Should I Buy a Finish Mower or Brush Hog?
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- Most of the tractors retailed in North America include some kind of rotary cutter with them. Most of the time it's a brush hog, or bush hog, which is designed to mow grass, but also woody material. Brush hogs are not necessarily designed to make a pretty cut, they have thick blades to cut small trees and bushes, and leave them a little ragged because you really don't want them growing back. In some cases, a finish mower would be a better choice.
Occasionally, when I worked in a dealership, a customer would purchase a brush hog and later find out that's not really what he or she needed. What they wanted was the same type of cut that their lawn mower gave them, and they really didn't need the big blades because all they were mowing was grass. We should have sold them a finish mower.
A finish mower mounts behind the tractor and generally rides on four wheels on the ground (cheaper ones ride on the three point and two wheels on the back). Finish mowers are great tools for mowing large open areas and making it look like it was done with a lawn mower. They're really easy to get on and off the tractor because they roll around, and there may be some bargains on them out there because zero-turn mowers have made a lot of people steer away from finish mowers and there are lots of used and probably several new machines in the field currently that need a home.
Don't buy a finish mower if you have woody material bigger than your pinky finger to mow…they're not designed for that. But, if all you're mowing is grass, you don't have a rock issue, and it's a big open flat area, you might be surprised at how big a finish mower your tractor will pull, how fast you'll get done, and how nice it'll look.
This video discusses the pros and cons of finish mowers and when they're a better investment than a brush hog.
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I’ve been using a Woods RM990 finish mower for last 14 years on waterways and fence lines . It’s the only finish mower that has swinging blades. It will cut 2” tress and brush occasionally. It’s mounted on a Bobcat CT445 tractor and what is great is the maneuverability, can turn around at the end of a waterway. It’s a finish mower that can handle a lot more than yard grass
Just bought my first new finishing mower. It’s a 2022 6’ LMC (Lowery Manufacturing) out of Boaz, Alabama. It is made in India by Shaktiman Agro. Seems to be well built, especially for the money. Wanted a Woods or Bush Hog brand but was out of my price range.
I also bought a new zero turn mower. It’s a 2021 commercial duty Hustler Fastrak with a 48” cut. I’ll use it to cut around the house where the finishing mower can’t get. It’s a well built machine!
Thanks for the videos!
Mike, might want to mention something about flail mowers in a part 2 to this segment. Flail mowers are more expensive to buy and operate, but can give the owner the best of both worlds when mowing lawn or field grasses.
***** Will do. I wish there was someone around me with a flail mower. I've never had an opportunity to use one. Maybe there's a flail mower manufacturer out there who'd loan me a flail mower for the summer so I can do a video :).
Lightweight is good and what did I use it for it’s a lawnmower ruclips.net/user/postUgkxTPN04aT-Qdjr_KS3ql7ng8wnU3wwsCqk also recommend Yes it is lightweight so hence not as robust as our old one. But if you take care it does the job really well.
So glad I found your channel! Thank you for the wealth of information that you have provided!
From a maintenance and durability standpoint, a brush hog will win every time.
My left ear likes these videos
Just bought a new 6 foot Titan manufactured out of East Tennessee. Be back in a year to tell you if there junk or worth the money.
It’s been a year. Was it worth it?
Great explanation! It was exactly what I needed to know! New subscriber! Thanks Mike!
What can I use in the high desert of Texas? Huge brush, stickers, cactus, rock!! I’m on 10 acres of nightmare.
Great video. Very informative
I like the idea of having a flail mower. It's like having both a bush hog and a finish mower.
That is what I did. Flail is also a far more maneuverable implement to keep on a tractor. Chops must of the brush you would mow with a rotary cutter.
Biggest thing is a tool holder for a small chainsaw and a set of clippers. When I'm mowing brush usually I just run my bucket curled back to push everything down then I flail over it one way and it's usually done. If I cannot bend it over I'll clip or chain saw the stump flat.
Excellent advice Mike! Thank you!
Thank you, easy straight forward answer to what im sure is a common question
I need both.
