Tractor attachments and implements

I added this thread here as an extension of the small tractors thread.  I thought I would start this thread with a review of an implement that is somewhat hard to find in the United States, but is common elsewhere in the world—the flail mower!

Externally, the flail mower looks somewhat like a tiller mounted on the rear of the tractor.  It works by rapidly spinning a series of cutting knives along a central rod that is oriented parallel to the ground and spins those knives so that they contact grass & plants while the blades spin under the rod and forwards in the tractor’s direction of travel.  They have a sort of sweeping motion as they cut and they can really clean the land, almost down to the surface of the soil.

Flail mowers are true multipurpose mowers.  Finish mowers leave a nice final cut.  Rough cutters can mow through almost anything, but leave a pretty rough finish when they are done.  Flail mowers will mow almost anything but they leave a finish as good if not better than a finish mower.  One summer I did all of my mowing (rough and finish) with my flail mower and it never let me down.

As they mow, they really cut up the material into fine pieces, basically shredding the foliage.  Some people use this function to mechanically break down a cover crop to speed decomposition.  I found the flail mower to excell at trimming along living fences and woody hedges where I would want to cut plant material back but leave virtually no remaining chaff, the debris being so shredded it virtually disappeared.

When I sold my old tractor, I sold the flail mower with it and now I need a new one to fit my new tractor.  I have my eyes on one with an offset function so I can mow alongside my living fence without getting my face in the branches.  They are also trail mowers par excellance and can really clean up a ditch so that there is no remaining stringy material to clog up culvert.

In my opinion, the flail mower is the ultimate mower and I highly recommend them to any Permie who thinks they might need a rough mower and a finish mower but only wants to own one.  I would love to know others thoughts on this well.

Eric

I do not have a flail mower, but I am actively seeking one, but with a slightly different twist.

For me simply mowing for the sake of mowing, has no real purpose; I spend too much money on property taxes to have grass grow and not utilize it. So to that end it must get in the belly of a sheep. That means moving the cut grass once it has been cut. So for me it is in getting a flail chopper to do that.

A flail chopper is a lot like a flail mower except the grass is sent into a blower and launched into a truck or trailer to be directly fed out, or put into a pile to be compacted and ensiled.

Direct cut, the moisture content would be much too high and so bachalism could take place if a mouse was hit with the flail mower or something. Instead my plan is to mow the field, let the grass wilt, then rake up the grass, then roll over it with heh flail chopper picking it up and tossing it into a truck or trailer so that it can be compacted and ensiled. The cost for equipment would be so much cheaper then all the equipment needed for hay, and it makes excellent feed.

Travis,

You are probably right that a flail mower is not the best mower for making hay.  A flail mower really chops up grass & debris into fine residue that decomposes quickly.  Orchards are often mown with flails as they can offset easily to mow right up to the trees.  They also tend to not throw debris like a regular mower.  They also excell at reducing a cover crop.  

I personally loved the flail mower for mowing trails around my property and for mowing twiggy, woody debris.  Some of my trails are along my roughly 1k foot living fence.  With a flail mower I can offset to mow down debris without getting a face full of branches and thorns from the living fence.  In the woods. A flail mower is quite maneuverable as it does not hang out like a rough cutter, and I can maneuver into areas I could never get to with even my 4’ rotary cutter.

Personally, I have no need for hay and I don’t think hay is the flail mower’s strength.  But for my purposes, I find it perfect.

Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:Travis,

You are probably right that a flail mower is not the best mower for making hay.  A flail mower really chops up grass & debris into fine residue that decomposes quickly.  Orchards are often mown with flails as they can offset easily to mow right up to the trees.  They also tend to not throw debris like a regular mower.  They also excell at reducing a cover crop.  

I personally loved the flail mower for mowing trails around my property and for mowing twiggy, woody debris.  Some of my trails are along my roughly 1k foot living fence.  With a flail mower I can offset to mow down debris without getting a face full of branches and thorns from the living fence.  In the woods. A flail mower is quite maneuverable as it does not hang out like a rough cutter, and I can maneuver into areas I could never get to with even my 4’ rotary cutter.

