Bushhogging- butcher job?

[Nova2000]

I’m going to have so many questions for you all as I am settling in to farm life!!! We don’t own a tractor yet, holding out for a used one to come up. Been managing so far, but it was time to mow the rest of acreage. We’ve been keeping a small area mowed down, maybe 2-3 acres or so, and letting the rest of the 8 acres go wild. I hired someone to come out and brush hog (bushhog? I don’t even know which is the right term LOL).

Maybe my expectations were too high? I feel like I wasted my $. He did it with a skid steer, and there are bare skid track marks all over the place now. Even worse, I feel like only half of it is actually cut, the rest is just sort of bent/ pushed over from being driven over. Never having had this done before, maybe that is typical? I expected this to be done with a tractor. I wasn’t expecting a finish mower look, but I did expect everything to be cut.

If this is not normal, should I say something? or just let it go, lesson learned now I know what to ask the next time I hire someone?

[wsmoak]

We’re probably going to have to see some pictures to have an opinion.

Did he use something like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjI9KWCIxHw

[Nova2000]

@wsmoak yes, it was a front load mower on the skid. I’ll get some photos after work tomorrow.

[lenapesadie]

My neighbor mows the ditch on the other side of our road with a front mower on a skid steer once or twice a year. It’s a clean cut.

Tracks might be expected depending on how soft the ground is.

Maybe your guy mowed too fast?

[Warmblood1]

Bush hog

I would expect some tracks, unevenness in plant density due to the nature of different plant growth, but I would expect everything to be cut if we’re talking about pasture growth and weeds. We and all of our land owning neighbors cut many, many acres and even with their very large properties, the cuts are even and look quite nice. Pictures would settle the verdict.

[SummerRose]

Were there actual bushes/saplings/small trees in the mowed area? Once bushes get to a certain size, they’ll be too big for even a heavy-duty mower to cut neatly.

If the area was really overgrown, it might take more than one mowing to get it cut back enough that it looks neat. And you may need to use heavy-duty loppers or a chainsaw on some if the remaining bushes and get those out of the field between mowings.

If it was just grass and weeds, I would expect a neater cut. Though if the weeds were tall enough (3-4 feet or taller) I’d expect some would get knocked down rather than cut.

I’d be more annoyed about having a large number of track marks. But again, if there was heavy brush, the skid steer might have really had to dig in to get through it. It would be a good idea to toss grass seed over the track marks.

In any case, renovating a badly-overgrown field can take some work and time. If you keep having it mowed periodically, before the growth is taller than a foot or so, it will look better each time. Though I would talk to whoever does the mowing and make it clear that you want to avoid tracks.

[Nova2000]

[Nova2000]

IMG_7560

From a distance the field looks the way I would expect it to. It’s once you get up close, you realized that what I thought was piles of mowing is half just pushed over.

[trubandloki]

In my experience (us mowing our own land), the end results depends on lots of things and it almost never looks as amazing as you want it to when you are mowing down something that has some height and volume to it.

Your field looks like I would expect it to with what I assume is a full seasons of growth and no mowing and a whole bunch of random vegetation growth.
Yes, it is frustrating. Very frustrating.

Edit to add - Mr Trub is a slow and meticulous mower - he is what I would describe as a lawn guy - and we got the same type of results our first pass even with him going slowly with a brand new blade, etc. He ended up mowing it several more times to get it all even.

[awaywego]

The pushed-down/bent-over/unmowed parts are not terribly surprising. In my experience this happens where the tires/wheels of the mower are set wider than the mowing deck - the weeds on either side of the mowing deck are pushed down and then are missed on the next pass, particularly if it is wet/damp at all. I’m guessing with the tracks you have it was wet when mowed.

We use a Honda rancher quad for a lot of things in lieu of a tractor, including pulling a tow-behind bush hog. A lot easier to drive

[McGurk]

I would really need to see how high it was; and how thick the stems/briars/saplings were before it was mowed to make an accurate assessment.

If I was hired to do a job on a field that I wasn’t familiar with and I didn’t know what the tall grass was hiding, the front mower on a skid steer would a prudent choice. Too easy to ruin your bush hog or even your tractor on stobs, holes or rocks in the field. The fact that the person you hired chose the skid steer and front mower tells me they thought the field was too overgrown to risk it.

My bush hog is not wider than my tractor. I get a finish mower quality job on my fields by overlapping rows. I also mow in a low gear with high RPMs to replicate finish mower quality. That takes more time and more diesel, but for me, it’s worth it.

