For most people with larger properties you are going to need a bit more than the average push mower or riding mower to take care of your property. Even if you have a wide riding mower deck or a large zero turn mower its going to be difficult to take care more than a few acres of field and if you let it go and small trees or bushes start growing its going to be that much more difficult.
This is where you are going to need to consider buying a small tractor with a PTO connection to run an add on mower of some type. The two most common types are Brush Hogs which you can think of as a pull behind mower deck that is very heavily constructed or a Flail Mower which is also pull behind but runs a rotary shaft with replaceable hammer blades.
Now neither of these products is going to give you that golf course finished cut for your lawn but what they will do is allow you to process a large amount of area fairly quickly even if there are some small obstructions like small rocks or 1 inch diameter trees growing. They also let you process very tall grass that might be waist high vs a regular mower that is going to start choking on grass over a foot tall.
Brush Hogs
The biggest advantage of a Brush Hog over a Flail Mower for most people is going to be cost. On average you are going to pay half the price for a Brush Hog than a Flail Mower. They will be able to process short brush, bushes, small trees just beginning to grow. Many people will push them harder to cut more but doing so you risk burning out the gear boxes which is a considerable expense. If you don’t do major damage then you’re likely to damage your blades which can also be costly if you do it all the time. Just like a regular mower they are not great for fields that haven’t been cleared of rocks so you really need to take care of that. Many people will pull them into wooded area but that is an act of desperation and you are doing so knowing you will damage your equipment.
Sizes are available up to 15 foot wide for extreme applications but this will require 70hp at the PTO which means a very large tractor will be needed to pull it. The smallest you can go is about 15hp with a 4 foot wide deck but don’t expect much until you reach about 30hp rated units.
The main drawback of a Brush Hog Mower is its offset weight. Although they do come with out rigger wheels the mower its self is set much farther away from the tractor. This will limit the size of the mower that the 3 point hitch can manage and lift.
Another drawback of a Brush Hog is that it sits directly behind your tractor so everything you cut is being run over by your tractor or you’re having to drive through it before cutting it.
Maintenance will mean inspecting your blades before every use. Making sure your bearings are not getting worn and greasing before every use. Most people don’t do this but it means your equipment will fail sooner than later.
Shear Bolts vs Slip Clutches is another consideration. If you are mowing property that you know and has been cleared of rocks and stumps then use a shear bolt design. If you are mowing different properties that you don’t know then a Slip Clutch should help save your mower from self destruction. Slip Clutch designs do cost more. Most are only rated up to 1.5 inch material so with either design don’t push your limits.
Flail Mowers
The biggest advantage of a Flail Mower is that it can process much heavier material. If you are considering buying a property with a large field then this type of mower can easily process many acres in a day and they are good for preparing fields the first time if you decide that a brush hog is a better choice.
The drawbacks of a Flail Mower is cost. They do cost much more than a brush hog mower but that cost is not just in initial purchase it is also in Maintenance. Because they are normally used in harsher situations those rotary hammers tend to get damaged or come loose and you never find them. The average mower might take 4 dozen or more hammers and they can cost as much as $10 a piece even if you buy a generic bulk pack.
Size and Horsepower considerations are similar to a Brush Hog. Flail Mowers are smaller on the top end of the scale coming in at about 7 feet wide but there are fixed agricultural versions that can get up to 20 feet wide that are normally called Flail Shredders. You can get smaller units in the 15hp range but larger models take more and the largest can take up to 130hp.
One of the biggest benefits of a Flail mower is if it is offset positionable and most are. This means you can have it hang out to the right side of your tractor and be able to reach into areas under trees or along roadsides without running your tractor right up against branches or near a drop off. Some models come with Hydraulics and others are manual but its an important feature.
Another option is that you can change the blades from a Hammer Blade that is a thick heavy blade to process brush and then you can use Y Shaped Blades for a more finished result once the field is established. These blades are expensive but they are interchangable so you aren’t stuck with one type of blade like you are on a Brush Hog that only has a finish blade type. If you are cutting a field then a Hammer Blade will give good results and mulch the grass good enough but around your home you might want Y Blades or to use your riding mower.
Considerations For Both Types Of Mowers
This type of mower can’t be grouped in with regular mowers and even larger riding mowers. The maintenance on this type of mower has to be completed before each use and sometimes on larger properties maintenance has to be conducted within the working day. You really don’t want to go more than a 2 hours without inspecting your equipment and if you hit something then you need to stop and check your equipment right away. This is the difference and if you aren’t up to it then maybe you should hire out the work.
The second consideration is what piece of equipment will you be using it on? These devices are rated to be used with a PTO with specific output. If you run them at lower power then your results will be dramatically different. If you don’t have the right equipment then you might be able to use a smaller mower but most are going to require 40hp to 70hp at the PTO and anything smaller is going to be Zero Turn Riding Mower size.
Cost is another consideration and Flail Mowers are twice as expensive as brush hogs. On the other hand Flail mowers do give you some options such as using them in heavy brush and in areas you might hit a few small rocks. Hitting small rocks with a Brush Hog is no different than a push mower you will have to stop and inspect the blade and see if you can go on or if the blade needs replacing or resharpening. So Initial Cost is as important as Parts Costs over time and Flail Mowers do come in more expensive in both categories.
Final Note
The best thing you can do when deciding between either type of attachment is define your use and needs. If you are establishing or reestablishing field and there will be a lot of rough cutting then a Flail Mower will be a better option. If you need to Maintain a Road or Long driveway with dropoff then a Flail Mower with offset will be required.
If you are taking care of an established field then a brush hog is going to be worth the purchase. It will give you better results than a riding mower and it will cost less to purchase and maintain.
Neither of these tools is the same as a Forestry Mulcher. Forestry Mulchers are massively potent products that are either self drive large pieces of equipment or attached to larger track steers with high output hydraulics. There are lighter versions but pretty much they are useless. A forestry mulcher can take down 6 to 10 inch trees and mulch them into chips with no effort. They can even be run down dry stream beds to turn small rocks into gravel. The larger self propelled models simply eat everything in their path with no consideration or stopping and are amazing for clearing property extremely quickly. Unfortunately they cost many hundreds of thousands of dollars so they are only hired out by land developers that need the job done without complaint.