Personally, I have no need for hay and I don’t think hay is the flail mower’s strength.  But for my purposes, I find it perfect.

Eric

Flails are great attachments. I have heard of people unhooking the blower on a flail chopper and just using it to mow pastures, or knocking down corn stalks.

You are right however, they have their place. Just because grass does not end up in the belly of a sheep does not mean mown grass does not have a benefit. Chop and drop, and mown pastures help grass grow better and in the end does feed sheep, even if not directly.

If I could have one and only one mower for my acreage, it would be a flail mower.  As it stands, I am planning on getting a flail mower for mowing trails, along side hedges, and work in the woods.  Since a flail mower only sticks out 2 feet from the rear of the tractor (as opposed to a rough cutter that sticks 6-10 feet out!), it is quite maneuverable.

Eric

I was at a Farm Show a few years ago and a representative was showing some FAE equipment, which are basically flail mowers for forestry applications. I got looking at them pretty close, and could not see any reason why they could not be homemade. All it consisted of was a rotating shaft with welded on carbide inserts that beat against a fixed head. That was it. The rest was just a shroud to cover the debris from flying back, The hardest part was getting something with high HP to drive the rotating shaft with teeth. Most forestry mulchers (flail mowers for woody debris)  used hydraulics, but some were direct drive.

I thought about building something like this, but scaled down, pulled by my farm tractor, bulldozer or skidder. I do land clearing on my own farm as well as for other people. Right now I have 70 acres to clear on my land alone.

Travis,

That’s an impressive machine there.  Personally, I think the hardest part about building a home made flail mower would be getting the flails balanced.  Mine spun very fast, but were as smooth as could be.

I also think we are talking about different ends of the spectrum.  You are clearing land for others for a living.  My last flail mower was 4’ wide, my next 5’ wide.

Eric

Eric Hanson wrote:Travis,

That’s an impressive machine there.  Personally, I think the hardest part about building a home made flail mower would be getting the flails balanced.  Mine spun very fast, but were as smooth as could be.

I also think we are talking about different ends of the spectrum.  You are clearing land for others for a living.  My last flail mower was 4’ wide, my next 5’ wide.

Eric

Yeah balancing things sucks, but can be done old school.

The area I clearcut is really fertile, but has thin soil, so I would really like to mulch as much junk as I can and not push and uproot which of course would cause me to lose much of it. The longer the stumps rot down, the easier it would be to grind them up of course.

I liked that design because it was pull-behind, and so the flail was powered by its own power pack. I have a 6 cylinder White Diesel engine kicking around, but how in the heck do you get all that HP to a spinning drum?

Another idea I had, though not really flail-oriented, was building a crimp roller and towing that behind my skidder so it would crush and break the logging debris left behind. Doing so right now would be perfect where the ground is frozen, yet no snow. As the roller rolled over the saplings and logging slash, it would break the dry, brittle limbs. Doing so year after year would reduce the slash and saplings down into mulch. Churning over stumps that rotted away would slowly gnaw them up to nothingness as well. It would be a low cost way of clearing land, but not really conducive to contracted out work. landowners want their land converted from forest into fields now. They just do not want to pay the $3000 an acre to do it.

Here is the area I need to clear at some point. This is only 30 acres. I have another 30 acre area, as well as a 10 acre area I clear cut a year ago.

Eric Hanson wrote:Travis,I also think we are talking about different ends of the spectrum.  You are clearing land for others for a living.  My last flail mower was 4’ wide, my next 5’ wide.Eric

Around here where papermills closed and taxes shot up overnight to dumble what they were, it left landowners with lots of forested land that had little value. People want to clear land back into valuable farmland, but unless they do it themselves, they must pay the only landclearing contractor around to do it, at $3000 an acre. That is too much; my 70 acres of land would cost a staggering $210,000!! I could never recoup my money!

