DOUBLE THE PRICE, IS IT WORTH IT? FLAIL MOWER VS BRUSH HOG 🚜
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- If you have to clear a field, which is the better choice: the brush hog or the flail mower for your tractor? And is there a difference between a brush hog, a bush hog, a rotary cutter? We'll cover all that and more today, and get you set up to make an informed decision when it comes time to buy your field clearing attachment.
Products in video:
Del Morino Funny Top Flail Mower: bit.ly/3iTGpBf
Dirt Dog Rotary Cutter: bit.ly/3gevwZ5
Speeco Quick Hitch: bit.ly/2Wc77wi
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Del Morino Funny Top Flail Mower: bit.ly/3iTGpBf
Dirt Dog Rotary Cutter: bit.ly/3gevwZ5
Speeco Quick Hitch: bit.ly/2Wc77wi
Went with a flail this summer. I wanted compact for storage, wife wanted a clean finish. Picked hammer blades as well. Hoping they are more durable.
Dang, one more, that rear roller I think will flatten the stupid mole hills.
I'd be curious to know how you feel about the hammers after getting some time on it.
I agree that had you had hammer blades it might not would have left some of those long stems. With that said the rotary cutter did not do that as much. As far as the wind row effect, it's a field, not a lawn, so to me at least it is not much of an issue. If I had plenty of money I'd have both. The flail with hammers for a field near the house. But for my money the 6' rotary cutter behind my JD 3038E is fine.
Do the hammers on the flail dig into the ground? I got tons of goat head vines and was wondering about the effectiveness of a flail on such a plant.
I do commercial brush cutting and I own both. I have a brand new BH417 Bush Hog that is rated for 4". I have never used it because I bought a Sovema 8ft wide Offset Flail mower with 4 lb hammers not Y blades. It cuts like a monster through up to 4 inch brush then cuts a grass really nice. I put hundreds of hours on on these types of machines. I started my business with Rotary Bush hogs but after using flail mowers they are more efficient. They can cut lower because it handle uneven ground better because the ground doesn't have to be as flat to get low. The discharge of debris ie(thick grass) gets distributed more evenly and not clumpy pile of grass. My machine can off set 7 of the 8 ft width which allows to cut closer to tree lines without touching your tractor and your not mowing over run over grass from your tractor. My customers are very happy with me going to flail mower. Also because I can cut lower it longer between cuts. Instead of cutting 3-4 times a year I cut 2-3 times. It lets me charge a little more and have more customers.. So for me I'm all Flail!!!!!!
You should turn that field into alfalfa or grass hay for horses and put a little extra cash In the pocket.
Exactly what I want!! Facts and observations!! I do not want a sales pitch. Tell me what you saw!! What you felt!! That way I can decide what is or is not important to ME!! Very well done, thank you..
I've owned 2 brush hogs and 2 flail mowers over 20 yrs. I think it both have their strengths. A flail mower will give a cleaner smoother cut. A brush hog will excel if you are cutting brush or woody growth where the flail gives a better pasture or open field cut. Love your videos -keep it up
Thank you. I'm looking to cut trails through foothill forest. It'll be a walk behind tractor, but I have been wondering if the flail is the better attachment.
I managed a vineyard for eight years. I used a "brush hog" for three years. We always had problems with the prunings. The brush hog just mowed off the parts sticking up. Our local tractor dealer me and asked if I wanted to try a fail mower with hammers. I tried it and bought it. the drum turned counter clock wise and the hammers pick up the prunings and mulched them. Never went back to the brush hog.
Perfect assessment, when I sold them, the offset flail was for orchards and cost more, your brush hog we called a slasher, perfect for hobby farms who didn’t run livestock.
I've used both, each (like others have said) have their pros and cons. Rotary does a good job of rough cutting or first time through. Flail does a good job at making a clean cut if you go the correct speed and let it cut properly (going to fast will leave a rough cut look)
I also use a sickle mower. I've found that for an area where I don't want to cut it often, I use the sickle mower. I let the grass/weeds grow and then cut them with the sickle, which lays the cut grass/weeds flat over the stubble. I've found that it takes a lot longer for the grass/weeds to grow back. (went from cutting weekly/bi-weekly to three times a summer). Same area was cut with rotary or flail mower and everything grew back fast for a weekly/bi-weekly cut requirement
knowing your land and your requirements (wants/needs) is the biggest thing when deciding what to get. I'd recommend renting/borrowing each if possible and trying it for the area you want cut
In my experience, I’ve owned both and at first I loved the flail mower for the finish cut it was leaving, until it came to sharpening the Y blades, there’s was way too much time wasted I sold it and bought a finishing mower!!! And when I needed to knock down rough fields the brush hog was the way to go! But that’s my opinion and experience
To avoid sharping just buy the thin blades, they chip easier buy still cut pretty good. I was like you sharping blades (Y and hammer) till I swapped over.
