Bush Hog or Sickle Mower?

Run over anything but grass with a sickle mower and you're replacing teeth. Run over anything literally with a bush hog, and you just keep on going... may have to resharpen the blades every year or two, but it'll still cut.

I think the consensus is bush hog... unless you plan on making hay.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

No doubt

I just got finished Bush Hogging a couple of acres of tall grass, and what was left wouldn't have been usable as hay.

I also have a Ford 501 Sickle mower, and all it's used for is mowing over the edge of some big ditch banks where the Bush Hog won't reach.

My Bush Hog won't hesitate on a 3" tree, but anything much bigger than 3/4 inch will break teeth on the sickle mower.

If I were baling hay, it would be used a lot more, because it does a beautiful job of laying full length stalks of grass in a nice neat row

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

My issue is I have to go out and find and buy a bush hog, I already have a sickle mower, and sickle mowers use less HP.. A new bush hog one even at tractor supply costs more than I have in the tractor even after rebuilding the engine..

But my tractor is a farmall C, with a fresh rebuilt engine, and the sickle mower is a axle clamp/draw bar mount, meaning I'd have to swap off my 3 pt hitch conversion which would be a pain..

And I dunno just how much a bush hog the C will handle in tall Bahia grass. I figured it'll do a 6' in not so high grass, I may go with that and just take a half bite with it if it's too much. It'll be the first time I mowed since I bought the place so chances of hitting unexpected stuff is likely high.

My MF 175 is 63 HP and it takes most of that to run my 6 ft cutter in TALL ( 3 ft + )grass at SLOW forward speeds

If its not too tall (under 1 ft) I can cruise along pretty well at much lower RPM's
You also need to consider the weight of the cutter.

Mine weighs almost 1000 lbs, which is no big deal on my 6000 lb tractor.
My neighbor has a Ford NAA, a little over 2000 lbs, that gets a little light in the front with his 5 ft cutter

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Weight is an issue for my 3pt hitch conversion too, the tractor is about 3000lbs, likely problem will be HP for me, it's a 4 cylinder gas engine..

Probably close to that NAA power wise just a bit heavier. I'm definitely looking for a cutter without too much weight though, some of the older ones weight quite a lot, newer ones are a bit lighter.. I might be better off sticking with a 5 footer, but I don't think there would be a lot of diff in weight, more in HP to cut. I'm assuming I'll be in 1st or 2nd gear and moving pretty slow.

Why not just get a trailer type bush hog? While having a hydraulic remote is best, even without one you could use one of the locking ratchets to adjust height. I seldom ever lift my hog now that I know where the rocks are & have had the stumps pushed out. They need fewer HP to run since your not carrying most of the weight.

It's not hard to find good used 5 ft cutters for around $500

Mine is almost exactly as wide as the tractor, so it makes it easy to cut close to fences, and I know if the tractor will fit between 2 trees, the cutter will too.

My neighbors tractor is about 30 HP, but the biggest problem is it won't go slow enough to cut really thick grass without either maxing out the RPM's, or making several passes at different heights.

My tractor has 8 forward speeds, and in 1st gear Low, a turtle could outrun me, but it gives the cutter plenty of time to chop things well without getting overloaded.

Most of the time the cutters speed is directly related to RPM's, although with some really old tractors, it's also connected to the transmission, so a slow forward speed slows the blades too

The weight of the cutter isn't a real issue when you're actually cutting, since a lot will ride on the cutter's rear wheel.

The problem comes when you need to lift it for transport or to clear obstacles.

Mine's rated to lift a little over 3300 lbs, so my cutter just makes it ride smoother.

The Ford can be scary to drive with the cutter or disk on, because if you hit a bump, the front wheels can lift, and you have no steering except for the brakes

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

The sickle mower I'm considering is a JD #5. It's on Craigslist and listed as having a new Pittman arm just installed, most of the cutting guards have been replaced, it comes with two quick connect mounts and it was used to cut hay this summer. It's listed for $250.00.

I just wish I knew for sure it would work on my JD 4100 compact tractor.

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~Carla~

That sounds cheap.

That's because they tend to break a lot


If it's set up for "quick connect" it "should" fit your tractor
You can get a better answer here:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/general-forums/

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

i love our brushhog, for doing things like unlevel ground and taking down alder trees..and brush..we use it to mow as well, but in areas where the ground is level enough i much prefer to keept it mowed with the riding lawnmower set at the highest setting..but they don't need mowing all the time, just a few times a year to keep saplings from growing up into the larger sizes that require the brushhog.

we use both right now..but only the brushhog if it is rough or overgrown

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/