So in the interest of helping others, I clear land, but I could do it faster if I had the right equipment. My business idea is to build my own equipment that gets the job done, yet it is just me doing it (no employees) to keep costs down. I like the idea of rolling across the land with a stump mulcher, then raking up the debris with a stick rake, and pushing the windows up and leaving in a few days time, for very little money on a per acre basis. My neighbors get their land cleared at a decent rate, and we can all get back to making some income with our land again.

Probably not the best for clearing stumpy land, but I wonder if a re-purposed beet defoliator would work as a flail brush mower.  The rubber flails (used to protect the tops of the beets while removing the leaves and stems) could be replaced by normal metal flails.  Can't believe someone hasn't tried!.....

John Weiland wrote:Probably not the best for clearing stumpy land, but I wonder if a re-purposed beet defoliator would work as a flail brush mower.  The rubber flails (used to protect the tops of the beets while removing the leaves and stems) could be replaced by normal metal flails.  Can't believe someone hasn't tried!.....

I like the way you think! :-)

Rebumping this thread for the tractor gear-heads out there.  Just watched a YouTube video that caused my jaw to drop:  Conversion of 540 rpm PTO  speed to 1000  rpm simply by removing a retaining ring and swapping the PTO shaft....???...... can it really be that simple.   The guy was working on an older John Deere and needed to swap the shaft which runs his baler at 540 rpm so he could run the batwing mower at 1000 rpm.  My question being, does anyone here routinely do this with their attachments and do the newer compact tractors have this option as well?  I have a 2005 JD4010 and a newer Kubota L3200..... would love to be able to step up to 1000 rpm for the rare occasions of running a generator at lower engine rpms.  Thanks!

John,

I had no idea it was that simple!  But I would *think* that bumping the RPM’s would really cut the torque, making that mower harder to power, but who knows, maybe I am wrong.

Fascinating find!

Eric

It is that easy, on SOME tractors. Some are even easier than that. But that isn’t usually an option on small utility tractors, only ag tractors 50+ ish hp

A dual speed PTP would be so nice, but they are expensive! I haven't heard of switching the shaft out, but I would presume the tractor must specifically be built for it. It would require different gearing, so if the shaft didn't have a gear on it, I would presume the tractor had two different sized sockets turning one inside the other, each fitting one optional shaft. Maybe one went through a gear reduction and the other plugged directly into the input shaft with no reduction.

Thanks for the responses.  I was in to the local Deere dealer from whom I had originally purchased my 2005 4010 and confirmed that it would not have this option.....and that only larger tractors in the US tend to have multi-speed PTOs.  This may have me changing my mind on selling off an older gray market Yanmar that is small, but has a 3 speed PTO that works wonderfully for matching PTO speed with the task at hand.  Too bad this idea is not implemented more commonly in the States.

Part of the problem in the US is liability lawyers and lawsuits. Most implements will do very bad things if you spin them twice as fast as they were designed to go, that is part of why the 540 and 1000 rpm shafts are so different. Resourceful farmers figured out ways around it, but they had to show enough intention to do it that they couldn’t sue John Deere when it went pear shaped.

This has been a great thread so far, at this point we have only really discussed flail mowers and similar devices (probably my fault, I started the conversation).

Since the thread is about all tractor attachments, I want to steer the conversation to a different attachment that I a looking to add.  In this case, it is extra hydraulics.  In particular I would like to add at least two rear hydraulic circuits, the first going towards a hydraulic toplink.

Whenever I change implements, I need to adjust the length of the toplink, something that is usually awkward to do and requires a huge wrench to get done.  I would much prefer if I could simply adjust a lever to move the hydraulic ram in and out to adjust for overall length.  This would make changing implements much faster.  

Further, when I transport an implement—say a 6’ rotary cutter—I really want to carry it as high as possible to keep it out of the ground when I go over a ditch or other terrain.  But when I mow, it needs to be made level to the ground.  I simply cannot do this quickly or easily by turning the large screw to draw in a manual toplink.

The good news is that my tractor actually had a spot to add in a set of hydraulic circuits.  The downside is that it is about $1k.  So this is something that I intend to do—sometime.  This might be practical on a medical standpoint alone as adjusting the toplink is an awkward position to exert force on my already injured back.  I would probably save money in medical bills!

