Cutting a lot of rough grass

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Cutting a lot of rough grass
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Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 16 6:30 am Post subject:

I suppose as an individual you could use one HL, but as we work as a company, we can't do it and have insurance. We still have one, but live in hopes the ban will be lifted because it is ideal for the sort of job WW wants.

WW, I would suggest that a heavy duty brush cutter would do the job in a reasonable time and it would also do the fiddly bits more easily. Otherwise I would suggest a flail mower rather than a topper. We use one in the woods for over head high bracken, rough grass and brambles. We tow ours behind a little tractor, but it should be possible to get quad bike operated ones I would think.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 16 1:26 pm Post subject:
I think some bits need a flail mower for sure. A topper might do the 'grass' better. I suppose at least the advantage of spending a kidney on tow-behind implement means I can sell bits on when I don't need them. Tractor it shall be then. I hate buying vehicles.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4630
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 16 3:56 pm Post subject:
Try towing with the landy that's there?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 16 4:08 pm Post subject:
Yes, I'll give it a go. I'm not sure it'll get into the orchard, though. I couldn't pick any fruit last year, because we just couldn't get to it so I must do something. Wish I could post pics. I only have iThings, though.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 16 4:11 pm Post subject:
You can email them to me or jamanda. I'll pm you my email address as the @downsizer one appears to be moribund.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 16 7:28 pm Post subject:
Get down to your local garden machinery hire shop. There are heavy duty mowers that will take on your rough ground & you can hire them by the day. Goats will eat it but you need to fence it well first.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 16 7:12 am Post subject:
Could you not get the Landie in because it was too muddy and slippery WW? We find mud terrain tyres on the back wheels are a great advantage. We got through a horribly muddy field last weekend that completely stopped 2 Landies with road tyres, and their drivers weren't used to mud either, which didn't help.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 16 8:35 am Post subject:
You want one of these. A fit person should be able to hammer an acre a day. Two day hire fee will be a lot less than fencing two acres for goats many times over. Has anyone mentioned pigs yet? You can keep pigs behind a single strand of electric fence.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 16 8:38 am Post subject:
Much friendlier than a flail mower.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 16 10:35 pm Post subject:

Yes, I do agree. You can go on holiday and leave a flail mower to fend for itself though. Also, it's unlikely I will have to extract an adoring child from the flail mowers house. I havent actually ruled out pigs, but I do need to check and repair the fences. At the moment, you can't see the fences.

I can definitely see the attraction in a two wheeled tractor. Sadly, I am no longer fit and I don't have full days. I have to do bits as and when the opportunity arises (it's one of the problems of parenthood, particularly single parenthood. I worked out I had way more free time when I worked full time plus!) same problem with hiring, unless a longer term option is available. Also, doesn't grass need mowing fairly regularly? I went into the orchard with a brush cutter a couple of times last year, but it wasn't regular enough and by August you couldn't get in there at all.

I don't think the landie will get between the trees in the orchard. The have a lot of low branches and are quite closely spaced. Although various it has got stuck in other places.

My master plan is to mow the 'grass' most weeks and also spend a couple of hours hammering the edges of the really overgrown bits (like the orchard) of it with the brush cutter, which will be added to next weeks mowing, evicting stuff as I go, thus gradually extending and improving the grass. Other than planting a potato patch, it's most of my plan for it for this year. I may get some pet sheep or alpacas, but I would need to sort out some fencing (at the very least of out of the kitchen garden) and controlling the grass is my first priority. I really hate how it's so hard to walk about on, even this time of year. It'll be practically impossible in a month.

Last edited by wellington womble on Fri Apr 22, 16 9:28 am; edited 1 time in total

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 16 10:57 pm Post subject:
Now with added photographs:

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15966

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 16 8:55 am Post subject:

If you have real problems with access to the orchard because of small gaps and low branches I think your only option is to use a petrol powered brush cutter. Our son once cut a couple of acres field using one, but he is very fast. You can get them for a not unreasonable price and with various attachments they are suitable for grass, weeds and bramble.

Sorry, but having seen the pictures, I think it is about the only way if money/time are major restraints.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 16 10:18 am Post subject:

Thanks Sean. Time is a bit of a restraint, money not so much (I was joking about the kidney, honest!) I'm happy to spend a bit on a compact and topper/flail if it gets the job done. I'm mostly grumbling about needing to buy a vehicle. I'm always afraid I'll get conned because I know nothing about them.

The first picture is the stuff that seems to have accumulated in all the edge and corners. It's fairly easy to deal with as I start to oik it out into the skip I have decided to hire as soon as you can get a lorry in. I can brush cut to start with and then mow after that. Simples.

The second picture shows the kind of grass I need to mow. This about half of it, and the following one shows some of the divots and ruts the mower will need to cope with. This is my priority, before it grows waist high again. You can see my chicken house and solar panels in approximately the middle of the place and my vegetable patch is mainly sandwiched in between those and the sheds etc behind. The orchard is behind those. Behind that and off to the right is the Graveyard of Abandoned Vehicles (as pictured by the dumper truck, but has a supporting cast of three trailers, a digger, a Discovery and two chicken houses. There are three caravans as well) and directly behind is the Gate Through Which I Do Not Go. That part is where the pigs would go. It's actually fenced off with pig netting, and has had pigs in in the past. The property ends at the conifers and the fallen tree at the back. The last picture shows the orchard. Honest, they are fruit trees, and they did fruit quite well last year. I just couldn't get near them. They are spaced wide enough to get a ride on between, but not the landie. I'll happily lop off a few low hanging branches to get a mower in long term.

It will be a lovely piece of land, once it's had a haircut and a bit of a tidy up (I forgot there are a million boiler-suit-blue oil drums as well. Very handy, but an absolute eyesore!)

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 16 10:47 am Post subject:
It might be cheaper to pay a man or woman with the right kit to do the work for you? You have no worry about damaging equipment or buying a tool you wont need again.

vegplot

Joined: 19 Apr 2007
Posts: 21301
Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 16 1:23 pm Post subject:
We cleared land look like that (no scrap though) with a simple Honda 4 stroke petrol strimmer using square section cord (cuts bramble better). We found it the best tool for the job.

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