Great video very informative you explain your knowledge base extremely well
I first thought of getting a finishing mower, but thought of the problem of cutting around my trees, and instead purchased a zero turning mower instead, and is glad of it. My tractor came with the box blade, and brush hog and the delivery man told me of some of the things it could cut, and I didn't believe him, but found that he was correct. For those who is looking for sheer bolts on a John Deere brush hog, the quality of the John Deere brand is much better. I purchased bolts from another tractor dealer and put the bolts on my unit and as soon as the pto was turned on the bolt broke like they was made of wood. As soon as I put the original equipment bolt on it the unit worked fine. This tip may help some who have a brush hog. The brand I put on my brush hog probably came from China and made of poor quality metals.
Great theory and advise. Thanks
@TractorMike This is your best video. This is exactly what I wanted to know and no one else has been able to explain.
Thanks.. now i know but if i want to cut bamboo and the lawn, is a finish mower for for both types of work? I have a15 x 30 patch of bamboo and it's much easier to cut than small trees, so I'm thinking maybe a finish mower would be better for my shop.
I've not been around bamboo much, but I'd think you'd sure want to mow it regularly before it got too high with a finish mower. I'm sure you know that. If it got much higher than 8" I'd think it would be a load for a finish mower to cut.
@@TractorMike i have a finish mower, this weekend I'm gonna be a mowing maniac . It's an old Chinese 4x4 tractor but together we're gonna mow down that bamboo. It's like 29 feet high
Hi Mike! Wanted to thank you again for all your advice and tips, especially on PTO shafts! I've got my Bush Hog ATH-600 Finish Mower, rebuilt and refurbished! The only problem I'm having now is that when I get into heavier grass, I seem to keep throwing the belt? I think I may be going too fast...any thoughts? Thanks! ~ Rod =)
I feel like a brush hog covers more ground, and I usually just use a brush hog to cut down the grass,neat looking field isn't my priority, I just need the grass to be cut and not over grown. I've always grown up with brush hogs and used a lawns mower for my house yard.. what's the price difference between a finish mower and a brush hog?
Finish mowers are probably about 1/3rd to 1/4th more expensive if memory serves.
Good video Mike, thank you. Any chance you'd consider doing a flail mower versus brush hog (rotary cutter) video? There's not really a lot of clarity out there on the pros and cons of each. Cheers.
ajsl That's a great idea. The problem I have is that flail mowers have never caught on where I live, but I know there are pockets around the country where they're extremely popular. The only place I might find one is a municipality. They use them because they don't tend to launch rock shrapnel toward cars and people when they're mowing the right-of-way. I have a meeting coming up in a couple of weeks with the Missouri Department or Transportation to do some videos on hauling equipment safely, I'll see if they might have one we can film and talk to an operator and see what the good and bad points are. I'd have to talk to someone who knows more than me because I've never been around one, but I'll sure see what I can come up with. Thanks for the comment.
Great. I live in New Zealand and flail mowers seem pretty popular here. The fact they don't launch debris is pretty nice if you're in a populated spot or near a road etc. They can also be great if you have rough ground (rocks etc) as the individual flails are held out by centrifugal force (rather than a rigid attachment point or shear bolt or such like) and so can fold back if they strike something - of course that doesn't matter much if you hit the shaft itself! Oh, they also aren't that long so can make turning in tight areas a bit easier.
I WANT TO GO TO NEW ZEALAND!!! That's a little off the subject, I'll try to something on flail in the future, the people that use flail mowers seem to really love them, and they'd HAVE to be safer. I'm getting ready to do a video about brush hog safety and I was reading a study that said anyone standing within 300 feet of the back of a brush hog could be in danger. That's a football field away, but it's true. I was mowing the back yard one day when I was growing up and my dad was brush hogging a ditch across the road. He launched a rock that barely missed me and my mom and at that point I became a believer in not being anywhere near a working rotary cutter. And if you're cutting in an area with houses around it, liability should be a concern.
I never thought of flying rocks and materials as being a detriment, just part of life on a farm...