And since most of this thread has been about flail mowers, I would add at least a second circuit so that I could add a flail mower that has a hydraulic offset so that I can mow alongside trails and get under branches without getting the branches right in my face!  This would be great for a rear hydraulic grader blade but I have seen there prices so my current grader blade will do just fine!

Thoughts?

Eric

Yeah. A thread on tractor attachments apparently turned into Travis lecturing on mowing grass. Totally irrelevant on my 20 acres of woodland. Tractor implement that seems like it would really matter in my world? aAgood grapple. But there's another element to be considered here, aside from the very high level question of where tractors actually fit into Permaculture - what size tractors are we talking about? Many if not most permies are talking about fairly small properties. We're on twenty acres here, and for the permaculture community in our region, we're a larger scale site. I've recently acquired a tractor from a fellow local permie who was relocating and changing his circumstance. So now I have a 20 year old 30 HP diesel Kubota tractor.
It came with a rear blade - great for driveway maintenance and snow clearing and those aren't trivial tasks, a front end loader with bucket, and a rear rotary mower. I've bought a skid steer quick release adapter for it, because it had the pin mount system. I've also bought and installed a Pat's Easy Change three point hitch system. I have a piranha tooth bar on order to add to the bucket and a set of bolt on pallet forks to go on the bucket. Tractor Supply Co. has a carry all to go on the three point hitch that I'm planning on picking up. The carryall gives a certain pallet fork capacity to the three point hitch, plus it can be pretty readily modified to carry a load of tools for when I need to go out to the distant corners of the site and do some serious work. It's a minor rear ballast in itself, but you can pick up an IBC tote with it and easily max out the carryall's 1,000 pound limit. Rear ballast can be invaluable.

What attachments are best for your tractor? It depends. What's your site like? What are your goals? What are you going to use a tractor for?
I need to clear some trails and maintain them. I need to dig a shallow pond and build and fill a bunch of raised beds around said pond. I need to move logs to service my saw mill and to manage the slash from tree tops and coppice work. So I've got need for a rough mower, a bucket on a front end loader, and a good grapple (although some people make an argument that pallet forks will do most of what you might ask a grapple to do). I might have some use for a log winch, but I think having a log arch for an ATV already, I might be able to work around that piece.

I'm going to say upfront, I do not own or operate a tractor.

With that said, I have always appreciated the aesthetic of a tractor going along with a sickle bar mower.

Are they actually useful? Do flail mowers beat them in function?

Timothy Norton wrote: I have always appreciated the aesthetic of a tractor going along with a sickle bar mower.

Are they actually useful? Do flail mowers beat them in function?

They produce 2 different end products.

The sickle bar mower makes a single cut the the stalk of the grass low to the ground and the grass lays over behind the mower as the mower moves forward. This keeps the long stalk of grass in tact for storage or for the hay baler to roll up once it has been raked and dried.

The flail pulverizes/chops whatever material it goes over and sits on top of. It is great for cover crops and, depending on the model, can do similar work to a bush hog. Meaning, if you can run over it, it will break it down. Trail maintenance, area starting to grow over with saplings, overgrown pasture, etc.

The flail would produced a chopped hay. I do not know anyone who uses a baler on it so I can't speak to what it would be like to rake into windrows and pick up in the baler.

I think ultimately, they serve 2 different purposes.

I think ultimately, they serve 2 different purposes.

Okay, I think I understand it a little better now.

It might be better to compare a sickle bar mower to a haybine under the umbrella of hay production.

Are there other mowers that do (or try to do) what flail mowers accomplish?

Timothy Norton wrote:......
It might be better to compare a sickle bar mower to a haybine under the umbrella of hay production.

Are there other mowers that do (or try to do) what flail mowers accomplish?

Yes, from what I can tell, a haybine uses a sickle-bar mechanism for cutting, but has crimper rollers for smoothing out the product on the ground for drying.

