Brush Cutter Recommendations

Anyone have suggestions for what brands and models they like? I’m just starting my looking, new is not a requirement but I started looking at new to get a sense of what the options are.

I’m thinking something like the Brush Hog BH215. I’ve got a cat 1 3pt and about 35hp available at the pto. Will be cutting brush for sure and not just grasses, so seeing this one rated at 2″ is a positive. I’m pretty sure that a slip clutch is worth the money.

I’ve seen a lot of Woods and Land Prides for sale but never a Brush Hog. Is that because all the Brush Hog owners are happy and hang on to them? Or is it more of a regional availability thing?

I would appreciate any help or wisdom you all could share. Thank you,

First off, what are you going to be cutting and how much of it?

I just got a Howse 6 foot last fall, so I’ve only used it twice, but it was cutting woody brush both times to widen roads and reclaim ditches. I’ve got 50 HP or about 45 HP at the PTO available.

My main uses are food plot mowing and maintaining our fencelines and road ditches. I’m doing some heavy brush initially to reclaim the fencelines, but once I get this done I’ll mow several times a year to keep them clear.

Heavy brush really slows me down, I use 2 or 3rd gear most of the time. Cutting grass I can go as fast as I want, but brush really takes major HP. Also, you want to go easy so you don’t beat up the machine so bad.

Brush Hog is a good brand, but like all brands, it’s the model that determines how heavy duty it is. The 215 is a 5 footer and I see on Brush Hog’s site, minimum HP is 25. If you’ve got 35 engine HP, my guess is you might have 25 to 30 HP available at the PTO?

IMO, the question is do you have the HP to use that machine for your intended use? You’re not going to be cutting much 2-inch brush with only 25 to 30 PTO HP or you’re going to have to do it very, very slowly. Not saying you can’t do it, but you’ll need to go very, very slow in heavy brush and this could be a lot of wear on the machine if you’re really cutting woody brush a lot. IMO it’s right on the edge, I don’t think it’d be any problem mowing only grass, but put brush in the mix…

You’re tractor also takes a beating because the tractor goes over stuff first. I have a loader on mine, so I put the bucket way down to push the brush over first and to “feel” for anything I don’t want to run over.

This is a piece of equipment that really takes a beating when cutting real brush. Buy the best you can possibly afford.

One other thought. If you have areas of very heavy brush, pre-cut them first with a brush saw to take out the bigger woody brush and trees. When you’re not clear cutting with a brush saw, I’ve found I can move really fast and this saves a lot of wear on the 3 point machine because the biggest stuff is gone.

Hope this helps.

Grouse

Brand of cutter doesn’t matter. Yes the frame is more heavy duty, but you want to research who makes the gear box and what is the replacement cost on that. If your going to leave it outside all the time dont get a slip clutch. They rust together

Thank you both for your thoughts. Per TractorData.com I should have 38hp at the pto. I assume that was new, so I rounded down to 35hp in my original post. The engine is rated 47.

My goals are to clean out some really overgrown old pastures, open up some areas for food plots and improve my trails around the property.

It will be stored indoors and I have a lot of rock through out the property.

Forgot to ask… Help me with the terms brush cutter and rotary mower. Are they like Kleenex and tissue or is there a difference I should be aware of. I see that many rotary mowers are primarily for heavy grasses and weeds. Some cutters are rated with an “up to 2” type of rating. Ultimately, do they both use a flail or swing blade and the difference come down to the robustness of the design? Or are they designed differently?

Thanks!

OK, so you have plenty of HP for a 5 footer. Good to double check that aspect.

Brush mower, rotary mower, rough cut mower, brush hog, they can all be used by to mean the same thing. The difference is in how heavily built the deck. frame, and gearbox are. Light-duty models are fine for grasses, but you’ll tear them up using them for heavy brush. Everything is beefed up on the true heavy duty models. Size and weight matter.

If you have rock, I’d really make an effort to walk the area to be cleared first and flag any rocks that are sitting high enough to get in the mower. With or without a slip clutch a rock will bust things up.

Grouse

Have a king kutter 60″ on a L295DT kubota. Literally beat the daylights out of it. Have had it for a 8 or 9 years. Use low grade bolts for shear pins and cut a lot of tall, heavy grass with it and lots of brush and alders. It gets used and used hard. The shear bolts will shred if you hit something hard and solid. About the only thing I do is sharpen the blades and make sure the gear box is full.

Bought mine used but it was basically brand new, for 40% off new.

Rpms and speed take a little tweaking if you’ve never ran one before but when you find the balance of engine rpms and speed it’s pretty simple to do. Kinda like mowing the lawn. Little adjustments and tweaks to height, how much of the cut you feed through the hog and such can help a great deal.

They are built to deflect off a lot of objects and obstacles, but still have to pay attention to what your cutting. Most brands are pretty solid.

Grouse gave a lot of great advice. If you have a bucket and are cutting willows, alders or other woody brush, using the bucket to push and scrape the brush with the blade of the bucket and push or break it down so the tires can catch it and keep it down, it can be very beneficial. There’s a system to cutting brush that will be easier on the equipment, that will also speed up the process a bit and cause less issues.

Good luck with it and hope it goes well.