Cost to clear pastures

[2DogsFarm]

Sigh…
Sorry, this will be long

Faux Grandson has been bushhogging & mowing lawns for me, gratis.
We barter for the services - he stores loaded haywagons in my indoor, Draft & pony carts & odd bits of tack & trunks in the unused 1/2 of my 2C garage.
Last November he made a deal to buy the landscaping service he’d been working for.
I’d been their paying customer for a couple years, then, when he took over, he claimed my lawns (about 1ac) would be done N/C.
Which was dandy for about 6mos.
Lately my place looks abandoned before he gets around to it.
To say I’m last on the list would be optimistic.
Pastures are overgrown at edges & the roughs hide my 34" mini.
Horses have grazed down the center, so they have grass, but weed seeds are getting stuck in manes, pokey weed stems are too near eyes for my comfort.
He’s promised to bushhog, but when?

Problem is he’s the owner/operator & sole employee of his business.
I understand paying customers have priority, but I have neither the equipment, or honestly, the strength to do the work myself.
Sold my riding mower when I first hired the job out.
I’m considering buying a zero turn & going back to mowing lawns myself. I’d have to finance that or put a cheaper mower on a credit card.
I’d prefer not to do either & hire a different company for the lawns.

But the pastures need attention & I’d also want some large flowerbeds/veg garden cleaned up.
FG has said he’ll do the cleanup but won’t quote me a price, saying he’ll do it for nothing.
It’s too big a job for me to take him up on the offer.
I plan to get a couple estimates from other companies & then give him a discounted price - maybe 30% less.

Many years ago I hired a local guy to bushhog, but so long ago - 15+yrs - I can’t recall the cost.
Does anyone hire out that kind of work?
What would a ballpark cost be for:
A)bushhogging only - around 2ac pastures
B)bushhogging & the landscape rehab

TIA for any input

[OzarksRider]

Where I live, bushhogging is charged by machine hours, which is $85-$95/hour. This summer we had about 16 acres bushhogged and it cost $238, but the guy who did it had a monster bushhog so it only took about 2.5 hours. A smaller bushhog would take longer and might cost more, depending on the hourly rate.

I have no idea what manual labor for landscape rehab would cost.

[S1969]

Interesting, I was just going to say I pay $20/hour, but then realized that is for a kid to use my equipment and my diesel fuel. And it is true that it takes a beating! He’s good but I think he would care more if he was the adult that paid for those machines! They are definitely not cheap!

The real issue for me is finding someone reliable to keep up with it. Since I have the equipment, I can always mow as well, but my time is valuable - I work FT and have other responsibilities, so I like to have someone mow for me.

[2DogsFarm]

Thanks All
I’ve decided if lawns don’t get mowed today or tomorrow (promised “this week”) I’ll be calling landscapers Tuesday.
And I’ll tell FG that unless I’m added to the paying customer roster I’ll be hiring another company.
Also plan to ask at the local feedstore (that’s where paid bushhogger came from) about the pastures.

@clanter DH was a locksmith.
He did a lot of gratis work for friends & for the BO/trainer at the show barn we boarded.
She never paid her bills & reneged on her promise to cover his show fees in exchange… While we were checking out at a show

[RHdobes563]

If you can, STRESS that you want to pay because you want his business to SUCCEED, not because you’ve been put LAST on his list of those to-do.

[Weezer]

I pay about $80/hr for someone to bush hog my 5 acres. When a friend used to do it as a favour, he would charge me $50/hr.

I agree you should tell the guy you want it cut every month and you will be hiring someone. If he’s interested in the contract, great. But sign an actual contact so you are a legit customer.

[OzarksRider]

@2DogsFarm

I’m considering buying a zero turn & going back to mowing lawns myself.

If you decide to buy your own mower, consider getting one powerful enough to mow both your yard and your pastures (3 acres total, if I read your post correctly). Ten years ago we bought a zero-turn commercial grade Dixie Chopper mower that we use to mow both our 1-acre yard and a 2-acre field where I confine the horses during the lush growing season. I was skeptical that the mower would do a good job on the 2-acre field, but it does. That mower was pricey upfront but it has turned out to be a very good investment long term.

