Special forage cutter, anyone know of such an "animal"

Hi PERMIES Folk, I hope all are doing supercalifragi...tic.

Here's my dilemma. I am working up to pasturing pigs. SLOWLY. So no train wrecks pig wrecks.

I am presently containing them, training to electric, and I have lots of pasture so I want a type of
electric gizmo that I can cut forage from my pastures at varying heights to deliver to my penned pigs.

I do not want a weed whipper style because - DESTRUCTION of forage. I want a mower of some type that I can mow forage at at different heights. Example, just take the alfalfa flowers near the top, hoping for quick regrowth.

[My cat just came and meowed, "Open the door for me, I wanna go outside"]

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu

I have also mentioned before, I even emailed him, that Walter the Vermont Pig Guy should write a book, which should be very easy to do by just collecting all the posts he made on his website [which
got hacked as I recall]. The book doesn't need to be all fancy dansy, the info is what is SOOO VALUABLE which could make  Walter the big bucks instead  of some publisher.

{If this has been covered already, please feel free to move it to where ever to keep Permies all neat &
tidy.}

. . .expialidocious day to you!
The only 'animal' I can think of are hand tools - a sickle  for the tops,  supplemented by a scythe for the taller stems.  Both involve gathering up and transporting to place of use.  No easy way, by the looks of the problem.  Only other idea is a slasher - fitting on a mower, then removing the tops after gathering up the stems.  Also there are battery operated secateurs - saves wear and tear on the hands for big jobs, maybe not so good on the back though.

Terry Byrne wrote: I have lots of pasture so I want a type of  electric gizmo that I can cut forage from my pastures at varying heights to deliver to my penned pigs.

I do not want a weed whipper style because - DESTRUCTION of forage. I want a mower of some type that I can mow forage at at different heights. Example, just take the alfalfa flowers near the top, hoping for quick regrowth.

If you are 100% firm on electric, I think this is the thread you want to start with:
https://permies.com/t/41610/Cordless-Hedge-Cutter-Sickle-Bar


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Depending on the size of your fields, I wonder if using a heavy duty plug-in electric hedge trimmer, with a baby gas-powered RV generator in the mix, might cover a lot more ground with not too much more impact.
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You are right that standard handheld string trimmers create mulch. But I bought a wheeled trimmer last year, and it's a different story -- it's more like a scythe, laying down tall grass as stalks that I gather with a fork and cut into handy 4-6" sizes for my composters.

I am also experimenting with weed blades and brush blades on a heavy duty Stihl. I suspect these will act more like a power scythe, laying down "hay" if the operator gets the technique right. If this works out for this gas beast, it will also work for the big electric units.

What about a Scythe?

We have a whole forum dedicated to them:

https://permies.com/f/267/scythes

Some info:

https://permies.com/t/248385/scythes/comparison-scythe-manual-push-mower

https://permies.com/t/15257/scythes/Scythe-Reviews

https://permies.com/wiki/61080/Scything-Handbook-Ian-Miller

Anne Miller wrote:What about a Scythe?

We have a whole forum dedicated to them:

https://permies.com/f/267/scythes

Thanks, Anne, I have three of them and I love scything but I need something that will do more volume as I build up the number of pigs.

My wife cuts tall grass and other things like giant ragweed, pigweed, etc. for her pet pigs.  She uses a pole hedge trimmer from DeWalt (20V, Model DCPH820B if buying the tool only without the battery).  There are walk-behind units using the same cutting mechanism.....that works, but you end up running into what you just cut with that version.  Then you have tractor-mounted sickle-bar mowers which keep the mowing blade to one side of the tractor so that you don't drive over what you just cut,....but that might be a bigger kettle of fish than you wanted to get into.

Terry, how large is the area you want to cut?

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:Terry, how large is the area you want to cut?

It will vary, Douglas. Right now I can easily do scythe cuts for the number I have but I am looking to the future. For the most part they will be all pastured pigs but there will always be groups/trainees in short term confinement where I'll want to cut fresh forage for them. I have virtually unlimited cutting as I can also do the ditches around my lands.

Terry Byrne wrote: I have virtually unlimited cutting as I can also do the ditches around my lands.

Hm! It seems you will need more than a hedge trimmer mounted on a wheelbarrow.

I'm still stymied on options for a fully electric system. I'm not an expert; do they exist at this scale?

I suspect that you need a sickle cutter for that kind of precise cutting. (How you will harvest the cut is a bit of a mystery -- it can't fall down to the ground.) There are BCS tractors with sickle cutter attachments, but that is not an inexpensive path.

Are you in farm country? Is there a friendly farm neighbour who could stop by with a swather for 20 minutes? That would do it. I'm thinking of the most efficient path. You already have tasty trade goods to offer, if that is (I assume) the purpose of your enterprise.

Wow!....did not know that someone made a side-mount sickle mower for standard lawn tractors.  It appears to mount under the belly in place of where the usual mower deck is located.  I've seen belly-mount sickle mowers for small tractors (and even the Willys Jeep??...), but had never seen one that appears to use the belt drive system of typical lawn mower.  Gut feeling from the video is that these may no longer be in production, but can be found in the used machinery circuits.

John Weiland wrote:  Gut feeling from the video is that these may no longer be in production,

*koff*LIABILITY*koff*