Field mowing....

[inkjunkie]

Spraying is not an option......all of our dogs will eat the grass and weeds on a somewhat regular basis.....

This will need to be done on a regular basis.....what I took down with the weed eater 3 weeks ago is taller than it was before I chopped it down....so hiring someone to come out and take care of it for me is going to get pricey....

Natures mowers, goats/alpacas etc......not going to happen with my dogs. We have a very stubborn Queensland Heeler....if a goat were to kick her the fight would be on...she will harass it until she was able to attack it....just the way she is....

Bush hog......property is not completely treeless. The back 150' or so is steep enough that the tractor has a hard time with it. One side of the yard is very sandy and last time I tried to get the tractor up it the tractor just dug in. And then there is the rock issue. A few years ago a neighbor was mowing his yard with a small garden tractor type of deal....started a small brush fire from a rock strike....

Sickle mower. Again, the trees, rocks and incline in the back.

Walk behind....indeed will be a workout. If it were self propelled would at least eliminate part of the problem. Being retired gives me more or less all the time I would need to spread it out over several days.

Then there is the issue of driving a tractor across our septic field. Tractor is pretty light but......the area where our septic tanks are located is very uneven and rock infested. No way I will take a tractor thru it. We also have several small rolling hills that are basically rock/dirt pile form when the slabs were done...taking the tractor over them is not going to happen. A self propelled walk behind mower would probably work. I am working on getting rid of them but it is very slow going. If we were to end up with something that would be used with the tractor we would still be doing a ton of work with the weed eater.

If we did not have all of these rocks this would no doubt be a pretty simple process. Probably a bit paranoid about starting a brush fire with the use of a bladed device but would much rather be safe than sorry.

I am going to go down the road today and look into borrowing my neighbors mower. It is similar to the DR field mower but he only uses cables for cutting.........

 

[65BCODA]

Probably should have thought this out before purchase of said property......

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[Oklacarcollecto]

I have several of the walk behind string trimmers and have been using them since 1996. I have wore out 9 so far. They are Craftsman this newest group. The push a whole lot easier that a lawn mower, they balance well on two big wheels and are a bunch easier to use then the sickle bar style of self propelled trimmers.

I have tried the sickle bar self propelled, they are good unless you have to go around things that are close together but for my use I have found them not to be the best solution. I have one of the DR string trimmers and it is way heavier than the Craftsman.

Walk behind bladed mower is a spark throwing piece of equipment and I will never try one of those again.

If you have 5 acres to mow, nothing is going to be easy but I really like these for the lagoon I have to mow, all the fence line, around structures, around cars, around trees and concrete. I can handle these pretty easy with my bad back. Maybe try renting some different equipment to see what works best for your situation.

 

[inkjunkie]

Probably should have thought this out before purchase of said property......

(Refer to 1st line of your signature)

Would much rather be faced with this problem than living on a postage stamp sized lot in town....

Not really going to worry about mowing the hill. Considering a bush hog for the back of the tractor. Will leave us with several areas that will have to be done with a weed wacker....The thought of a metal blade with the rocks and how dry we has me concerned.....

 

[inkjunkie]

I have several of the walk behind string trimmers and have been using them since 1996. I have wore out 9 so far. They are Craftsman this newest group. The push a whole lot easier that a lawn mower, they balance well on two big wheels and are a bunch easier to use then the sickle bar style of self propelled trimmers.

I have tried the sickle bar self propelled, they are good unless you have to go around things that are close together but for my use I have found them not to be the best solution. I have one of the DR string trimmers and it is way heavier than the Craftsman.

Walk behind bladed mower is a spark throwing piece of equipment and I will never try one of those again.

If you have 5 acres to mow, nothing is going to be easy but I really like these for the lagoon I have to mow, all the fence line, around structures, around cars, around trees and concrete. I can handle these pretty easy with my bad back. Maybe try renting some different equipment to see what works best for your situation.

The DR mower has the option of using a cable device instead of the blade which is why I was thinking about it. We went out for breakfast this morning and drove past a little rental company in Suncrest. Next time we go by there when they are open we will be stopping to see what he has. Really would like what ever it is to be self propelled.....the wife is claiming she will use it if it is...While the DR mower is a bit pricey I will be spending the rest of my life here and will need something that I can use at least monthly during growing season. In the past we had a Coonhound that used to get foxtails in his ears all the time, that is one of the things I am worrying about.

Being retired makes things a bit easier....I will not have to get it all mowed in the course of a day or two.....