Another cutter of long (versus mulched) product is a disc-mower, widely used now for alfalfa cutting.  Looks much like a haybine, but different cutting mechanism.

Don't know other things that may mulch like a flail mower.  The standard rotary mower is what we use on pasture land just to keep a reduced number of trees emerging in that space.  Some of it is still fine for use as animal bedding, but would not be good for baleing I suspect.  As an aside, the sugarbeet industry uses a version of flail mower for removing the green tops before coming in with the root harvester.  The 'roto-beater' (second photo) uses rubber fingers instead of metal flails in order to reduce damage to the tops of the beets while still pulverizing the leaf biomass,

For what it's worth, I have seen a flail mower make short work of a weedy area, but shortly afterward either read or was told that they aren't recommended in permaculture because the material is so fine and light, that too much of it just blows away.

As with all such information, ecosystem is everything. Flailing right near a wind-break as Eric describes, might allow the trees to catch all the light material. We are incredibly dry in the summer, and mowing damper material could possibly give a much different result.

As for attachments, Hubby has bought way too many that get little or no use, or only got used for a short period. The single attachment that's had the most use is the Chipper/shredder. We are a summer fire risk area, so branches that don't lay flat on the soil are a risk, and some things (like Himalayan Blackberry) grow like weeds (even if the fruit is edible), and shredding it gives us animal bedding for our wet winters. Anything that is big enough to be firewood, goes in that pile, but dry Himalayan stalks 1 to 4 feet off the ground are an invitation for a serious fire.

The attachment I *really * want, that isn't exactly an attachment, is level pad with storage. Many of these attachments are difficult to get on and off our tractor if the tractor and implement aren't in the same plane. Our land is *never* in the same plane! Flat does not exist here! Some attachments are worse than others - the backhoe being a seriously troublesome one, which also attracts weeds and is hard to mow around, and at the moment is being targeted by Himalayan Blackberry.

Yes, Himalayan Blackberry sauce on homemade custard is nutritious and delicious, but they'd take over the entire farm if given the chance! And no, I don't have good enough fencing for a goat, or I'd already have a few!

Jay Angler wrote:For what it's worth, I have seen a flail mower make short work of a weedy area, but shortly afterward either read or was told that they aren't recommended in permaculture because the material is so fine and light, that too much of it just blows away.

My experience is with the 2 wheel tractor and that size implement. I have not had any issues with the material being so fine that it blows away but mileage would vary depending on wind speeds, I imagine.

If you set the flail around 4" high, the rooted stalks of the plant material you are running the flail over will hold the chopped up pieces of the plant in place.

Here is a good visual:

JM Fortier demonstrates the Flail Mower attachment for BCS Two-Wheel Tractors in his Market Garden

Timothy Norton wrote:Are there other mowers that do (or try to do) what flail mowers accomplish?

A sickle bar mower leaves the stalk intact above the single cut line of the mower.

A bushhog would be intermediate between the sickle bar and flail. It chops the material up somewhat.

A flail will get thick material chopped down pretty fine compared to the bushhog.

Since we are dealing with material that may be several feet high, a mulching mower deck (for grass) could not be used.

I cannot think of an implement that will take tall/thick material and finely chop it up like the flail. It is the flails specialty.

Jay Angler wrote: .................The single attachment that's had the most use is the Chipper/shredder. We are a summer fire risk area, so branches that don't lay flat on the soil are a risk, and some things (like Himalayan Blackberry) grow like weeds (even if the fruit is edible), and shredding it gives us animal bedding for our wet winters. Anything that is big enough to be firewood, goes in that pile, but dry Himalayan stalks 1 to 4 feet off the ground are an invitation for a serious fire.

The attachment I *really * want, that isn't exactly an attachment, is level pad with storage. Many of these attachments are difficult to get on and off our tractor if the tractor and implement aren't in the same plane. Our land is *never* in the same plane!....

Our terrain is pretty flat, but heavy clay swells and shrinks with the seasons and also is not ideal for attaching implements.  I did bite the bullet and just order some of those quick-attaching hooks (photo) which help enough that they are on both of the heavy-use tractors.  Totally understand the desire for a flat, even surface to get implements at.tached...having them on rollable pallets an additional plus!