I’ve got ‘em both, my brush hog is a walk behind for the rough cut, the flail mower works on my 1025 R like a champ and made the investment in the JD bellymower unnecessary! Hands down my flail mower work like a Charme, I mow 6 acre with my 48” during the season weekly!
Good comparison . 👍 I have been using the six foot flail with the heavy duty thick y blades for years now . There are many uses for a flail mower that people overlook also . You can use them as mulcher too make compost . All the bark and pieces of wood from a splitter /green spruce and cedar branches that are hard too put thru a chipper . I just throw all this debris in a area and grind everything too beautiful mulch . When the garden is finished just bring it down into mulch . Any hills tuffs of grass mounds cleans house and levels yours trails and land smooth and regenerates faster and nice . Mulching leaves in the fall also . A hydraulic top link for a flail is the way too go as you said . I would never be without a flail mower . Way more uses .
Wow, yeah you made a very solid case for the flail. Many more uses than I mention. I'll have to try that out this fall with leaves!
@@GoodWorksTractors I don’t waist my time anymore with small branches in the chipper anymore . The flail is so fast and easy . 👍
I remember growing up, my father was borrowing Brush Hogs from friends and finally found a sweetheart deal on a Flail (w/ Hammer heads)... After watching, that flail did a much better job, with the hammer heads, it took small trees and larger brush totally out where the brush hogs might get jammed up. They also mulch their output way better... if I had a choice, the Flail would be mine
@@markholtdorf56 Brush hogs have pretty much one head.. blades like a lawn mower.. a Flail can have different heads.. the hammer heads will pretty much go through anything.. Nothing is truely unbreakable.. but the hammer heads will even have little problem with rocks and gravel… (I wouldn’t recommend it.. but).. Knife heads will do a cleaner job.. but, they are more sensitive to damage if you hit something solid.. as with anything, nothing can be damage proof.. I’ve seen brush hogs break off at the shaft with thick grass (seen it.. still, shouldn’t happen).. and I’ve seen both go through trees that they probably shouldn’t do..
Great video! You approached each unit from different prospectives, making it very informative. Thank you!
May you be blessed by the youtube algorithm. You are my best channel find in a good while!
Haha, too funny. Much appreciated, have a great day!
Greetings from Greece! Here we call the flail mower "destroyer". After the trimming of oil trees and through the summer, my olive grove is full of cutoff branches (some over 2cm thick) end tall - messy vegetation. Only one pass with it and is clean and flat like a carpet...
Your the FIRST one that put the "price" as a factor in your video. Thank You.
The video timing is excellent; I just bought a fine cut flail mower for my Ventrac 4500 yesterday.
Morning Courtney. Excellent outline and comparison of the two. I have never used a hog before but when I had a flail mower, I had the hammers. I was pretty surprised that I still cut a very decent cut on my lawn with the hammers so having the hammers on it let's me knock down the brush and thicket and small woody obstacles and also did a good job on my grass. Plus the nice thing about the flail is that the roller on the back of the unit gives you a golf course type finish on your lawn- nice! LOL. Cheers!
A friend of mine had a flail mower that he used to clip his yard. And it always looked like a ball field or golf course very neat because it actually cut the grass from the top down instead of the side bruising the grass and tearing it
Disclaimer: I'm Europe based, where flail mowers are more common. For me, changing to a flail was the best investment.. A flail with hammers mulch very finely, so you don't get left with big clump rotting on the ground. Also, hammers, provided they are not too blunt, can give a finishing cut (if that is what you want). If working in tight paddocks, with lots of fences, the shorter overhang of the flail makes for better tight maneuverability.
I sold my brush hog to my neighbour.. Having seen mine, he is now also looking to replace it with a flail.
