Brush Cutter/Bush Hog Options

[Buckaroo5]

I have 34 acres, most of it very wooded & hilly with a seasonal cabin. Would like to clear & maintain about 3 acres of low lying pasture which has grown up in blackberry brambles and small trees. Also want to clear and maintain trails in wooded hills. I have a Spartan Zero Turn mower I currently use for the open, grassy areas (3 acres) and also a SXS. I am considering buying (prefer used but could go new) either a walk behind tractor with a brush cutter or a tow behind brush cutter for the SXS. I don't think the Zero Turn is rugged enough for the clearing projects I am considering.

I like the walk behind tractor idea (like BCS or an old Gravely) or a dedicated brush cutter (Billy Goat or DR) because I think they will be more maneuverable than a tow behind or a compact tractor. The versatility of the tractor is nice and a plow blade would be useful. I saw an old L1 Gravely with a bunch of attachments but not the bush hog attachment so would need to find one of those - it did have a saw blade attachment. It has not been run for 40 years and asking is $500+ which seems like a lot. I don't mind doing some work on it but don't have time for a restoration project. Seems like folks that have these have 2 or 3 sitting around for spare parts.

What do you guys think?

 

[Buckgnarly]

I used to have a BCS, had the sickle bar and the brush hog attachment. Both worked VERY well, but I only did paths with it. I would NOT have wanted to do acres.

 

[tjansson]

The walk behind brush mowers work well, but with 34 acres I'd want a 4wd compact tractor for all the other things you can do with it.

 

[Buckaroo5]

The walk behind brush mowers work well, but with 34 acres I'd want a 4wd compact tractor for all the other things you can do with it.

I would love to have one - maybe down the road if I happen on a nice used one for a reasonable amount of money. I think I would need something narrower to do the trails.

 

[Beerhippie]

How about real Billy Goats? They're used for brush control in lots of places. There are even companies who will bring their goat (actually nannies) out and take care of them for you.

Problem with blackberries is that they're hard to kill. You have to mow several times a year and that will just keep them short.

 

[tjansson]

The tow behind mowers work well for UTV/ATV trails and fields are fast, but they are pretty clumsy for any sort of detail work. The ones with 2 casters, 2 wheels, and floating deck are tough to back up. You can run them offset when it's possible, but otherwise, you'll have to first drive over what you want to mow. They can also live a hard life banging through a field at 10 mph. Just some things to be aware of.

 

[Buckaroo5]

How about real Billy Goats? They're used for brush control in lots of places. There are even companies who will bring their goat (actually nannies) out and take care of them for you.

Problem with blackberries is that they're hard to kill. You have to mow several times a year and that will just keep them short.

I had read about that...the pasture area is not fenced but that would not be a huge deal. I am going to check if anybody around has goats around me they might like to pasture there - I assume you pay them for that? I wouldn't mind having some goats but not there all the time so can't take care of livestock like that myself. We don't have but a very occasional bear wandering through but do have some bobcats and more than a few coyotes....can goats defend themselves?

 

[mngundog]

My Brother-in-law had goats for a while, to clear brush, got rid of them because it was to big of a headache. In his case, they ate the leaves of the trees he wanted to get rid of, but in the end he still had to clear them mechanically. I've seen the DNR try it here with Buckthorn with the same results.

 

[Beerhippie]

If you hire someone to do it, they'll bring temporary fencing (New Zealand electric fence) and the expertise to keep the goats happy and efficient. If you let someone just pasture their goats there, either you let them use your pasture for free or charge them for it. Not sure if heavy brush-clearing counts as "pasturage".

Goats will eat the things you don't want eaten first--fruit trees, etc. Fencing might keep them off of such, but there's a saying out here that "a fence that will hold goats will hold water", so don't count on it. A good reason to hire the experts right there.

Supposedly. they go for the brush you want cleared long before resorting to grass, which works well for clearing land for pasturage.

Goats are better at defending themselves against predators than sheep or cattle, but when it comes to big cats and bears, I'm not sure that matters.

