Bay, never heard of a flail mower. Definitely will do more research on that.
Ricky, thanks for the text. I will call Tee soon. Between what you, Fred and Youtube have provided, NO HST. More expensive to purchase and even worse if it tears up.
No need for a cab, as that will be more to break and maintain with filters and all. I am planning a trip soon to Waynesboro, Ga. next week to see what they have. Was told they do package deals, as Fred mentioned.
I’m certainly not opposed to used, and would prefer saving some money.
What do y’all estimate a trailer to cost?? Pretty wide open question I’m guessing.
Some of our Highway maintenance contractors use flail mowers, but I believe the biggest drawback would be the initial price of one. Personally I’ve used a flail but it was in the front of a skidsteer. We had a rotary brush hog on it, but that thing would send shrapnel everywhere. The flail not so much. If you do a lot of bush hogging on an open cap tractor, you will get a stick hit you in the back of the neck and make you think a bumble bee stung you.
On the trailer? Yep Wide open! Weight and how much you want to put on it. Length determination, you gonna have a bucket on your tractor, added implements to carry with you. Width. Trailer brakes are very convenient and needed if you are in a 1/2 pickup. Metal deck or wood deck, type of ramps, … so many options.
If you get a wooden deck, save the oil from you next oil change and mix it a quart of diesel to a gallon of oil and mop over all the boards. So much better than Thompsons or any other wood sealant/protectant. Get a good Hot dry day so it will soak in good, two "treatments’ and then every couple of years after. They’ll last till you break them.
So, closing tomorrow, with mulcher coming in Monday, and Tuesday if needed. Gonna get main road, trails, homestead area, (no home but have a plan for something) couple food plots and shooting lane. He’s bringing bucket for any dirt work, to include backstop for shooting lane.
Back to tractor shopping tomorrow. Been told by some buddies to get the tiller rather than the disc. Will get the debris in the ground from mulching, and I know it will create an awesome finish.
Can’t help myself, but really leaning towards the L3901 Kubota. Will see.
Anyway, creating a Go Fund Me and will share link here soon.
on the awesome finish. yes. But new ground is murder on a tiller. I destroyed two over the last 3 years on stumps and roots. If you can swing it, get both, disk the area good to chop up roots and break up soil, then follow up with the tiller. A tiller is also heck on a tractor on hard packed soil.
Went today to Kubota dealer and have pretty much made up my mind on the L3901. To include rotary cutter, box blade, bucket and still debating the disc or tiller.
Salesman agreed that tiller in new mulched ground could be tough. (I sure don’t wanna break anything in by breaking it).
Changing oil in 4-wheeler and mind running and wondering if I take the box blade, drop the teeth down and drag after being mulched, would that work to clear the tiller of damaging debris??? I guess, depending on size I could chop em up with rotary??
I do not want to buy both…want to do at least a couple 3/4 acres of food plots.
Sorry but no… the box blade teeth will not break it up enough for a tiller. Start looking on Market place or Criags list for a used set of disks. really no other way to break up new ground with out using some kind of disk or chisel plow. Just remember this year, you’ll just be breaking up/chopping roots next year you’ll be able to do a lot more with tillage of the soil after the roots decay. About 6 years ago I had to do some major work on a jd 6410 after a tiller was used behind it to break up a horse arena. Carless operator and ground just too hard. Beat and shook the tractor bad enough to break bell housing bolts.
If you do try the rotary tiller, make sure it has a clutch in the pto shaft and it is not set too tight. You get to going and hit an old fat lighter stump you didn’t know was under ground it is one heck of a jolt when you do. It can take out a gear box if unlucky. IMO a tiller is the nicety after you have your ground already disced and prepped. You certainly can not beat the fine finish of one.
Ideal chisel plow, disc, then till.
this would break it up for a powered rotary tiller. not a bad price with out actually seeing it. I’ve always referred to these a disk bottom plow.
If you’re repurposing woods ground for food plots by cutting tops of what’s there roots are going to be an issue. Unless you remove them the plants will return. A root rake is generally what is used first and it looks like they’re available for smaller tractors attachments. After root raking you should consider an offset disc which can be adjusted to aggressively work the area then adjusted to more traditional discing. Disc aren’t great for leveling a seed bed. Do you plan on using herbicides? What will your seeds be?