[2DogsFarm]

Mea Culpa, Mea MAXIMA Culpa…

I used to mow the roughly 2+ac of pasture (2 fields, drylot between) with my Yardman 52" deck riding mower. Set to the highest the deck went.
As long as I went sloooow & made multi-passes through the roughs, it did the job.
Though, I’m pretty sure I heard it whimper when I headed it for pastures

[EssexFells]

1. permanently reduce your maintenance burden by converting big areas of your lawn to shrubs and naturalized pollinator habitat. (There are often grants available for pollinator habitat projects-- check with your county extension office).
2. A self-propelled lawnmower is really not strenuous to use at all. You don’t have to do the whole acre at one time, just do like 1/4 acre each day and rotate. They’re only like $400-500.
3. For pasture: add a drop-down hitch on your car, and buy a pull-behind field mower. We have a Swisher trail cutter. They’re not cheap (expect to pay about $2500-3000) but you don’t need a tractor and they can handle just about any brush you can drive over.
4. Remember you had a barter arrangement and you were not getting all of thos “for free” – you’re providing him space to store his stuff, for which he would have to pay for a storage locker otherwise. So don’t let FG’s stuff stay in your garage forever. You need the room for your mower. So let him know now you’re going to need that space in your garage back, and give him until the end of the year to clear it all out just to be super neighborly. No emotion, no tit-for-tat stuff, and no feeling bad about kicking his stuff out. It’s just: this arrangement isn’t a good fit for either of us anymore.

[Texarkana]

With it getting to be the end of the season, you might find some deals on used riding mowers and zero turns.

We rented a 5 acre farm several years ago. We had a cub cadet riding mower, but no tractor. Originally our landlord wanted to bush hog the pasture himself. But then we had some problems with that- he let the horses loose once, another time he pulled down a section of fence and one of the horses got injured. We told him we’d take over. So long as we kept up with the mowing, our little lawn tractor was plenty for the pasture. Honestly, it was easier to do the pasture with that little lawn tractor than using our current tractor with bush hog or our current zero turn.

[2DogsFarm]

I guess venting here moved the planets
Tonight FG showed up & used his zero turn to take down the roughs in the drylot & smaller pasture, along with some stuff inside the fenceline & a pass in the big field.
He also “found” one of the 2 muzzles my mini managed to lose - mower shredded it
Lawns get done tomorrow along with more of the big field.

As to your other ideas:
#1-I’ve already let about 1/2 acre of lawn go natural.
It’s the leach field - my Septic Garden - all scrap elms* & uncut grasses.
I had random clumps of Oriental lilies out there & a border of tulips, but deer have thinned both to near oblivion. Still some Iris & monarda hanging in there.
*Septic guy (who installed the system in 2004 & has also done excavating work for me - including the base & footing for my indoor, flooring for stalls & barn aisle) told me these trees won’t harm the septic. That was at least 10yrs ago. So far he’s right.

#2-Self-propelled mower not a possibility as both knees are trashed. Too much walking, or even just standing & I hurt for hours, if not days

#3-I have just one vehicle, upgraded my 2007 SUV to a 2016 model in July. It has to last for probably the rest of my life.
Not going to hitch anything besides my trailer to that. And pasture is pretty rutted, so bad on the suspension to “off-road” for that reason.

#4-the stuff in the garage is not a problem.
My wood showcart lives there too.
FG & his Dad are also my Hayguys. They cut & bale an L-shaped field around my pastures.
Keeps the rest of my property looking civilized.
In return they keep & sell the hay they get off this field. This year 125 small squares in 1st cutting.
Nearly ready for a 2nd cutting now.
I get my hay from them (300 bales, not from my field) for free.

[EssexFells]

OK, sorry I misunderstood your orig. post. Based on your followups, it does seem like you are benefiting much more than they are in this arrangement, so I guess just grit your teeth when your property gets a bit shaggy.

[Foxglove]

If at all possible, acquire a solid riding lawn mower. U will take back control of ur lawn and pasture–right now I am between barn girls–last one went off to college and new one starts Tuesday. Meanwhile, I mowed my pasture myself. Having a solid mower makes it possible even if I don’t want to do it. I do like looking at it mowed, however. Take back ur power!

[js]

If pastures are big enough and have some suitable grass for cows, you might look for someone to come cut and bale it for their own use, our neighbor did this for free, he got about 9-12 big round bales for his cows and we got our pastures maintained.

[2DogsFarm]

& today’s Special: hubris
Nice gentle rain, falling now & through the day.
So lawns will remain floofy.
BUT!
Small field & drylot vastly improved by having those roughs mowed.

Yeah, I felt venty.
But I think we get equal benefits from the deal.
They get free hay storage - currently 5 wagons in the indoor + tractor. Around here storage is charged per bale.
I get $1500 worth of hay < if $5/bale stays the going rate.
Add in the borrowable Manstrength (increasingly valuable as I age) & truly, they are Great Neighbors.

@Foxglove I mowed my pastures for 15yrs using a 52" deck riding mower.
Took me an hour+
If I did lawns too, make that 2h
I gladly give up that Power

@js Big field is around 2ac. Just enough grass for horses. The stuff that needs mowing is junk that goats might eat.
As much as I’d love a goat, my fencing would have to change.
Maybe I need a GoFundMe?