Flail mowers have the ability to cut down to the surface or even slightly below surface. In Oregon for example, the Hazelnut farmers use them before harvest to smooth the surface making sweeping and picking more efficient. I have a 7' flail and when field mowing thick groth I can overheat my 55HP tractor.
You had 666 "like".... I couldn't take it.. So I "Liked".. Now you have 667... Then I watched the video.. Very good. Two reasons I LIKE the video
Had another tractor question for Google. You had another answer.
Always glad to help out Mr. Google :).
If the features of your “yard” seriously pushed the limits of your riding mower, and you inherited a 25HP subcompact tractor, would you be inclined to go with a brush hog, rear finish mower, or mid-mount deck? I live next to a cow pasture so quality of cut isn’t critical.
Definitely go with a brush hog. I tried a finish mower under similar conditions then switched to a brush hog and found that the quality of cut from the brush hog was equal to or perhaps better than the finish mower. The brush hog requires much less maintenance as the blades last longer and there are no bearings to grease underneath nor belt to replace. Not to mention that you can run over most sticks & small downed tree limbs with impunity with the brush hog whereas you would need to stop and move them with the finish mower. I also disagree with Mike on his comment about horsepower. I found that my 5 ft brush hog didn't tax my 20hp Yanmar any more than the 5 ft finish mower did, although I should note than my brush hog has a rear discharge built into the deck. I have also used a 38" round back brush hog which lugged the tractor much more than either the 5 ft brush hog or 5 ft finish mower because the round back design tends to hold the clippings under the deck and provide resistance to the blades.
Update: I chose a finish mower over a bush hog mostly based on the limited PTO HP of my tractor. I suspect I would’ve been fine with the bush hog since I’m not trying to turn a field into a lawn but hindsight is 20/20. Two months in, I haven’t broken a belt yet but I’ve already had to sharpen blades after hitting a rock that I didn’t see. If your needs put you in the range where you think you could get by with either, go with a bush hog, and here’s another reason why: fewer wheels = fewer headaches. First time mowing with it I fell victim to a deck wheel’s linchpin getting ripped out by I assume a low hanging tree branch. Because my top link wasn’t set long enough, the rear of the deck lifted off the ground approaching the top of a slope, causing the wheel assembly to fall off. I still haven’t found those donuts. Another mistake was buying from a "tractor store” instead of a dealer with easy to get parts and helpful tips for a new user like myself.
I should also add that having a mower that’s 4WD is pretty frickin’ sweet! And can’t forget rear discharge! It’s great not having to wear half of the grass clippings. Zero Turn may be faster but this still beats the crap out of using one of those old conventional riding mowers.
What about for mowing an orchard? We recently bought 13 acres of orchard on a pretty steep slope( up to 20 degrees), and there's a fair amount of side hilling. We are purchasing a Kubota b2650 as we want a 4 wheel drive and a loader( an orchard tractor fitted with 4wd and a loader as way out of our budget..and seemed unnecessary). I'm a little concerned that because an finish mower rides along the ground it won't provide the same downward pressure that a rotary cutter does...and there for less ballast. The tractor tires will be loaded and spaced 2", but it seems like when it comes to ballast...more is better. What are your thoughts? Thanks.
I grew up on an orchard and we used a brush hog, mainly because after pruning there were some limbs remaining and we wanted to grind them up and that's hard on a finish mower. Also, you don't need a lawn look in an orchard, you just need tall grass made short. You're also correct that weight of the brush hog will put down pressure on the back tires whereas the weight of a finish mower will be on the ground.
@@TractorMike thanks so much for the reply! I appreciate the advice.
My pastures have ruts and mounds, so brush hog? I can't lower it too much because my bolts keep shearing after scouring the mounds that are hard to see when grass is 6in and slight inclines along the fence..
Thanks that was really helpful Mike.
Useful information! Thanks Mike.
Sure wish I would have seen this before I bought my attachments.
Mike..on a brush hog , if my RH lift arm had the ball piece on end replaced/ welded a new one one .. and now 1/4 in shorter is that gona hurt anything?
