[AT] Bush hog needed for the '51 McCormick

[Mike Sloane]

A former neighbor used to "brush hog" his sheep pastures with a 
pull-behind cutter powered by his JD MT. The only time he had a problem 
was when he managed to "jackknife" the rig (he wasn't the most skilled 
operator in the county, but a long shot. Then he would have to drop the 
cutter and use a chain to pull it back. I think that if you don't have a 
lot of tricky corners or have to do much backing up, that would be your 
best bet.

I have a couple of sickle bar cutters that I use for trimming the 
shoulders of the lane  and around ponds, but I wouldn't use them field 
cutting. To do a decent job, they require a lot of maintenance, spare 
sections (blades) a rivet tool, spare guards, etc. In other words, 
except for their ability to reach out and cut where the tractor can't 
reach otherwise, they are a pain in the butt. That's just my opinion, of 
course, and other will probably differ.

Mike

Roy Morgan wrote:
> The folks who hayed our gone-to-weed fields are pretty much done.   
> They left a lot of places because of gopher holes and rough terrain,  
> and say that if they can they'll come back with a bush hog.  Or I  
> should get one, or a sickle bar cutter.y
> Advice?  It seems to me that soon, we'll have nice hay on all the land  
> and may not  need a bush hog much at all.  Would a carefully handled  
> sickle bar cutter be best for us in the long run?  We plan to share  
> the hay in the future with folks who can rake and bale it at the best  
> times for the fields and the hay.
> 
> The tractor I have is the '51 McCormick W-4.  It has a PTO and  
> swinging bar hitch, (no two- or three- point hitch.)  It has hydraulic  
> with two valves, one in use for the front plow and one unused, so  
> hydraulic power for a towed implement is a possibility for the future.
> 
> Roy
> 
> Roy Morgan
> k1lky at earthlink.net
> 529 Cobb St.
> Groton NY, 13073
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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