I always called a rotary mower either a Brush Hog or Bush Hog, irrespective of brand. Not until I moved to Texas did I hear the term "Shredder." It made sense here when I saw a friend using his...because he was not mowing grass in a field - he was shredding saplings: mesquite, huisache, yaupon, oaks, pecan. It was like mayhem! Even those 1"-2" saplings are like hitting steel, and the stump looked like the cartoons where the rifle got plugged by the Roadrunner's finger...BOOM! So Shredder it is!
I'd love to have a flail mower, likely with hammer blades here, but in all practicality, the brush hog does just fine. Anything needing nicer cutting I use the rider or Zero Turn.
Find a area on your property where you can dump debris like branches / yard waist / compost / what ever is biodegradable . Every once and awhile go there and hit it with the flail after mowing the field . It will clean your flail mower right out and you will reap the benefits having beautiful rich soil mulch for gardens etc . 👍
Those Ortolani flails are great and none too pricey either.
I've had a flail for 14 years, and apart from being slow, it's very good - it cuts anything and leaves a nice finish. But it takes a lot of power to drive and you can't cover ground fast.
I can't say anything one way or the other about flail mowers because I've never used one. I can however relate my experiences with a rotary mower having brush bogged fields for over 20 years. You make a very good point about trailering a tractor/brush hog type of combination, the mower takes up a lot of room. I have a John Deere 4520 with a 6' Woods mower. My trailer has a 20' deck on it. I back the tractor on the trailer so the mower deck over hangs over the front of the trailer as far as the trailer winch, and that's with the bucket rolled all the way down for a shorter over all package. I suppose I could take the bucket off, but I use it to push trees out of the way that have fallen along the edges of the fields.That deck sticking way out the back does take up a lot of room if you're maneuvering in tight quarters too. Also, some fields that are more grassy than brush trends to leave small piles of cut grass, not always but often enough that its annoying. But, when I'm mowing fields, I can back the mower under trees for a sort of a trim job rather than leave a lot of grass around the tree. In my opinion it looks much better. I also use the mower deck as a counter weight if I'm picking up something heavy with the loader which I do from time to time. All that weight sticking that far out back is a great counter ballast even though my rear tires are filled. The Bush Hog I used to have weighed 960lbs. I think the Woods is about 100lbs lighter, still a lot of weight. I'd love to try a flail mower. The grass on the sides off the roads that is cut with the flail mowers usually look like lawns. If the grass is just right, my rotory looks like that too, but not usually. I had a chance to buy an old Alamo flail mower for dirt cheap one time but I thought about it too long and by the time I decided it was worth putting the money into it to make it usable, it was sold. Shucks! I like your videos. Keep up the great work.
Great video comparison. I've used a 5' brush hog behind our tractor many times. I've never used a flail mower, but they look impressive. Certainly not worth the investment though for someone who already has a brush hog. Now - if I didn't have either and were shopping, I'd probably lean towards the flail mower. #purplecollarlife
WHAT DO YOU CALL A ROTARY CUTTER? Brush hog is the first thing that I want to say, but you'll hear them called everything! Slasher, Shredder, Cutter, Brush Hog, Bush Hog, Chopper, etc. How many names can one attachment have? 🤣
Brush hog was the company that invented the rotary cutter
Toppers we call them
NC we say bush hog
Brush Hog
Here in Southside Virginia, most call it a bush hog as generic for rotary cutter.
Good morning. I feel that you hit the main point. Application of the implement. Rough in, the brush hog is the one. A more finished look, the flail.
But you've got to know what is in the area to be cut.
Spot on, thanks Michael!
I'd say both have a purpose. Flail will grind up the veg better and make it breakdown easier. You won't have the winrows (sp?) that you mentioned that you get with the brush hog. Also easier to run the no-till seed drill into. Brush hogs take down young trees that seem to pop up in my fields, without effort. I needed a brush hog to get my fields under control. Now that they are, I'll probably sell one of my 2 brush hogs and do most of my field mowing with a Flail.
i own a 72" brush hog...but these videos on flail mowers really make we want to get one as all of the findings you mentioned are real for me too
Yeah, sometimes it's hard to justify when you've got the paid off tool sitting there though, haha!
I would go with a brush hog, hydraulic and set to hook to the front arms. Use that to cut down and trim branches to clear overhead along field edges.
