Not the most exciting topic however I’m stumped! Im looking for a finishing mower to put on the back of my New Holland Boomer 50 and am debating between the Bush Hog SQ87-T($3500) and the Generic Agmate Finishing mower from Agri-Supply($1500)… I’m new to this so any advice is more than appreciated besides the price increase from a name brand is there anything that warrants an extra 2k? For what its worth I have 10 acres to maintain with paddocks jumps can be weed whacked around etc. Thanks in advance!!!
I’m confused…are you looking at a finishing mower or a “brush hog” that can cut more than just grass? They look similar, but are different animals; the former for “lawn” like work, albeit it can be higher cuts for things like grassy fields and the latter for more general maintenance cutting with out worry of damage from brush and even rocks.
I used to have a finishing mower, but way back when I went up in tractor size I bought a rotary cutter with two tailwheels. I made a door into the top, back of it that is big enough for me to sharpen the blades with a 9" side-grinder. Since I can cut grass as cleanly with it as the finishing mower, I sold the finisher. It will also cut down anything I can push over with it. I don’t know what a Boomer 50 is, but if it’s 50 hp. you can probably find a dual wheeled rotary cutter that it will pull. The dual rear wheels keep it from scalping the ground.
There is no current model Bush Hog SQ87-T … Please check your info.
I use the finish mower on the fields, which look better mowed with it. I have a Ford mower, 930B is the model I think. It has two blades, a side chute to blow the clippings out with and EASILY adjustable individual wheels, to keep the mower even and set at the height I want in the fields.
I want my mowed grass to be high when done, I can set the mower at 1" increments, from 1 to 6 inches tall, by snapping out the lynch pin, moving the height markers on each leg. 5 minutes work for all 4 legs, no effort or straining, no tools needed. With the side chute ejection, I don’t have windrows behind me cutting even tall grasses. The clippings are evenly distributed across the ground, adding organic matter to the land, not matting to squash grass behind the mower.
Finish mower moves independently, with arms to fit the 3-pt hitch, so it stays level up or down hill, no scalping or missing spots. Here is a photo
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=9684729
This is a NICE machine, NOT meant to be cutting rough brush, broken ground. You will break it doing that stuff, tear up the smaller blades that make such a nice cut on only grasses. I take the belt cover off after use, blow out any cuttings that ended up in the belt area, clean it off before putting it back away with the compressor.
The brush hog here is used for outside the fence cutting, it does heavy work to keep the forest back away from our fences. I used it before I got the finish mower for the fields, where it did an adequate job on pasture grass. With a rear ejection chute, I needed to do follow-up dragging to break up those heavier windrows and prevent my grass being smothered. So it probably required twice the work time doing fields as our finish mower now, because of the added dragging of fields after mowing, to spread the cut grass tops with the chain harrow. The brush hog will scalp during cutting, since it works as a single unit with the tractor, no hinge between the two machines. If tractor is going down, the rear brush hog lifts up to not cut, while it will scalp the grass if tractor is going uphill. Mine only has one wheel behind, can be harder to get leveled for use.
You need to decide what kind of mowing you need doing, to choose your mower between the two types. I could not have used a finish mower when we moved here. It took time and work with my little tractor to get my fields nice enough, cleared off with the brush hog, to be smooth for the finish mower years later.
I would not have purchased a finish mower because none of my friends have owned or used them. I got this mower with my purchase of our new-to-us tractor. I really like it now after using for a couple years, fields look real nice after mowing.
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We use a Swisher (has it’s own motor) in the fields, pulled by an ATV. Just grass/weeds are mown, not any think brushy stuff. The thicker and woodier your fields are, the more $$ you will need to spend.
Both pieces of equipment do different jobs, depending on how much acreage and how much growth you have in your fields you might need both. We have both a bush hog and a finish mower. If the pastures are growing like crazy, are tall and thick with grass the finish mower will not get thru it easily, so we need the bush hog, which we use first then go back over with the finish mower to cut it lower and mulch. A bush hog will go thru small brush and thicker stuff where a finish mower will not, at least not without ruining it.
Thanks so much for the information this is all very new to me, I really don’t have any thick stuff to go through aside from manure in the paddocks (which are picked weekly) so I’m leaning toward a finishing mower since I need to maintain 10 acres total Im hoping a 6ft will do the job the grass is pensacola bahia so its not very thick and closer to lawn grass. The Tractor is 50HP so it can handle quite a bit the 930B looks like a good machine I am going to do some more research on that. Thank you for all of your suggestions!
50 hp will pull a wider finishing mower than 6’. An 8’ might be pushing it, but it should handle a 7 footer with no problem. It’s nice to have one some wider than the back wheels of the tractor. This is one case where bigger is better.
I’ve had good luck with the Caroni equipment from Agri-Supply, and they keep all the parts in stock. I looked but I didn’t see anything between the 71" and 93". I’d be tempted to try the 93" if I were you. I know for a fact that a 35hp tractor will easily handle the 71". I know someone that has pulled one for years.
We owned both bush hog and finishing mower when we lived in Florida. If there isn’t a lot of tree roots/rock (like here in Ky where we live now) then the finishing mower that will self “adjust” to bumps is your best bet. The bush hog is best for a lot of tree limbs - heavier brush that needs to be cut.