I wouldn't think so. 1/4" shouldn't make any difference.
good talk
Mike, what's your take on flail mowers? How about a video on flail vs rotary vs finish mowers?
+Drew6709 Drew, I've had a gob of people tell me I need to review flail mowers and I'm dying to do that. The problem is, there are almost no flail mowers where I live. Us poor rock farmers can barely afford a brush hog, flail mowers are out of our economic realm of possibility. I know there are tremendous advantages to them, I've heard they can mow lawn-quality in the yard or in brush and they don't hurl rocks at you (that would take a little of the adventure out of cutting my pasture), but I can't find one to use for a video. If I ever hear of a flail mower within two hours of Springfield, Missouri I'll find a way to get there and do a video. If I weren't so cheap (and poor) I'd order one for myself and I'd be the envy of everyone else in the Ozarks.
Except Mike, I live in Oregon. So I can't help finding a place near your neck of the woods.
+Drew6709 I've always wanted to go to Oregon, I have a buddy that worked for a seed company that sent him out there and he came back saying it was the most beautiful place he'd ever been. He said where he was you could be at the ocean in an hour or the mountains in an hour and everything was lush and pretty. Do you guys have a lot of flail mowers out there? I'm involved in a business that does websites for equipment dealers and maybe we need to be looking for some new clients in your area and I can find a flail mower owner at the same time.
+Mike Wiles (Ask Tractor Mike) I live a half hour from the capital. And it is great to be able to go to the coast or mountains in about an hour drive. There several in my area who have tractors and either have a finish mower and/or rotary mower or flail. Most have a rotary for their fields of tall thick grass. But I'm looking into getting a flail in the early spring to have another implement in my arsenal for my tractor.
@@TractorMike Mike you are absolutely right about the cost of flail mowers being priced out of sight. The average going cost for one now that is quality is $7,000. They just don't make economical sense for anyone besides contractors. Additionally you have to have a lot of horsepower to run one and that means having to go to a much larger tractor and shell out a lot more money. So if you were going to buy everything new you are talking about a $35,000-$45,000 investment to have one.
Mike, I just subscribed to your channel. I would be interested in your professional opinion regarding using a flail mower for property similar to what you described, but tall grass (no wood) in the back and beautiful lawn in the front. Couldn't a flail mower cut both types and then I wouldn't have the expense of having to buy a rotary cutter and a finish mower plus that would save on storage space? What are your thoughts on that?
+rm4usall I was just talking about that with a friend this past weekend. The problem is there are almost no flail mowers sold in my area. They cost more than rotary cutters and folks around here don't seem to be willing to pay for them. They do have some pretty substantial advantages, but I have no experience with them. As soon as I find someone who owns one I can video I promise to do a video. If anyone knows of one within a two hour drive of Springfield, Missouri I'll try to get there!
Flail mowers are in the neighborhood of $5,000+ and maintenance can be fairly expensive too. But the rewards are there from a groomed lawn or field. The state & county uses flail mowers here in Oregon to mow roadsides and next to the state highways. And a flail can go through light woody material and mulch it into small pieces. But the initial investment of a tractor is needed then pick & choose which implements you want.
Check out RUclips on flail mowers.
Can I cut light brush with a finish mower?
Possibly, it depends on what you mean by "light". Finish mowers are really only designed to cut grass, you may shorten the life of it by doing that.
Hi Mike. Good Job!
The Plow Guys Thanks Plow Guy, thanks for watching. Hope all is well with you.
Yep Things are great. We are getting ready to start our winter solicitation and try to get a few more customers for this winter season. Still working towards a tractor. Damn they can be pricey. Save..save...save.
Yeah, agreed. The EPA didn't do any favors by requiring the engines to be Tier IV compliant. That raised the price of the new tractors, consequently the used ones have gone up. The new ones really burn clean, though.
What size would be recommended for a 58 hp tractor ?
Depends on what you're going to do with it.
Both.... can you have too many attachments? nahh ~john