DR Brush Mower --

[Boyd]

Want opinions. New property has lots of brush, and seems too overgrown to get a tractor and brush hog in initially. Clearing it out by hand is oh so slow so.................. For now I want to clear trails around the perimeter of the property, clear about an acre in the middle for gardening and lots of offshoot trails throughout to promote the deer to migrate through our property so I can harvest 4 or 5 muahahahahahahahahah

So our local hardware rents out a DR brush mower. something like a 28" deck for something like 85$ a day. Are these things basically like a big lawn mower? How easy to control? Would I be better off just biting the bullet and buying one, verses renting one a couple times a year?

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[turney31]

Watching this thread as we are also underbrushing by hand. I feel for you Boyd.

Micah

 

[dancingbear]

We have an older Dr. brush mower, we bought it not long after we moved to KY, about 15 years ago. It's the model that they had before they added a heat/exhaust shield/deflector, a reverse gear, and some other cool thing, (I forget now, maybe a brake?). After we'd had the thing for a short time, I wrote to the company and suggested those changes. They responded, and explained to me why those things were impossible to do. Then about 2 years later, they added all three of the things I'd suggested. They may have already had people working on these things, and I'm sure I'm not the only person who suggested these things, so I'm not looking for any sort of reward or anything. I was slightly peeved at the time that I'd been told it just can't be done, then saw the new model come out with these "impossible" things added.

Aside from that, we've been extremely pleased with the mower. It's about 15 years old, all we've ever done is the standard maintenance, replaced a few belts, sharpen the blades from time to time, and it still runs like a champ. It's a little looser and rattles more than it was when we first got it, but it still starts right up, no trouble, and whacks down the brush. So the question is whether you think you'll be needing it for years and years, or if you'll be switching to a bush hog later. We have found that we need both. The bush hog for the large areas, and the DR. for places you can't really get into with the tractor and bush hog. It'll still take down small saplings, with barely a hiccup. Not even a hiccup, if we have recently sharpened the blades.

The tractor, on the other hand, breaks down all the time, (it's an old one, we can't afford one of the spiffy new ones) and the bush hog is even down right now, needs a new yolk for the u-joint my DH just replaced, turns out the old yolk was twisted by the old u-joint when it was going bad, had to order one, they sent the wrong one, blah blah blah...so if we didn't have the old faithful DR. mower we wouldn't even be able to navigate our property, but we've been able to keep critical areas mowed with it.

We also have a 7HP Troybilt tiller, (The Horse) even older than the mower, that still runs just fine! Those 2 pieces of equipment have been more reliable than just about anything else we've ever bought. So IMHO, if you buy one, you'll be glad you did. I think ours was about $1000 when we bought it, I don't know what the new ones cost now. If they're still as well made as ours, you can count on them to last a very long time. If you plan to use it for a long time, I'd maybe rent one once, to see how you like it, and if you like it, buy one.

 

[bakerjw]

There are certain things that I will rent like a trencher or maybe even a large capacity log splitter. We have a lot of small brush on our property and everyone usually makes piles where ever is convenient and I wanted to clean it up so we bought a chipper/shredder. After an hour or 2 of using it I became convinced that it was one of the best investments that I ever made. When we trim out fruit trees we put the chipped word and leaves around the base as a mulch. Life is much easier now.

I think that if you have enough brush to warrant renting a machine like you mentioned for a few days then you'll be better off purchasing one. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ducks4you]

Try it by renting it and make your own opinion. I bought one and after arriving damaged, I sent it back. It actually ran, just had bent handles on it. I have/had serious brush to remove, and it did a measly job of it. I kept breaking the plastic tines--plastic(?!?). I have had more success removing weeds from rutted areas on my property by running my tiller over to level it out and just mowing to keep them down.

 

[SallyF]

Now Boyd, if your deer hunting laws are the same as ours in Tennessee, what you want to do is clear that patch in the middle to plant corn to feed your family, right? Then you can defend your food crop against the deer who are trying to destroy it. Get the picture?

 

[SallyF]

Quote:
Thanks for the help; I've been trying to convince my DH that we need a chipper/shredder.

 

[pbjmaker]

I don't even live in the country and we use our chipper/shredder all the time. Lots of old trees in the neighborhood - always loosing branches.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
Guilty

I am also planning to plant a small orchard. One for the family, and one for the deer since baiting is illegal here

It seems that whenever I put in 15-20 rows of sweet corn for the family I loose about 1/3 of it to the deer. It'll be nice to be able to have hunting blinds set up around the crops though to "protect" it

 

[PineappleMama]

Geez the mental picture that gave me... small patch of corn with turrets on the four corners.... hard to describe but darned if it doesn't sound like a clever idear.

I would definitely rent before buying... just like taking a test drive on a car before you buy. You don't just want to plop down that much money only to find the thing is lousy. And by renting you'll be getting a piece that has been around the block a time or two so you'll get a decent idea of what it's like a year from now... five years... etc.