Use the flail mower and have that a 3 point pto powered.
pull it along and you get the benefits of both and can clear shrubs easier.
mowed pastures mostly with brush hog, it's handy to cut bigger/thicker stuff and you can back into stuff. It left the pastures looking liked hayed...
I went to a woodmaxx 78" hyd offset ($3k new) and have both kinds of blades. It definitely leaves a more finished appearance, will chew thru weeds just fine. Can't back into/under trees. Haven't have any issues with stumps or rocks, easier to change blades on teh flail than the brush hog. No need to lift/turn it over.
The side shift hydraulic is great feature, i can mow under the fences saving a lot of time.
I’ve used a brush hog for years. The only part I’ve hated is when your in really tall grasses, the skids will often times start pushing and collecting a pile of cut grasses. Then when you take a corner if flops off to the side. So when you look back in a field you see a bunch of clumps of grass. I then have to go back and hit the clumps to spread them out.
Great demonstration, Courtney! I've got to have that flail mower.
Thanks Dwayne! I sure enjoy mine!
I've never used a flail mower. This is the first time I've seen one in action. I like the fact you can offset it to the side, making it possible to drive where you've already cut. For my budget and needs I will probably have to go with a regular bush hog though
I have never seen one before either until this video. I have always used a 6' brush hog on a old massey TO-30 and it does very well on willow stems and kosha weeds. The tractor is a little underpowered for it but I hitched the brush hog to our Farmall M and it is unstoppable.
Brush hogs can be had at auctions for a few hundred dollars.
Flail looks relatively new so it is probably in the thousands.
Courtney...no comparison I've been using a flail mower for 15 yrs. Does not wind row like a bush hog and makes a much BETTER CUT!!! On the offset flail mower are you able to pit to in a vertical position and mow the raspberry bushes etc. on your trails.
One of the better brush hog vs flail mower comparison videos I've seen to date. I don't currently own either, but own 10 acres of pasture and have researched both extensively, and was favoring the flail; this confirms those leanings.
Use a self powered ATV flail mower and pull with a quad.
Tractors are bad .....to use to mow..as you're breathing that diesel exhaust ... Benzene causes CA. The ATV pulling a flail mower has all the exhaust behind you....unlike a tractor where it's exhaust is usual in front of you.
Thanks for the information! I might suggest moving the info on mowing height more towards the front of the video. That's a big deal. I've kicked around the idea of a flail mower because it handles trees a little better from what I've seen. Regardless, 4" is a little too short for pasture ground, and WAY too short for maintaining a good food plot. Really glad that I watched your video!
I’ve got a 4ft Walco bush cutter. Rather than the linkage from the a frame to the mower body,it actually has a chain from the top link connection at the A frame to the tail wheel. That way you can let your top link out and keep some slack in the chain, and keep steady 3 point height and let the tail wheel ride on the ground to follow the contour
I got that idea from my dad years ago. He used a chain on his brush cutter as far back as I can remember. I've actually run my brush cutter without any 3rd arm or chain. Just let it ride on the rear wheel.
I'm no tractor expert but did work on a few farms. I saw Deere, McCormick, White tractors, and even Kubotas. To be honest I think the Deeres were in the shop more than any of the others.
Great comparison video. Those are all the reasons i use only flail mowers and i have 4. I do it as a side hustle. The one advantage you did not mention was the offset allows you to stay out of the seeds. You started going the wrong way. You want to go clockwise with it offset to your right fully extended so you do not clog your radiator with all the chaff and seeds. I also have the BORA wheel spacers on my tractors, except the Ventrac. TIP: lower the flail mower to 1.5 or 2” and you will get a way better cut. The hammer blades and duck feet generate too much dust. I only have hammers on my offset ditch mower on my L4400 for clearing roadways and ditches. Good video. Do a video with different height setting and show us. Thanks
I have not ran a flail mower however I think if a fella was trying to do no-till plots I think the flail would be your best bet. A fine layer of residue will be easier to work with to get the seed to soil contact. While a brush cutter is just a course cut. However, I do wonder for establishing prairie, you need to raise your mower 8-12" off the ground to establish your prairie. So I wonder if a flail mower can still take out weeds and grasses raised up vs a brush mower where it will still cut weeds higher up??
