mashed down uncut grass.
 
Red clover is very good cattle feed if cut just at start to mid bloom. Was all the hay we had for our cows for years. I like it.
 
I used a 6 ft Brillion rotary cutter to mow hay for several years, neighbor we baled with tried it first. The right side of the Brillion bolted on, easy to take off, He had Dad cut the diagonal piece off behind that right side panel with the torch and weld on angle iron to bolt that piece back on to chop corn stalks. I could mow 20 acres with our 6 ft Brillion in 5-6 hours running in 3rd gear with my Super H. The Brillion was a cheaper cutter, pto shaft only had TWO universal joints, one right by the gearbox, other right by the tractors pto shaft. If you tried to turn too sharp the driveshaft hammered REALLY bad. I also chopped 100 acres of corn stalks late every fall after the corn was picked.
A sickle bar mower would be the easiest pulling mower but could cause the most plugging if not maintained well. An M could easily pull a 9 ft sickle mower in 4th gear, 5 mph.
A guy posts videos of compact tractors working, named Tractor Time with Tim, He uses a RHINO TS10 rotary cutter behind a tractor about the same HP as your M and he mows some tall weeds/grass and does a really good job mowing, no skips, no streaks, no big bunches of clippings. I'm sure that Rhino mower would be your most expensive mower option.
 
Thanks for the info on the Brillion. My field is 20 acres, and mowing it in a single day would be ideal. Sickles from what I read perhaps only height adjust from say 4-6 inches, if that. Also people have mentioned some pull mowers may leave streaks where the tractor tires flatten the weed, it escapes the mowing, and stands up again a week later. The feedback on this post has been educational. Made me view the situation different. How about and self propelled swather? Lots of vertical height adjustment, to handle 6, 8, 12 inch settings for years 1,2,3. No streaks as mows untrodden grass. 10 ft widths. Seems like a good tool for for establishing native prairie.
 
This picture of my dad was taken in the Mid 1950s.
Woods made the rear discharge chopper.
cvphoto133884.jpg

The tractor was a JD A.
Good luck finding an old woods chopper.

The Woods Brothers started making choppers when they returned home from WW2. Woods mowers have been in business for a long time.. I like the two I have.

This is a 6 ft woods rear chopper. I modified it into a side discharge.

This chopper came off a Farmall H. So it's an antique one.

cvphoto133889.jpg


I put a want ad on this site and got many responses for my Farmall chopper made by woods.

Woods made mowers to fit many Yesterday's tractors and they made pull behind mowers that may work best for you because you want to cut grass 6 to 10 inches..

Good luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Absent Minded Farmer
Need Advice: I Have An Opportunity To Operate More
2
Replies
23
Views
5K
Teddy (punchie)
T
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top