New member with questions

[Tucker]

Hello all,
I finally registered to this forum, after about a year of reading the posts.
Here is my question. I just moved to vermont, purchased a house on 20 acres with about 8 acres of open field (all grass).
Once I get a brush hog in to clear it down I was looking at using a cub to mow with.

I will be taking ownership of my fathers cub this spring (grandfather bought it new in '48 - nice family piece of history). Questions are - how will a 60" woods mower work out for me, and how would a mott flail mower work?

Thanks for the feedback.

[Bigdog]

Welcome to the board Tucker! Either the 60" deck or the flail mower will work well for you as long as you don't allow the grass to get too high. If the grass is real tall, the 60" deck will be quite a load for the cub but you can raise it up and take 2 passes if you need to or you can take a narrower swath if need be. The flail style mower tends to wrap the grass if it gets to long. But, as I said, if you keep it mowed on a regular basis, either one will work for you.

[Eugene]

I own a Cub. I find it a bit under powered and to light in weight for any serious work. It's very inexpensive to operate and does light chores well.

If you are going to purchase one tractor for the acreage consider one with live PTO, live hydraulics, and 3-point. I would look for a tractor with these features, in the 30 - 40 HP range, and $3000- or under. There is a lot of 3-point equipment, new and used available at decent prices, that fit the bigger tractors.

Of course I would keep the Cub, use it for a while, then tell the wife that I need a bigger tractor. And a bigger shop to keep them in. And more equipment to fit the bigger tractor. And some more attachments for the Cub.

Eugene

[Peter S]

Tucker,

I've been using a Cub with a 60" mower deck (C3) to mow 6 acres for the past 15 years. As long as the motor on the Cub is in good condition, it is not problem. It may not be as fast as some of the newer equipment available, but it is a relaxing way to spend a day.

[Tucker]

Thanks for the replies. I figure seeing I will have a cub, I might as well use it. Now, I need to find a mower. Or look for a cub/mower combination, and keep my dads for lighter use. It also has a sickle bar, so even if I decide to let the fields grow - I suppose I could just cut them a few times a year with a sickle bar. What are your thoughts on using that?

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Just remember, a sickle bar will just cut the weeds/grass and let it lay. Another option to consider would be a 42 inch mower. If you get one with the hinged blades such as the Woods 42C, they will also cut light brush as well as doing a good job on lawn, just takes a little longer than with the 60 inch. My peronal preference however is the Mott flail for general purpose use. It will do almost as smooth a job as a rotary on a lawn and is a great rough service mower. It has a huge advantage in that it won't throw rocks and sticks. It will, as has been mentioned, wrap up if you try to cut real tall stingy grass such as fescue that has been allowed to go all summer. You can solve that problem by topping it and then coming back lower. It also has a disadvantage in that it doesn't do much chopping of the grass, so if you let it get high you end up with dead grass laying on top as if you had cut it with the sickle.