If you are trying to clear saplings, heavy brush, and rocky ground, go with a brush hog.
If you want to maintain mostly grassy, weedy land to keep it neat, get a flail mower. The latter is what is used in a lot of public parks etc. not for fine turf, but it will mow just about any field.
Great info! The hammers on the flail mower remind me of the 1970's New Idea Cut-Ditioner. I'd like to see a comparison between the Y cutters and the hammers on the flail mower.
The same wish for me. No doubt that the finished product is better with the flail mower. But interested to see the difference between hammers and Y blades. Very good job ! Thanks for sharing with us. Keep it up ! 😉🙌😊
I’m in Australia, I run hammers in my Flail as it mulchs grass and hardwood eucalyptus branches. It also smash’s apart the occasional quartz rock in the grass (left by gold miners 100 years ago)
I've had a brush hog for three years to mow a field. When the blades are sharp it actually does a decent quality of cut. If you want to avoid those really long stalks, set your tail wheel lower and raise the front of the cutter a bit. It will chop the trimmings up finer. I'm intrigued by the offset on the flail mower, as well as the ground contacting roller. Scalping is the biggest problem I have with the brush hog.
We use a bush hog on our pastures. I don’t like the bush hogs height adjustment and, I also don’t like the wind row it leaves. This video helped me answer some of these questions. Good video, thanks.
I have both a Landpride RCR-1860 rotary cutter and a Woodmax 62H flail mower. Both have advantages and weaknesses. For large open fields I found the rotary cutter to work best. For areas where you want a more finished cut the flail is better. The flail requires more adjustment to achieve the desired cut. The flail doesn’t cut as well when going in reverse. The rear support roller on the flail cutter is very venerable to damage if going in reverse and you you should hit a stump or rock. Also since there is no tail wheel the flail tends to dig in as you make sharp turns. I’ve had my flail for one full cutting season and don’t believe it was worth the additional cost, adjustment and required maintenance over my rotary cutter. If I had to do it over I would purchase a large zero turn to cut areas where I want more of a lawn appearance.
Mostly the choice of which cutter needs to be driven by the application as many have stated already.
One thing I haven't seen stated, though, is safety. I have a rotary cutter and I have seen it shoot rocks out like bullets. It's my understanding is that a flail is less likely to launch a rock into the next county. That's not to say that a flail can't launch something out - but it would seem that the speed and trajectory would be safer from a flail than from a rotary cutter.
I have a 60” Rotary cutter from my Tractor. I live in the mountains so rocks and tree stumps are a major concern, and a flail mower won’t work. 2nd thing is cost of maintenance. Those blades for the flail mowers are not cheap. Flail mowers have more moving parts that require maintenance. We use flail mowers with hammer blades in the orchards to help mulch small branches and leaves back into the windrows. If I had a flat piece of land, I would take the flail mower in a heartbeat and I love the ability to offset it. I think the biggest deciding factor should be the property your working on. Right tool for the right job.
So, the advantage of a brush hog is, you can take down big stuff, even damaging blades, without a huge expense or regret. I run my brush hog over big stumps, rocks, gravel, etc. and I know that the expense to fix it is minimal.
My Uncle bought a piece of property about 5 years ago, it was very grown in. He had a old Ford 8N that came with the land and a brush hog. I started out going easy with it but by the end of the first day I was taking down some decent sized trees. I hit some stumps, big rocks, old blocks of wood etc... It did a great job and after a few days the property looked 10x better, sometimes the old stuff works better.
A quality flail is easily as durable and does a MUCH better job cutting
A nice mild comparison/demo. One catch though..... Despite what you "felt" like while you were mowing, the 4-foot brush hog was cutting 15% faster than the flail mower on an area basis.
The strongest benefits in my mind are the ability to offset, lack of windrow and how well ground up the leavings are with the flail.
We have 2 flail mowers and we use them to cut down wheat stubble after we harvest but they do a great job
I used to mow brushy pastures with a Ford 4600 & an FMC 842 (84") sidewinder that was pneumatic driven! Their selling point was that it could mow anything the tractor was able to push over, (brush naturally, not rock's)!!
We have to maintain trails through our woods. Possibly even add some new trails. There are hills and rocks. Is there a better choice based on the likelyhood of hitting rocks? Part of me thinks the flail mower with the hammer knives would be best with the hills & tight corners. Can it be used in a raised position?
