Thanks to all for your replies! A few responses to your comments:
* I do have a Ryobi gas trimmer with string head, which can interchange to a bush blade. I'd wanted to try this with the scythe because I hate the sound of that machine.
* Also, I do not own a tractor with a bush hog or mowing deck, just my lawn tractor (MTD Tradesman 12.5), which cannot handle the tall grass, either. If I scythe the grass first, then mow it, I can get it down, if I keep it in 1st gear.
* Goats will not eat grass or thatch- they're browsers, not grazers like sheep- but they WILL skip past the grass and head straight for the garden, or the orchard. Or the rabbit food. Or anything you DON'T want them to eat. Can you tell I am owned by goats?
* The field is fenced, but it also contains the house and garden- the fence is to keep the goats OUT of the people area. I'd have to re-fence it to get other animals in there, and hope they'd do anything other than complain. HA!
* The blade is, admittedly, not that sharp, but it is as well-peened and -sharpened as *I* can get it. It's cut me but good a few times when I slipped with the stone. I need to send it back to have it repaired, perhaps they can sharpen it for me too. The site states it can only be used with a bent snath, which I have. I have the haft angle set to 3" (tip below beard), which was also as recommended. I have yet to check the lay, pitch, and balance, as indicated at
http://scytheconnection.com/adp/snathmaking/snath2.html , but that will be coming. I think, despite their description, that ditch blades really aren't that good for clearing overgrown fields. My wife's 20" grass blade worked better even when dull.
* This is my first scythe, but I've been using it for almost ten years now. I've got a variety of swing patterns, but I do know enough by now to not chop, not 'golf swing', not lift, etc.
A neighbor said the previous owners raised turkeys, which ran around in the common area, and that they had the yard just about stripped to the dirt. Plants, being the opportunists they are, grew as fast as they could, and to the victor goes the spoils. The tallest grass won out, and shaded their competition to death, which explains the bare dirt between the clumps. Hopefully, as I get the 'clump grass' taken down, other grasses will grow up and flourish.
Guess I just have to keep at it!