Self-powered pull-behind (ATV/UTV/Pickup) flail mower recommendations?

[The Heretic]

I have 16 acres of property, about 5 acres near the house. Due to fire danger and wanting to walk thru the forest, I try to keep the grass and brush down around the house with a walk behind flail mower. But I am getting old, and the walk behind beast (550+ pounds) seems to now have a stuck clutch. Even when it works right it takes me a week to mow most of the brush/grass.

Been thinking I want something can mow tall (waist high+) and thick grass and brush, and cross somewhat rough ground. I want a flail mower, not a rotary mower - flail mowers do well with this kind of vegetation IME, if they have enough power and use hammer blades (knife blades work too, just not as well IMO).

Eventually I will get an ATV to pull it, but right now I have a 92 Toyota 4x4 PU to pull it around.

Recommendations on brands/models from those with experience working brush with a self-powered flail mower are appreciated.

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[Certaindeaf]

You can usually get goats for free.
You can eat goats.

 

[The Heretic]

You can usually get goats for free.
You can eat goats.

Goats require care 24/7/365 - I don't need or want that responsibility - hell, I don't even have a cat or a dog - yet.

IME - goat meat isn't as good as beef, chicken, rabbits or lamb/mutton.

 

[bigbearbear]

I don't have experience with these but have you considered a zero turn mower instead? Some new ones such as the EGO battery powered zero turn mower can handle very tall grass and rough terrain. This guy put one through very tall grass in the video:

It'll be a lot easier than walk behind types and you can run it a lot more often to keep the grounds clear easily. Plus it is very quiet so you can probably use it as transportation too.

 

[2Wheels4Ever]

I don't have any experience with these, but they seem to have good reviews.

https://www.palletforks.com/atv-utv...o3KXILwYR93rvO4hUztYUcETbI3r8pgxoC8mMQAvD_BwE

 

[The Heretic]

I don't have experience with these but have you considered a zero turn mower instead? Some new ones such as the EGO battery powered zero turn mower can handle very tall grass and rough terrain. This guy put one through very tall grass in the video:

It'll be a lot easier than walk behind types and you can run it a lot more often to keep the grounds clear easily. Plus it is very quiet so you can probably use it as transportation too.

That mower would get stuck on my property. This is what I have been using:



And I have gotten it stuck multiple times. High centered mostly.

 

[bigbearbear]

That mower would get stuck on my property. This is what I have been using:

View attachment 978186

And I have gotten it stuck multiple times. High centered mostly.

Actually it doesn't look too bad from the picture. What you might want to consider doing, is to hire someone who has a zero turn mower and have him come out to mow down part of your property and see how it performs. There are also zero turn mowers that are 4WD, used for mowing slopes but I think a regular one will work for you.

 

[revjen45]

Maybe pay someone to mow it now while it's tall and buy a ride-on mower to maintain it.
I don't mean to sound flippant with your $.

 

[The Heretic]

Maybe pay someone to mow it now while it's tall and buy a ride-on mower to maintain it.
I don't mean to sound flippant with your $.

I am probably going to pay someone to mow it all this year - unless I can fix my flail mower soon. Neighbor may come tomorrow with tow behind rotary and ATV to let me try it out. Not going to abuse the favor - just do a perimeter cut.

 

[revjen45]

We both got too old to mow the lawn with a walk behind, so we bought a JD ride-on lawn and garden tractor. It was $ well spent. A mower doesn't cost as much as a tractor and you might look for one used.

 

[The Heretic]

This is what would work great for me - but I am not really wanting to buy a tractor just yet.

 

[The Heretic]

Ok, so neighbor came over with his ATV pulling a Swisher self-powered 4 wheel rotary mower. It did kind of ok, but like all rotary mowers it bent over the tall (4'+) grass such that it would require at least another pass in the opposite direction. Also, it did not get into areas where it required tight turns/etc.

Then he went and brought back his Ferris zero turn mower - the largest on I have ever seen. It too was a rotary mower, but with suspension (all four wheels). It had a mulcher attachment on the exhaust chute so it was bogging down. While either mower would do fine with grass that was much shorter (say, 1-2' tall), they are not made for really tall dense green grass, whereas flail mowers don't really care about the height IME.

So I am going to pay someone to come and cut my brush/grass - for now.

 

[The Heretic]

 

[bigbearbear]

Ok, so neighbor came over with his ATV pulling a Swisher self-powered 4 wheel rotary mower. It did kind of ok, but like all rotary mowers it bent over the tall (4'+) grass such that it would require at least another pass in the opposite direction. Also, it did not get into areas where it required tight turns/etc.

Then he went and brought back his Ferris zero turn mower - the largest on I have ever seen. It too was a rotary mower, but with suspension (all four wheels). It had a mulcher attachment on the exhaust chute so it was bogging down. While either mower would do fine with grass that was much shorter (say, 1-2' tall), they are not made for really tall dense green grass, whereas flail mowers don't really care about the height IME.

So I am going to pay someone to come and cut my brush/grass - for now.

Nice neighbor you have there!

If he doesn't mind, ask if he can bring the zero turn back but configure it for side discharge. That's how I see folks mow very tall vegetation with those, in the video I sent above, that guy was mowing grass that looks to be over 6ft tall and it seems to work for him.

 

[The Heretic]