Actually, although chipper shredders have had mixed opinions on Permies.com, I'm just on the verge of getting one for the property (tractor-mounted).  Our intentions were to burn branches and brush when needed, but over the 30 years of being here, the amount of trees and tree-fall has skyrocketed.  The soils are relatively alkaline, so wife is less interested in adding to that by burning large amounts of brush.  By chipping, we could add it to the garden (judiciously based on tree species...may acidify), redistribute into the wind-break trees, or even get a feel for selling the chips to a local municipality.  I'm researching models in the sub-$2k USD range...just wish there was a more local purchasing option in case it arrives defective or when repairs needed.

John Weiland wrote: Actually, although chipper shredders have had mixed opinions on Permies.com, I'm just on the verge of getting one for the property (tractor-mounted).  Our intentions were to burn branches and brush when needed, but over the 30 years of being here, the amount of trees and tree-fall has skyrocketed.  The soils are relatively alkaline, so wife is less interested in adding to that by burning large amounts of brush.

If I'm going to burn woody material, I would rather set up some sort of larger scale biochar producing burn as that would help lighten my clay soil. I wish fewer of my neighbors would burn as our back field shape creates a down draft and we get *all* the smoke!

Yes, I've made the mistake of adding too much ash from the woodstove to some seed starting mix I made and my growies didn't like that at all.

Eric, pictures of your living fence, please!

Josh, the BCS Two-Wheel Tractor is something I would really like to see. Fortunately I am close to Fortier's operations so plan to go visit. In his book he talks about many attachments for it.

OK, I've gone through this thread and I cannot find any mention of this.

It turns the soil TWICE so the layers are returned to their original position.

Ra Kenworth wrote:Josh, the BCS Two-Wheel Tractor is something I would really like to see. Fortunately I am close to Fortier's operations so plan to go visit. In his book he talks about many attachments for it.

Ra, it seems to fit certain situations well. We have 6 acres. 3 acres are cleared. I have a BCS 2 wheel tractor with hydrostatic transmission. It has the 13HP honda. I have the rotary plow, finish mover w/bagger, mowing sulky, stump grinder, flail, utility cart, chipper, pressure washer and wood splitter. I got all of that for much less than the price of a 25hp tractor without any implements (generally speaking). I can change from one implement to another in a minute or two.

My thinking was to only have one motor and transmission to maintain and implements that are easy to maintain and change out as well. The same could be said for a 4 wheel tractor as well if you had those implements, except the 4 wheel tractor implements are much more cumbersome to change.

Otherwise, you end up with a tractor engine, lawn mower engine, pressure washer engine, chipper engine to maintain, for example, in my situation.

I have found; too much stuff = poor maintenance of too much stuff. Less stuff = tip top maintenance of less stuff.  

A friend left his 40HP tractor for me to use for a month and it was just not for me. It mostly sat. The loader bucket was helpful sometimes though.

If we had more than 5-6 cleared acres, I think the 4 wheel tractor would be worth considering, if there was a lot of bush hogging needed regularly. It would be time consuming with the 2 wheeler.

John Weiland wrote:
Actually, although chipper shredders have had mixed opinions on Permies.com, I'm just on the verge of getting one for the property (tractor-mounted).  

Woodmaxx chippers are outstanding.  I have a larger one, the WM-8H chipper, but they have a smaller one that is closer to the price range you are talking about.  I don't have direct experience with the smaller one.

You guys have convinced me that I need a flail mower now...  I need something that can offset a couple feet to do the sides of my 1/4 mile driveway, as well as my orchard and food forest areas.  I wish every attachment wasn't another $3-4000 though.

Attachments I currently have are a bucket, a brush mower, the chipper, a snowblower, rototiller, a small plow blade, and pallet forks.