I've had both. I thought the flail mower gave a nicer cut but I found it did not do a good job if the mowing area is not relatively smooth.
I have a Ford Flail 710H and it still cuts well after 25 years , new belts and cutters as needed.
So what I heard was the flail was 25% wider (so cut more) but took 38% longer so over all brushes hog is faster.
I also hear that the flail left more/longer random stems
And the flail was 2x$
I have a Mott/Alamo 88 Flail that weighs about 1200lbs, using a TYM T503 (50HP), The Mott is made a little different as it uses U-shaped shackles to attach the blades to the rotor shaft, which gives a little more distance between the rotor and the ground so if you do run over something like a short stump, it won't catch the shaft as easily. A flail is safer in several ways, it will not throw things you hit, you can run over anything solid and the blades just collapse out of the way. I've tried several types of blades and hammers over the years and for me the thinner the Y blade the better, I never have to sharpen them. I've ran over 2" saplings and it will pulverizes them if you go slow enough. It is run off a belt so no need to protect the drive shaft or gear box. To the person that asked if it will still cut if the flail is lifted off the ground the answer is yes. Also it is my go to attachment to be used as my ballast being short and heavy, in fact it stays hooked up to the tractor most of the time when using the FEL or Grapple. You can run a lot bigger flail with less H.P., unless you are in mud or trying to cut the grass to the dirt, I've never bogged the engine but then I do go slow just to get a better cut
Nice comparison video. I think your presentation was the best i have seen due to the fact you show a better visual of what your actually getting cut wise from each implement. The other videos seem to hide what the flail mower does with the Y blades in tall grass. The flail mower is not perfect either . You stated perfectly in my opinion where the flail mower excels and why. I received an email yesterday that my 62 in hydraulic offset flail mower with hammers was shipped. I ordered a set of Y blades for it also. I figured for 200.00 more I can have both mowers for the 2 acres of unmaintained property i am trying to take care of. Its going on my JD 3039R.
Great video . Really like how you go into detail on these two units, pros and cons if any. Always enjoy them. Keep up the good works. Have a great day and be safe, stay cool. Tim
I've just ordered my ck3710 with a flail. The price between that and the slasher has narrowed and for my use it's the best of both worlds, ie cleaning up rough areas and finish in clean areas.
You helped me decide what tractor to buy and hopefully this will help me decide what kind of mower I'd want as well.
The camera & drone footage is really super! Know it's off topic, but I know how much work is involved behind the scenes....
Thanks Belinda! Yeah, it is turning into quite the production process, haha! I'm glad it shows :)
Why not mix and match the hammer vs Y blades?
The work tractor has a flail mower on it because most of the work is "finish work" on road sides. We use the Y cutters. If needed it can go through black berries no problem. Plus it does well with elevation changes. I will say, a spare set of cutters is definitely necessary. And they are a PITA to change out. Requires two people to change/rotate the cutters.
Big fan of the flail mower and have two of them myself one offset and one ditch bank. Can keep the fields looking clean and deal with heavy brush easily.
And I find it that hammer blades as long as you keep them in good condition do just fine with grass.
Right on, thanks for chiming in Daniel!
@@GoodWorksTractors also big factor for me is storage. Much easier to store a flail mower in the shop.
@ 15:45 you mention down and back times of 8 minutes for the brush hog vs 11.5 minutes for the flail mower. This means that flail mower takes 40% more time for 20% wider path. Net result is longer time to complete the job with flail mower. If time matters the brush hog is the clear winner.
25% wider path. 44% longer in this specific example. It wasn't scientific and other factors come into play...flail mower blade type, cut height, material cut, machine size, etc. Thanks for watching!
I'd call it a wash. A wide swath that cuts slower vs a narrow swath that cuts faster will relatively take the same amount of time.
was anyone else with OCD bummed when he missed the overlap on the passes? lol
My flail cuts through everything and the metal tines (hammer blades) take stones easily and leaves a finish that is pretty good in the rough. SAFETY - it can/will spit out stones like bullets, so make sure no one is around the back or side.
For what it's worth, I like a mowing device that runs in front of the tractor, Not behind it, that goes for a snow blower also. I don't like my tractor going through the weeds in front and pressing the weeds down and making it hard to get in close to trees.
