Flail mower/stalk chopper

craigco · Sep 19, 2017

What's the difference between a flail mower and a stalk chopper or is there? How much horsepower per foot does it take to run one?

Tim(nj) · Sep 19, 2017

A stalk shredder usually has large knives and is designed for breaking up thick material and not for a fine cut. It doesn't do well in trimming up grass. Some flail mowers have many small knives per foot and do an excellent job in grass and small weeds but can't handle large material. Others with different knives can still cut grass but can also digest things like tree prunings and brush as well. So, some flail mowers can work as stalk shredders, some can't.

MKinON · Sep 19, 2017

The used "stalk chopper" we bought is a 14'Bushog brand rotary mower. It has 3 sets of knives (spindles) and some inserts, sort of like fixed blades (picture tines of a fork) on the deck that the blades swing through, that probably help chop the product better. We just use it to mow grass behind a 65 hp Landini. It's very heavy built and the dealer said they pulled it behind a 100+hp tractor doing stalk chopping. Our old 8' IH silage chopper is a flail mower and does a lot nicer job mowing the same stuff, but requires way more hp. Behind the same tractor it requires the same groundspeed or slower to handle the smaller cut. Hope this helps. MK

300guy · Sep 19, 2017

A stock shredder generally has many knives that are attached to and rotate on one or two drums. The knives are vertical to the ground. A rotary type mower has blades that rotate around the center of the mower and are horizontal to the ground. I have a 15 foot stock shredder I pull with a Farmall 300 in my CRP grass. I usually start with it high and lower it for the next round.

paul · Sep 20, 2017

A stalk chopper is a pretty heavy built flail mower.

Some are designed to throw hard enough to hit shields and windrow the stalks, or even blow them up a chute into a wagon behind.

A flail mower can be built for different uses, kinda light for small jobs, or heavy for tough work.

There are different designs for the flails, depending if you want to just cut, or cut and chop, or cut and throw into a windrow or up a chute into a trailer. The different knife designs take different hp, the simple cutters take the least.

My 4 row stalk chopper with kinda dull blades made a 85 hp tractor work hard in greener stalks. I used it a time or two with the 60hp, but that was not enough to get anything done.

My 6 row chopper with dull knives, and now with brand new knives last year, works very well with my 150hp tractor, can go in 5th or 6th gear on an 8 speed. It's a lot easier with the new knives, but I wouldn't want less tractor.

A lighter flail in light dry grass and weeds probably takes a lot less hp, most of the time.

Paul

Flail mower/stalk chopper

craigco

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Tim(nj)

Well-known Member

MKinON

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300guy

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paul

Well-known Member

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