And the final question I would ask is, was this job priced by the hour or the completed job? And did you have a conversation with the contractor about your expectations?

If the field hasn’t been mowed at all this year, and your expectation was that it look like well maintained pasture with one pass with a bush hog…that isn’t a realistic expectation. You might want to have the contractor come back and mow it again with a bushhog, now that hazards are visible.

ETA: If this were my field, I would wait a week and mow it again, running the mower in the opposite direction. The week would give the pushed over stuff time to stand up. FWIW, in this usually wet year, I have been mowing once a week, sometimes every 5 days, to improve the quality of pasture.

[endlessclimb]

Are you in drought-type conditions? That will lay down vegetation so that it doesn’t stand high enough to get lifted into the deck to get cut. Happens even in my regularly maintained lawn.

[NancyM]

If it was “really” rough previous to being mowed for the first time, it’s not going to be as neat as you may like after mowing. Yes, some bits will be missed, more if it is really rough. But mowing it makes it tamer, in time and with repetition. Perhaps the job that someone else does for you isn’t going to be as good as the job you do for yourself. It has taken several years for some of the really rough and untouched places on this farm to become more civilized, with mowing annually. I would agree that the first year’s work here was kinda a “butcher job” LOL! I dunno if your area was a bad as what we tackled here. When you are able to acquire your own equipment and do your own work, things will improve with repetition.
I do ours with a 35 horse Kubota, the mower is behind the tractor. Yes, there are tire marks where I’ve had to turn sharply, or hit a high spot with the mower deck. This is for cutting “brush”, not a lawn mower- you’ve got to expect some imperfections, and it’s not going to look like a golf course when you have finished.

[Rackonteur]

@Nova2000

I hired someone to come out and brush hog (bushhog? I don’t even know which is the right term LOL).

Bush Hog is a brand name, whereas brush hog is a generic term for a mower that’s not a finish mower, i.e., a rotary cutter. In Australia, and maybe other countries, they’re called slashers. Although, as you noticed, people use Bush Hog and brush hog interchangeably.

I believe the correct term is rotary cutter.
Bush Hog is actually a name brand that people use to refer to the rough cut mower just like people always refer to tissues as Kleenexes. I do this myself quite a bit.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/threads/is-it-a-bush-hog-or-a-brush-hog.66815/

[Nova2000]

Thank you all for your replies. At least I feel better that what I got was not out of the ordinary.

[Equibrit]

@McGurk

My bush hog is not wider than my tractor. I get a finish mower quality job on my fields by overlapping rows. I also mow in a low gear with high RPMs to replicate finish mower quality. That takes more time and more diesel, but for me, it’s worth it.

I do the same overlap thing but if you go round the field instead of up and down the blade gets the stuff laying down from the opposite direction for a better cut. You stick the front wheels in the track of the wider rear wheels. (rear wheel track width same as bush hog width)

A blade that has not been sharpened makes a mess also.

[Nova2000]

Ok, next question! For what did get mowed down, do I just leave the clumps of mowing debris? Do I try and rake them all up? The way it was mowed, it didn’t evenly distribute the clippings. It’s like it gathered a bunch of the clippings, then dumped them all in one spot, over and over. Most of the clumps are laying in patches that didn’t get cut, the folded over bits.

[Warmblood1]

Since it’s heavy weeds, I’d personally leave it. It might smother out some of the existing weeds but likely won’t have a great deal of effect on it either way.

[trubandloki]

@Nova2000

Ok, next question! For what did get mowed down, do I just leave the clumps of mowing debris? Do I try and rake them all up? The way it was mowed, it didn’t evenly distribute the clippings. It’s like it gathered a bunch of the clippings, then dumped them all in one spot, over and over. Most of the clumps are laying in patches that didn’t get cut, the folded over bits.

I can not imagine trying to rake a several acre field. You are far more hard working than I could ever be.

Clumps are going to take longer to go away and may kill some of the vegetation that is under them.

For the record, clumps are normal in this situation. When there is lots to cut you totally end up with clumps.

This is where what @McGurk suggested comes in. Wait a bit and mow again. That will break the clumps up some, catch some of the weeds that did not get cut the first time, etc.

The breakdown and decomposition of what has been cut adds some nutrients back into the soil.

[endlessclimb]

@trubandloki

The breakdown and decomposition of what has been cut adds some nutrients back into the soil

Along with additional weed seeds!