Having the chance to use both, each have their place and can best described as complimentary tools. The rotary cutter does a better job of getting deeper into areas when you back up and are doing a first cut. The flail mower leaves more of a manicured (not perfect like a finish mower but acceptable) look. The flail mower also seems more quiet during operation than the rotary cutter!
I guess the one BIG thing for me is that I can have the flail mower on my machine during the cutting season and park it in my garage. The rotary cutter will only fit if I move stuff around so it’s a bit more of a hassle.
I had never heard of a flail mower. I liked what I saw and think a comparison of the wide and hammer cutters wolf be nice to see.
Very informative,being able to see the difference in cuts helps!
Very nice bush hog! I like the pivoting, upper link connection. So many times I climb up a small hill and the upper link drops below 90 degrees. It takes all kinds of gymnastics to free it up.
I run a 72 Rotary on my 3033r in my pasture to knock off the seeds and tops of my pasture. The grass that I cut high is the wrong type grass for the cattle so I have to cut higher than 4 inches. If I wanted a really great looking pasture, cut tight, I would spend the money and get a flail.
Another great video!! Thank you!
Thanks for the informative video comparison on the difference between the two attachments. I found this to be most helpful. Although I don’t have a tractor at this time, I am praying that God will bless me with one, and I like to have as much information on implements, attachments as possible.
Can you mow in reverse with a flail? My area I'd like to rough cut is on a pretty steep hill and the property line is in the middle, so I can't go all the way down to flat and turn around. I wouldn't be comfortable mowing sideways with the steepness. I need something either front mounted so I can mow to the line and reverse back up, or reverse down the hill and go forwards up. I have a JD2305 so I also need something smaller a CUT can handle.
I like that dirt dog bush hog. Has some nice features, however, I feel like by the time you wore out those replaceable skids, the cutter may be just as wore out. Thats just my experience with bush hogs. They usually take a good beating over their lifetime.
I have both mowers. They just aren’t for the same purpose. The majority of my mowing is done with the flail cuter because I like the even mulching that it gives. If however I want to cut in and around objects I like the rotary cutter because it cut just fine in any direction. The flail mower cuts treble in reverse because the roller flattens the glass before it an cut.
We have that exact flail mower but not as wide. The problem we have had is when cutting long grass there is a tendency for grass to wrap around the mower shaft and some gets jammed in the small gap between the shaft and the end bearing housings. This is a design fault as there should be an overlap to prevent this. Ultimately this causes the bearings to fail due to dirt getting into this gap contaminating the non-shielded bearings. I replaced the bearings with shielded bearings which is not too difficult for a handy person. Also the rear roller bearings are not very robust and need changing after a season. Again not a difficult job with basic tools.
Having spent 5 years at an interstate maintenance garage , we used both a fine cut and a course cut type of blades on our flail mowers, and the fine cut gave more of a lawn type cut and the course cut was closer to a rotary type mower although a little cleaner.
Which mower pulled the tractor down more, rotary or flail?
@@Cephus1868 Usually the mowers were on different tractors, so no way to compare.
I use to run rear and side flail shaft mowers back in the 90s as a summer job cutting grass on side of highways and interstates. Much superior, we did use larger batwings as well for larger areas.
You may have felt you were spinning your wheels with the 4' cutter, but it won the race contest against the 5' flail. You were cutting about 15% more field in the same time with the rotary cutter.
One thing that I think both mowers exhibit is cutting weeds & grass flattened by the tractor tires. I've never used a brush hog style so I can't honestly compare the two.
I like that a flail chops the material much finer. Flails can have a problem with tall, wet grass & weeds clogging the outlet. Mine has bent steel knives (not cast) so they tend to get bent up when encountering larger woody brush or stones. But they do change out relatively quickly if you've got a few spares on hand. When I was looking I never considered a rotary (like a brush hog or finish) for the fields that I'm trying to maintain and never looked back on my decision to go with a flail.
Really good video. I like that you went to the effort to explain some of the finer detail.
This was helpful, I’m running cattle and cut mainly weeds and tall Blady grass, 100acres. And I have both ….the old flat deck with normal blades, and the new flail with hammers, on two different tractors. So far I prefer the deck, as it cuts everything in its path. I didn’t know about the Y cutters so thanks for the video.