I tried a neighbours BCS with what was the biggest petrol engine and the flail on very uneven ungrazed pasture and to say it was hard work would be silly.
More recently he bought the rotary plow and that for him plus his friends helping, on a very small area, was painfully hard on them.
I bought the smallest 4 wheel tractor I could find (20hp)  which meant it took the beating not me. The flail can be offset each side so can be dangled into a ditch to cut the sides. The seller in Yorkshire said many use the offset feature so you don't put tractor wheels near to dry stone walls, that compaction over time will bring them down so he said.
I've also used a mold board plow on my tractor a little, some forks and a tipping utility skip type thing which are handy but because it's all small scale can't carry much.
My flail throws what it cuts forwards, and there can be a lot of moss here which it can't really cut and just stalls it. At the greatest tilt set on the top link  if the grass and moss is too much I have to take the machine off float and raise it, but then the unevenness makes the cut height bounce when the machine does.  And the grass is never dry so it won't be blowing anywhere!
For a small fee there's a download called "Farming with walk behind tractors" from the Kerr centre which I'm sure a search online will reveal, I have no connection, which is handy and I think suggests some of the grief given by the neighbours two wheel tractor to the operator was user error, but also that it's not really designed for such uneven ground.

I want to jump in and say that I love that this old thread became active again.  I have been following it for several days, but school started, summer flew by and life happens.  I finally have a moment.


Regarding comments made by Jay:

It is true that a flail mower really chops vegetation to tiny pieces, which is one of its strengths.  But you are right that environmental conditions are everything.  My experience is that mowing in dry conditions--as I did yesterday--even with just a regular riding lawn mower is a terribly dusty thing which is one of the reasons I was putting it off!  A flail mower might make more dust that my riding mower, but just looking outside after mowing even in the currently very dry conditions, I can see all of the chopped residue from mowing left on the surface.  Sometimes I have heard that a flail mower is a superior mower for the land, and therefore probably for Permie purposes as well, because all the finely chopped debris breaks down faster.  But then I live in the very humid border between the Midwest and the South and we get about 40 inches of rain per year.  So if I were in Jay's situation, a flail mower might perform differently than it does at my location.  However, Jay is correct that a good wind break will drastically slow the wind and make airborne dust and debris drop out of the air,  And a good, well maintained trail next to a wind break also might serve as a fire break.


John Weiland:

I once had a set of Pat's Easy Change adapters and they were amazing!  It is hard to believe how much easier it was to hook up an implement after getting a set of those!




Regarding two-wheel tractors:

These could be the perfect solution to a small land owner's power equipment needs.  In fact, at one point I seriously considered buying a two wheel tractor to augment my existing 4 wheel tractor,  A two wheel tractor runs most of the implements that a 4 wheel tractor does, but it is MUCH lighter on the land and uses a trivial amount of fuel.  However, I found that the implements were not so cheap, and in some cases the price for a 2 wheel implement was actually more than that for a 4 wheel tractor, even though the 2 wheel implement was smaller!  About the only thing that they can't do is operate a loader--they are just too small and light.  Nonetheless, these are amazing machines and are well worth a look.


Trace:

Yeah, I have my eye on a Woodmaxx hydraulic offset flail mower.  My big summertime project was installing rear hydraulics on my tractor so that I could buy one of those flail mowers in the near future.  I am oscillating between a 60" and 72" flail mower.  My tractor is just under 60" wide so a 60" flail mower would cut out my tires and still be a compact implement for maneuverability in the woods and storage.  A 72" would cut a wider path and offset further (a really, really big bonus).  Of course it would cost more.  But I am at the point where I don't want to buy cheap and regret the purchase--buy once, cry once.  I would really like to have it before next summer.


Hey everyone, thanks for updating this thread!!



Eric

Melanie,

I went out to get some pictures of my living fence.  It might be a little difficult to make out the actual fence from other random trees.  Also, I have not maintained the trail very well in some places and not at all in others.  The ground is rough and not really suitable for a lightweight zero turn mower.  When I get a flail mower, its primary task will be maintaining the trails which are not usable now.

Also, I included a few pictures that I just took.  I will have to edit this post after I find a picture of the fence from 20 years ago when we first moved in.

