[Spana]

 What about if you rolled it when it was in the right conditions, would that make it better for doing with a ride on.

Would the dogs allow geese.  You could plant your orchard and graze geese under the trees, very english

[Runwell-Steve]

I have a friend who has a fairly rough paddock which he mows with a set of gang mowers which he pulls along with either his quad bike, or his Land Rover if it's a bit too cold to be on the quad bike.  It does depend on how rough your land is though.

[gsc]

We've had it rolled a couple of times but it's still very bumpy.

I think I want to get a ride on though - a tractor would be overkill.  I will just wait and see if I can get something that suits on eBay.

Geese would be a problem I think - they usually have good guarding instincts and they would be on the section that has a public right of way through it.

[gsc]

The local DIY/Garden suppliers are bringing a Mountfield 1538M (up to 2 acres) out for me this morning.  I questioned whether it would cope with the paddock and its humps and dips but they assure me it will.  I have committed to buying it as long as it does the job.

Had a choice of a new one or an ex demo  - both have 2 year guarantees but the demo was £100 off so paying £1100 instead of £1200.  I know - before you say it - I can't really justify the expense but hey - at 58 a gals got to get her fun where she can.

It's a mulcher so I'm hoping it will be a simple thing to use after the first cut, and it's small enough to do what I want around trees and things like chicken coops (got registered as a smallholding yesterday.)

[Gwiz]

great news, keep us posted on how it gets on.

[Rangerkris]

Cool, you will be hiring out your services in no time at all.

[smud6ie]

The local DIY/Garden suppliers are bringing a Mountfield 1538M (up to 2 acres) out for me this morning.  I questioned whether it would cope with the paddock and its humps and dips but they assure me it will.  I have committed to buying it as long as it does the job.

Had a choice of a new one or an ex demo  - both have 2 year guarantees but the demo was £100 off so paying £1100 instead of £1200.  I know - before you say it - I can't really justify the expense but hey - at 58 a gals got to get her fun where she can.

It's a mulcher so I'm hoping it will be a simple thing to use after the first cut, and it's small enough to do what I want around trees and things like chicken coops (got registered as a smallholding yesterday.)

The main consideration with these lower end machines is not how well they cut but how long it will be before they shake apart,and some do shake apart on anything other than ideal conditions.
You should look at the strength of the front axle, king pins(are they proper bearings,sealed or greasable, and not plastic bushes)
and steering linkage as these are particularly vunerable on rough ground.
smud6ie

[tode]

Hi, gsc.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I think it would be worth levelling your paddock (maybe even ploughing it up) to get a decent surface. In the long run you'll save yourself a lot of time (mowing faster), you wont be shaken about each time you mow, and you'll save yourself money on mower repairs.

You may not even have to dig everything up: just scalp off the high points and fill in hoels and low points.

Good luck anyway.

[Kristen]

Sorry, rather late to the party ...

My 2p worth would be that the wider the deck the faster you can do the job, but on uneven ground the greater the likihood of scalping a bump.

If you can get the grass to the point where cylinder gang mowers will do a cut (they won't like long grass) then they, being quite narrow each, would ride the bumps reasonable well (albeit that the cut at that point would be "angular" , and the fact that you had 3, or 5, gangs would give you decent width. The style of cut would, over a couple of seasons, get the finer grasses to flourish, so would start to look quite smart. But you wouldn't be able to leave it long between cuts ...

I have a cheap Chinese "john Deere lookalike" tractor.  Cost about £2K (eBay ) and a topper-mower.  That's 4' wide, I can run it at a slow walking pace, so covers a very large area in quite a short time, and will cut the grass even if it is waist high.

Plus it also has rear-linkage, PTO and all that sort of stuff. I have made a pallet into a rear-box that I use as a large wheel barrow (lifts 2 or 3 tonnes, way more than my back will do with a normal wheelbarrow!)

I'm sure that's more than you need - unless you have other duties it could be put to

[gsc]

Hi guys ( and gals)

Well the last couple of days have been quite interesting.

The Mountfield coped quite well for the money.  No problem with the bumps and pot holes, even the odd large branch the dogs had hidden in the long grass.

You have to go slow with the long grass and keep the cut quite high first pass (it has a 1 to 7 cut) and I would say I've done about 3/4 acre in a couple of hours including yesterday which included some long wet grass.

Of course there's a bit of a learning curve too.

Mostly I used speed 1, occasionally 2 (it goes 1 to 5 at almost 10mph) and I will need to keep doing it till I get down to the lowest cut and the grass is all mulched in.  I reckon over time it will produce a nice result.

I've decided to take off the side discharge, can't see the point unless you are collecting grass for hay or silage (in which case this probably wouldn't be my choice of mower).  This means I can get it very tight from both sides.

So - so far I am very pleased.  It says for 1.5 to 2 acres and so far I guess it seems man enough for the job.  With a 2 year guarantee I guess it's a good first buy with a few accessories you can add to the tow bow, carts, rollers etc.

[Spana]

Thats good, nearly always pays to go with your gut feeling and OH says your first thoughts are very often the best.

We have a John Deere and OH doesn't like it, says he will never buy another .