7' bushog on an 861?

M-Farm

Member
I have an 861 (gas), I currently run a 6' rotary cutter. I have about 20 acres of pasture that I need to cut 2-3 times a year.

The first time is to knock the tops of the fescue off to reduce chances of pink eye. The next couple of times is to cut the weeds which I have a lot of. For most of this, I cut very high, the tractor does not bog much, but it takes forever. It's killing me trying to keep up with this in the summer, I have many other things that need to be worked on if you know what I mean.

So, now I am converting roughly 20 more acres to pasture this year. Mowing is going to kill me, takes a long time and I have a lot of trees interspersed in most of it.
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Can my 861 pull a 7'?[/b:250a74d91e] My other option is to run 2 tractors at once. My oldest boy is now old enough to mow with a tractor, but I don't trust him with a rotary cutter around trees just yet, but a finish mower would be fine. Has anyone tried cutting pasture really high with a finish mower?

Lastly, I am going to pick up a PTO boom sprayer this year and try and cut back on the weeds (2,4-d I assume), but am not sure this will eliminate my weed mowing? Any comments appreciated, thanks!
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A 7' rotary cutter is both too wide and too heavy for even a good 861. Of course you can probably operate a light duty one set high in some conditions if you are patient.

A 7' cutter extends far behind the three point lift and you will need front weights if you plan to lift in all but ideal circumstances.

A neigbor of mine has been using a finish mower to clip his pasture, which is well maintained and clean. He travels very slowly and sets the mower as high as it will adjust. He started doing this last year and it remains to be seen how the mower will hold up.

Of course he could cover more ground with a rough cut mower because he could travel faster.

It sounds like you need a bigger tractor/mower combination.

Dean
 

You could put/set the gauge wheels on the back of the shredder to set the height and that would take most of the weight off. set them so the shredder when at cutting level is riding on them. Assuming your pasture is somewhat level and gently rolling. However..

That could be as expensive as moving up to a 4000 that pulls an 8 foot shredder easily.. My wife loves the 4000 with the 8 foot shredders on it for cleaning her horse pastures and with the shredder it steers just like power steering so shes happy. However I sold it last week and will have to put her on one of the bigger tractors and she doesnt like them for some reason.

Every spring we shred them down to ground level to clear off the winter weeds and bring on the hay grasses. But only after the nites are in the 60s... The the hay will choke out the rye and clover and take off.
 

OK guys thanks, sounds like I will have to upgrade when I can then. Trying to stay on the no debt plan so I may have to get by for a while. Price of 4000's seems to be creeping up? which I think is odd considering so many new 4wd Kubota's I see in every driveway.

8' would be ideal. Won't waste my time with the finish mower either. What is really stupid is the price of a lawn mower, a good zero turn is what I need to mow along our drive, and that is more than both my tractors combined, insanity.
 
M-Farm,
Another thing to consider is a sickle bar mower.
You can easily run a 7 foot sickle and IF you could find a 9 foot, that would even be better.
My experience is that you can run a sickle bar at a faster ground speed and it will be a lot less load on the tractor. I know I use 3rd for a bushhog and I used 4th for a sickle
So you could run faster and use less fuel!
If you don't have a lot of rocks maintenance is pretty low too.
Something else to consider!
Keith
 

I have a 6' sickle mower but have only used it to mow the banks of the ponds.

Can a sickle mower be raised high enough for what I want to do? seems like they were designed to cut low. In an open field this would be ideal, if I could find a 9 footer that is (haven't seen any). I know there would be quite a bit of bounce going on if I were to raise it where I want it. Like it needs a wheel on the end or something.
 
I would say it depends on what you are cutting. If you cut multiple times, shorter length, not as dense, flat ground, it may work.

I run an old 6'Rhino SE-6 behind an 850, that is run on propane. In tall hay grasses, and say the cut is 4" to 6" above the soil, going up hill, its all this tractor wants, sure it lugs a little, and will run much warmer, so on the down hill side it cools, kind of equals out, I could not do this with a 7' rotary mower at the same height, I would have to take less of a cut or cut much higher and have to go over it again if I wanted it cut lower. I ran a 5' ford rotary for years as a kid in all kinds of thick dense grasses, weeds, vegetation, it was on a '64 4000 S-O-S, and at times while cutting thick patches of burdock or other similar weeds/vegetation, just like a baler wanting to clog, you stop, let it clear out then start moving again. At least you have that option in a 861. My 850 has a loader, so the front end does not rise up, without that, as been said, its likey an issue unless you weight the front down.

Thick grasses like in the photo, one is literally first cut hay given whats in there it should be baled, and the next is 2nd cut with nice growth and in that at about the same height, the 6' mower will make the tractor lug in both conditions, more so up hill or that thick grass you see the tractor in, so I'd have to cut it higher if I had a wider mower.


The other thing is and I forgot to mention it above, regarding trees and fence posts with that much more width, if a person is not careful, they do catch these kinds of obstructions, trees will stop the tractor, or it may glance off it, damaging the tree, the operator will have to use care and provide some space. I have cleared quite a bit of small trees, vegetation and similar with mine and have caught on plenty of small trees when in confined areas, definitely something to consider if the person running it is low on experience, they will definitely need to take wide turns and leave adequate space near fence lines.

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A twin spindle 7' cutter is a better alternative than a single spindle 7' cutter but at 840 lbs front weights will be needed unless conditions are ideal and, depending upon what is to be cut, an 861 will be in 2nd (and even 1st) gear regularly.

A better alternative is a good 7' sickle bar mower, e.g., NH 451.

Dean
 
No, you need to leave it just above ground level.

Sickle bar mowers are very efficient. You will have more than enough power to operate a 7' cutter as fast as conditions permit.

Dean
 
I second using a sickle bar mower. You could take a small wheel (push mower wheel or something) and mount it on the end of the bar to give you the height you need.
 
And..........on the idea posted of twin spindle vs single 7' (if they
make them) the area of the single spindle is pi x (half the
diameter) squared equalling 38 square ft of blade coverage and
resultant drag.

The double spindle is 2x the same equation (half the diameter)
for only 19'. So in theory it would take half the hp to handle the
same amount of material.

The single spindle will require more hp to rotate in a crop due to
the length of the "arm" (moment of inertia for those interested at
the blade tip). This isn't all bad for once you get it swinging it
can cut through small saplings that the dual couldn't because of
the shorter arms.

I personally like a side cutter over a rotary cutter for tall grass. It
cuts easier and the tractor tires don't roll over uncut material.
With these types the height of the material doesn't really matter
whereas the rotary cutter tends to miss a lot in tall grass due to
the clogging effect in the cutting chamber.

My 2c,
Mark
 

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