Here goes:

Eric Hanson wrote:

I don't want to buy cheap and regret the purchase--buy once, cry once.  

I agree - we're way past the buy cheap mentality, for many reasons, not the least because I'm tired of things breaking!

A friend has a fleet of those 2 wheel tractors that he maintains and rents out to small farm market gardeners in our area.  The attachments are expensive for a number of reasons, and depending on the circumstances, using them is physically much more difficult than a 4 wheel version, but if space is limited, they can do a great job. He tried to talk me into using his sickle bar mower attachment, until I pointed out that my hand isn't physically large enough to operate the clutch.

I'm struggling to keep my ancient 17" wide gasoline mower deck from disintegrating from old age (I mean, it's only 35 years old) because we can't replace it. Small mowers have all gone battery and plastic, which I guarantee won't last 5 years on our land. Larger mowers are too heavy for me to use, and my little engine is the one pull-cord engine I can reliably start most of the time. Going "small" is getting more difficult, but there are some situations when small is beautiful!

Jay Angler wrote: my hand isn't physically large enough to operate the clutch.

My hand too, but I don't think you're supposed to be able to grab it like a bike clutch/brake. More like curl fingers under the lever, pull it closed to the handle, wrap hand round lever and handle, off you go. I'm not sure why it is like it is, maybe to stop you feathering it? Or rubbish design? My 4 wheel tractor I was told had a cone clutch whatever that is, and it should be on or off. Holding it between hugely shortens it's lifespan apparently. Two wheelers too?

Jay Angler wrote:....... my little engine is the one pull-cord engine I can reliably start most of the time. Going "small" is getting more difficult, but there are some situations when small is beautiful!

Just as most of us have "guilty pleasures", my small gas engines are in a sort-of "glutton for punishment" category.  Yes, I've been able to get them started year after year, but not without some serious blood, sweat, and tears... :-/   A 25 year-old push mower is now on its 3rd engine, but it's so beat up that I use it as a garden pre-plant brush mower to chop-and-drop all previous year biomass before cultivation.  Repair parts are dirt cheap, so I can't help myself! :-)   But I also am glad to have taken the leap to an electric push mower for the immediate yard around the house as it's quiet, wife loves the no-gas hassles, and it uses the same batteries as our cordless tools.  As for getting creative with tractor PTOs, I'm still hoping to be able to adapt my Deere snowblower front PTO to run an electrical generator for emergencies, thereby increasing its usefulness.  I've heard it can be done, as long as one matches power/speed of the higher rotation on the PTO with the gennie and the loads being powered.

OK, since this is a post on attachment as well as implements, I will give a shout out to having a hydraulic top cylinder!!  I had been working on this project during summer, and my neighbor and I got the whole hydraulic project finished--it was quite a to-do!  Unfortunately, I bought the wrong top-cylinder--it was too short!  I went ahead and ordered the next larger one and it works great!  Now I can back up and pick up any implement just by adjusting the three-point control and pushing the top-link switch!  Part of me wishes I had purchased this long, long ago.  But waiting was not so bad, I did save a bunch of money, got to understand the inner workings of my tractor better, and my neighbor and I had a great project together.  That said, if I were buying this tractor again under different circumstances, a hydraulic top-link is easily something I should have ordered already installed on my tractor.  If I was building my house again and had this (or any) tractor already on hand, I think that I would (securely) keep it on site, and have a couple of implements that would be useful during construction--a box blade is an obvious choice.  And on my lot, either a bush hog or a flail mower would be a good second attachment to have as well.  I can't tell you how many times during construction I wanted to do some simple alteration or make some simple change myself and a tractor on site would have been perfect.  And a hydraulic top-link would have meant that changing implements could be done in just a few moments rather than making it into a laborious process.  And going forwards, I can see myself using existing implements more often as I might use one for a short, simple operation that otherwise would be a major inconvenience due to the time and effort required to attaching the new implement.


If you are on the fence about a hydraulic top-link, I can just about guarantee that you will NOT regret the purchase!



Eric