Bay, Have not decide on what I’m going to plant yet other than knowing want some sunflowers. Will be a mix I’m sure. Guy mulching tomorrow and Tuesday so hadn’t given much thought on seed mix yet.
And yes, plan to spray. Buddie told me to use arsenal. Tips are more than welcome. Plan to get an electric sprayer to use with side by side or 4-wheeler.
I will look into what you mentioned above, regarding stumps.
If you read Arsenal label you need to wait 12 months to plant after applying, might want to check with your tax funded local county ag agent see what he/she recommends. Glyphosate (Roundup) is labeled to chemical mow and tractor supply carries it.
I used to plant 3 acres sunflowers every year for dove shoots best scenario was clean ground, incorporate Treflan, plant in 30” rows, pre-emergent spray Lorox and Prowl. Rotary mow some lanes about 2 weeks before opening day.
There’s wisdom here. Sunflowers are not for a beginner. I’ve all but given up on them.
DoubleN, don’t waste money on planting anything until you get a soil sample. Its science and its all been done before. Lean on that and save yourself time, money, and frustration.
The deer aren’t really that finicky for food plots, get a few things that grow well in your area that they like and go with that. Guys like to overcomplicate it, but its really not that bad. In my area, cow peas have been easy to grow and can withstand browsing pressure rather easily for my deer density. They don’t beat it up too badly and there’s always some around throughout the season. The new growth gets hit hard, so you need enough of it to withstand the early browsing.
Figure out what that crop is for you and go with it for a majority of your plots. Then you can do little test plots in small areas to fine tune what you want to do and where and when. Also you want to plan to hunt your most acorn producing areas if possible. When the deer are on the acorns, it doesn’t matter if you have candy apples laying on the ground; they will be where they wanna be. Just keep that in mind. I have a giant white oak that produces well and for 2-3 weeks out of the season; they are routinely there under that tree and my food plots aren’t frequented as much during that timeframe. Know your acorn drop times. This could be the difference in an average season and a great one.
And I use the tractor supply brand of roundup. If it has roundup brand name on it, its more expensive. Go ahead and buy the big container; it doesn’t go back and you will use it eventually. USE PROPER MASKS WHILE USING THIS STUFF and do it on a dry non windy day.
This has been a pretty good thread.
I’ve got a few acres in Georgia. The kids will probably build a house on in a couple of years. Trying to keep under control. I’m looking at tractors myself.
not hunted you probably 20 years.
I see hunting not much different than fishing. I can go to the fish market and buy a pound of fish for a couple dollars.
Or I can go fish and bring my own fish home for $100 a pound…
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Just got in from watching fella mulching. First time seeing one live action. Wow, amazing machine. Kept my distance as the chunks of wood large and small come out of it like a Nolan Ryan fastball, but with a shotgun spread!! Got a lot done, with more tomorrow, and perhaps some Wednesday…
Bay, Ricky and Fred, I am taking notes of all you fella’s are putting out there. And it’s truly appreciated.
On a side note, a few of us were up there yesterday and I was riding my 01 Polaris 500, and the front end started knocking when brakes were applied, ugh! Had guys get on each side and look for what the issue was. Easy to see, bushings shot in lower control arms. Checked it out on the Tube and pretty simple fix it seems. Ordered the stuff and should be here in couple days.
I almost sold that Polaris, glad I didn’t as I have a seed/fertilizer spreader I bought from Polaris years ago that hooks right to the back rack, then just plug it in and let her spin.
I don’t have much to add to the info here except to say that on the offset discs, which in my opinion are going to work the best n cutting/breaking up the substrate once the big mulcher is gone, you need about 10HP per foot of disc to do proper job and not kill your machine. From what I gathered the tractor you were looking at is a 39HP Kubota. If that is right you should only pull a 4 foot disc. They make them in 4 footers and they will do the job in time, and you might benefit by adding some blocks or something atop the disc, but keep that in mind.
Over the next few years you will likely be making piles of wood (roots, limbs, brush, etc) as you clean the place up. Small fires are a good thing, so my advice is don’t try and make giant piles, they take too much time and effort. Work on an area and make some piles that you can burn at your leisure.
Later on a rock rake and/or a harrow will be beneficial as well
Rock rake?? Dude we are in the lower state!! Maybe you meant a good landscape rake, They are the bomb for dragging small cut up brush to a pile for burning.
