Update on last weeks post about DR field and brush mower.

I thought I would post a before and after pic of one of the areas I used my cousins Dr mower this weekend. The worst was an area of waist high buck brush that has tons of honeysuckle growing through it. The mower cut right through it but the dang vines kept wrapping around me and the machine. I used it for about 6 hours Saturday and am about to get the numbness out of my hands now and the soreness is letting up a little. That was too long to use it for an out of shape fat boy. My arms and shins look like I have been in a cat fight.

Paul,

I have a similar machine made by BillyGoat. Either way, 6 hours of that will definitely help you sleep tonight!

There's a lot more to it than meets the eye, I try to limit my time to a few hours a day. Sure makes a remarkable difference in the woods, though.

D.

wow looks like it does a good job! always wondered if they worked good or not. the local big r store here sells a swisher version like that for around 1500 or so. be nice if it had a seat tho......

For a walk behind it does well, but like you describe, its surely nasty work on the operator in some conditions like you seem to have. I've done quite a bit of clearing back growth like that and its not so easy on a rotary mower and tractor, I'd prefer a dozer, but like you are doing you use what you have, just take your time if you can. Good time of year too, no ground wasps or even worse the white face hornets. I came real close to disturbing one of those 12 or so years back, glad I saw it and left it alone, that would be worse than getting dragged through multiflora!

The darned vines here are beyond belief, some are strong enough to hold up a 6' rotary mower, I had mine lift up high enough from the tail wheel getting caught, to video it running underneath. Sometimes they do pull off the trees. This work has prompted me to think about beefing up the back side of the mower, make some kind of catch for vines like this to hook onto them to pull them down. The tail wheel does this nicely, but its not strong enough to push or pull all that much, so you really have to work slowly. Beefing up the back of the mower would seem to work, so I can push over small trees and bushes, then just shred the tops or to where the mower has reached its maximum cutting thickness. However the 3 pt hitch is not really meant for this so within some confines it would work, beyond that its just abuse. I did a lot of this work this year, to maintain perimeters of old fields, sure is nasty work, glad I'm done for awhile with it.

I don't know ? grown up area doesn't look any worse than stuff I've chewed up with my JD F725 front mounted lawn mower ? Anyway now that it is cleaned up should be easy to keep it that way with a riding lawn mower.

That machine looks like it does a real good job.

I have a 5 foot rotary mower I use behind my New Holland boomer. The 5 foot mower gets the hardest work around here. With the hydrostatic transmission and the small size I can get about anywhere. The back of this new mower is round so I had to add a piece of square tube to the back of it so i could get a bite on the brush as most of the mowing is done in reverse to keep the thorns and brush off me and the tractor.

I would like to have one even though I have a good 5 foot "hog"and Ford tractors to run it. I have some low ground that would be nice to keep mowed down, but getting stuck or flat tires just are not worth the chance. Something like that once a year would do the job nicely. joe

I like mine but as others have said you WILL sleep good after a few hours behind it, and keep it away from any small saplings/trees you want to keep. I lost a few pines I didn't intend to get rid of trying to get close to them. ;(