 

[SwissMetric]

Something like this (googled it):

AS 1000 Ovis EVO RC – Ferngesteuerter Schlegelmäher | AS-Motor

Der ferngesteuerte Schlegelmäher mit enormer Mähleistung, extremer Hangtauglichkeit sowie einfachster Handhabung und Wartung. Von Profis, für Profis.

www.as-motor.de

There's a good Italian manufacturer but I'd have to do a search. It's widely used by the highway maintenance crews here as it can work in steep terrain. Prices are typically around several ten thousand USD, maybe some 25 to 50 kUSD.

Wireless remote controls are probably specific for the US as frequency bands differ, here in Europe such remote controls are mostly in the ISM bands which does not require a radio license.

 

[JeepYJ]

Rent a small tractor and rotary cutter (bush hog) to clear what you want cleared. You could easily do it in a weekend. Maintain it with your ZT.

 

[seber]

What Jeep said, except three acres you can do in an hour or two.

 

[Firebrick43]

Neighbor has a tow behind for his atv. Always has flats.

I have a gravely LI, a C8, a 526, and a 5226.

I also have a grillo 107D.

I personally would mess with the an L or LI gravely, even marginally a c8 but only if it has a governor. A 5446 would be better for the horse power but they are all heavy and few have turning brakes.

I use my grillo 95 percent of the time now. It has better balance, easier/faster attachment hookups, steering brakes, diff lock and a modern engine. Plus the handle bars rotate so the attachment can be forwarded or back depending on what it is.

The tires and ground clearance are much larger as well which helps to keep from high centering if one falls in a rut
Or hole. A gravely can be very hard to man handle out of that situation as it has poor ground clearance for the worm gear housing. I had mine tires also foam filled by earth tools for additional weight and prevent flats.

The only feature I miss is the fwd/rev planetary clutch on the gravely. In tight areas it is very nice to not having to let out on the clutch and shift gears, the gravely essentially shuttle shifts. Every thing else the grillo, or equivalent bcs, does better.

Also few gravely’s have steering brakes and even fewer have diff locks. To have diff lock in a gravely you have to give up the two speed axle cutting the number of gears in half and loosing faster mowing/transport speeds.

As far as trail mowing I would get the flail mower. It pulverizes the material, even small branches/trees and does clump like the 30” rotary mower can mowing tall grass in single path ways.

The Berta snow blower is even better than a gravely ma210 snow cannon, the tiller is 100 times better than the gravely’s. Plus it’s in the rear and the handle bars offset instantly on the grillo side to side as well

Goats are great until you find them on the hood or roof of your car fornicating. Or on the roof of your garage, fornicating. Your neighbor will love them when the look out their window and see them eating their garden, while fornicating.

 

[jblnut]

Rent a small tractor and rotary cutter (bush hog) to clear what you want cleared. You could easily do it in a weekend. Maintain it with your ZT.

This 100%. Rent something large enough to do the job for less than you'd spend on buying anything to do it yourself. If you have no other need for a tractor or skid loader and brush mower renting is a better idea. Sure you'll spend money a few times a year but you don't have to do anything to the machinery other than fuel it before returning it.

I have a neighbor with a SXS and brush hog mower deal behind it and he's always getting flats on the brush hog or SXS. I often go over there to mow his trails with my little tractor and mower for him. Gives me a bottle of some sort of fancy whiskey each time so it's a good deal for me

 

[Kscardsfan]

I have a DR walk behind mower and it is amazingly capable and can clear a lot of ground fast. If I had to do it over again, I would look for one with a locking rear diff, but this one was very lightly used, local, and very cheap because he wanted the garage space back. PM me if you have any more questions or specifics you want to know about them.

 

[jcbrew]

I would hire/rent a skid steer with a flail mower for the first mowing. Then get a tow behind to keep it down.

 

[Buckaroo5]

Wanted to follow up and let you know that I ended up getting a Billy Goat Outback Hydro Drive with the pivoting deck and pull start Honda engine. It is a 2023 model and bought it from Home Depot rental fleet - $1500+tax which I thought was a very good price. Rents for $136/day or $544/ wk. Has done a great job so far (it is a beast) but waiting for the weather to moderate before I get into bigger jobs.