I’ve got to get the wife to take some pics of the six foot disc I run behind my Golden Jubilee, I have to steer it with the brakes, front end not heavy enough to stay down when I pic em up. She’s a wheelie popping fun machine. But the old girl will pull the heck out of em when you drop em in the dirt. Factory draw bar is about 26hp, but I speculating mines about 35hp after some tweeking. It’ll out do my dads 45hp J.D. but you never know from factory unless you actually put one on a dyno, they have so many different ways to measure hp … Kind of like the old Johnson Fast strikes The 150 was actually putting out about 200. Y’all remember those? Had one on an old Stratos Glitter boat running just a smidge over 80. No hyd steering and the steering torque was stupid crazy. Dropped some speed and went w
If you google “tractor rock rake” the page fills up with the thingy I am talking about. You say tamata, I say ma’der, you say patata I say tater. You can call a 9 inch turd a rose but it won’t change the way it smells, geeezz.
Look NN, by the way you are asking these questions it leads me to believe this is one of your first rodeos. Do Not listen to all that vaunt about a 8 foot disc being pulled by a 25 horse tractor, or a 35 either. Sure you could “pull it off” (see what I did there?) but you’d be doing exactly as Fred said,trying to drive it with the brakes and trying to keep the front end down and not rolling over and coming within a red c-hair of killing yourself. Ask me how I know.
Listen, to not kill yourself or your machine you need 10HP/foot of disc. Think about it now, because when the tractor gets on two wheels (front ones, or back ones, or God forbid the two on the same side) you won’t have much time, especially for a guy just starting to work land and getting used to a new machine.
I like the hst transmissions a lot. Here is my main reason for this. When I was about 16 or 17 years old I was coming home from ball practice and I see Roy Cravins old Golden Jubilee down by the drainage on its side after going round and round in circles making a spirograph design in the field. Long story short when we got down there Roy was ground into sausage because when his tractor reared over and wound up on its side (ground hog holes and pulling a disc too big) it stayed in gear and literally ate him up.
Fast forward 40 years and I find myself pinned down across my chest under the roll bar of of my Kubota (with the HST transmission) with my right leg stuck under the rear wheel. I had 9 broken ribs, back broken in two places, broken femur, busted all the heck right hip, and generally squished like Eduard Delacroix did that mouse in The Green Mile. It still hurts.
I would like to believe it was my rugged good looks, strength and the sheer will to survive that saved
Also, perhaps I should get a rake to remove mulching debris where I want to plant??? Really love to incorporate that back into the soil wherever I can. It’s a work in progress type thing for sure.
[quote]If you google “tractor rock rake” the page fills up with the thingy I am talking about. You say tamata, I say ma’der, you say patata I say tater. You can call a 9 inch turd a rose but it won’t change the way it smells, geeezz.
Look NN, by the way you are asking these questions it leads me to believe this is one of your first rodeos. Do Not listen to all that vaunt about a 8 foot disc being pulled by a 25 horse tractor, or a 35 either. Sure you could “pull it off” (see what I did there?) but you’d be doing exactly as Fred said,trying to drive it with the brakes and trying to keep the front end down and not rolling over and coming within a red c-hair of killing yourself. Ask me how I know.
Listen, to not kill yourself or your machine you need 10HP/foot of disc. Think about it now, because when the tractor gets on two wheels (front ones, or back ones, or God forbid the two on the same side) you won’t have much time, especially for a guy just starting to work land and getting used to a new machine.
I like the hst transmissions a lot. Here is my main reason for this. When I was about 16 or 17 years old I was coming home from ball practice and I see Roy Cravins old Golden Jubilee down by the drainage on its side after going round and round in circles making a spirograph design in the field. Long story short when we got down there Roy was ground into sausage because when his tractor reared over and wound up on its side (ground hog holes and pulling a disc too big) it stayed in gear and literally ate him up.
Fast forward 40 years and I find myself pinned down across my chest under the roll bar of of my Kubota (with the HST transmission) with my right leg stuck under the rear wheel. I had 9 broken ribs, back broken in two places, broken femur, busted all the heck right hip, and generally squished like Eduard Delacroix did that mouse in The Green Mile. It still hurts.
I would like to believe it was my rugged good looks, strength and the sheer will to survive that