The length of the rotary cutter is an advantage when you want to back it under overhanging trees or into tight spots. Also, if you cut unknown areas, backing in and watching for the trailing wheel to dip down can keep you from driving into a low or soft spots.
2:36 and I'm over here planting milkweed seed in my yard like its my job LOL.
Great comparison. The cost difference can't be justified for me. I mow about 35 acres of grass about twice a year depending on the market for grass hay around here. Once a year if it's okay; twice if it's not. In the fall, the grass is mixed with woody-stemmed 'crap' for added fun. The 'bush hog' (Our neck of the woods' term.) just is easier to use and provides a sufficient cut (6"-8") since I'm not going for a close cut. I also think the hammer blades would have done a better job for the flail in that situation.
Good assessment, thanks Mike!
Have a 6' brush hog, similar size conventional flail with Y blades, and now a hammer flail with ability to side shift and tilt. Use brush hog on bush trails (smoothed prior with an excavator) as takes more of a beating. Flail used for roadsides and impressed by hammer ability to take out brush in that use, being able to offset and rotate a big plus, but need a big tractor if hanging it out there and tilting as a lot of weight far from the machine.
I use flail 77" mower with hammer blades and a 72" rotary cutter. You hit all the points perfectly and the flail does do a better job. BUT my flail requires far more maintenance than any rotary cutter. 3 Belts, 36 blades 6 grease points all add more maintenance time than the two blades and two grease points on the rotary cutter
Ya, well... If you look at about 1:57 ...you're getting what I often get - stems get laid over and not cut. I had a side-release bushog for years and wanted 'better'. I should have gotten a good rear-discharge bushog. BUT - I wanted one like the guys who do the roadsides in MD.
A Caroni ..It's Ok and easier to get offset cutting, but it certainly is not perfect and makes me up the RPMs to make it work well. I still like the idea of it after three years. I removed those 'dangles at the front to make sure I got most of the growth inside vs laid-over. I it is better if I don't let the pasture be more than knee-high. Make sure the belts are tight; I now replace them annually after having it for five years. Press on... Jim
Brush hog , use additional dollars for rear blade or other 3pt implement.
Haha, I like that!
I've been renting a medium to large Kobota with a brush hog once a year to mow my acreage for fire protection this year it came with a really dulled blade so instead of taking it back to sharpen it they asked if I wanted to try a flail mower which I did I will never go back to the brush hog so impressive how it followed th contour of the ground my property looks best in years
Not sure what your pto rated speed is, but that also makes a huge difference. Bush hog doesn’t need the higher speed/hp that a flail requires. So on smaller machines your limited on flail size. Running a 72” on my 55hp is much better finish and cleaner cut than on my old 30. Which is really way under powered, but I knew the larger tractor was coming, and only wanted to buy one unit. It worked but my brush hog was more capable on a 30hp. The 55hp pto speed made the flail really cut neater, higher rotation also left no uncut stems. Good video clear and good information, what’s the rated HP and pto output on the tractor you were using?
I like the brush hog, but the flail being able to offset would be a big influence on keeping the borders of your fields clean with tree limbs always a problem.
Good video! How ever you did neglect to discuss the benefits of the stump jumper on the rotary cutter. But as you say you will be cutting the same ground 100% of the time and grooming it. That said the flail mower is perfect for your application
Great comparison! The flail definitely leaves a finer cleaner cut but at what cost The mower is quite a bit more expensive than the rotary and it can’t take the beating a rotary can.
For "known" properties I always used a sickle bar. But, between the 2, flail & hog.. I'd go with the fail for known or clean property. Otherwise, it's a brush hog with stump jumper blades.
The benefit of the bushhog inability to ride along with the terrain and scrapping the ground, is the eventually your field will be pretty much leveled (just get ready to sharpen those blades more often).
Something I'd like to point out about the brush hog in particular. If you have a steep-ish hill with a sharp breakover, you'll leave a long spot where the mower deck lifts away from ground contact.
I would agree with you, I too prefer my flail to my brush cutters. Matter of fact I am trading off both my brush cutters since I doubt I will ever choose one of those over the flail. My flail can also can articulate hydraulically vertical or it can also reach out over a pond or ditch bank, which the brush cutter just cant do those things. The flail seems to cut through about anything I have seen my brush cutters take down.