hi it's mike with asktractormike.com and
backup me today is a field of mine that
could really use mowing and I'm getting
ready to brush hog or a bush hog if you
will a bush hog he's a brand name but
I'm getting ready to take a tractor to
cutter and knock this down I'm doing a
this video really kind of targeted to
people that have never run a brush hog
before never run a rotary cutter and you
and your you're getting ready to get in
the field for the first time and you're
a little intimidated there's a lot going
on when you're when your brush hogging
and so I'm going to talk today about
number one about how to get ready for it
and what to expect it how how do you get
the tractor in and get it going and then
number two I'm going to give you ten
tips that might make the experience just
a little better and if you're a seasoned
operator some of these you might not
think about so stay with me first off
today if you grew up on a farm I think
most of us were itching to get on a
tractor from a very young age and most
of us our fathers didn't let us on a
tractor and a brush hog the first time
they they would let us drive the tractor
around with them on it and then pretty
soon we were driving a tractor around by
ourselves
and then it was a a smaller step to hook
a brush hog or a rotary cutter on the
back of the tractor and go cut with it
but we had some tractor seat time before
we were out there trying to cut with a
rotary cutter and I feel real sorry for
folks that buy a tractor and a cutter
and they've never been out in the field
and that's their first experiences go
right out in the field and try to
navigate all that around because there's
a lot going on with the brush hog and a
lot to watch out for here's a list of
things to check both on your cutter and
tractor before you cut consult your
owners manual for more things I've done
videos on most of these processes okay
so now what do we do when we go to the
field well the first thing I'm telling
you on a tractor with a brush hog you
may hate seatbelts and not wear them but
if your brush hogging put that seatbelt
on
because there is a danger it's it's it's
not a big danger but if a rock comes out
from under that brush hog and kongs you
in the back of the head and knocks you
off and you know dive into the ground
it's not gonna be pretty what your
family finds when they find you in the
field
so put that seat belt on a lot of lot of
tractors will shut the engine
if you fell off but some don't so so
make sure that seatbelts on so if
anything it happens you stay on that
tractor where you're safe when to engage
the power take-off well first off
there's you need to know there's two
kinds of power take-off there's a fully
independent power take-off where you
just either throw a switch or a lever
and your PTO comes on you don't have to
touch the clutch and there are some PTO
s that usually have what's called a
two-stage clutch where you have to
clutch to engage the power take-off and
a two-stage clutch means if you push the
clutch all the way down everything stops
the power take-off and the ground speed
of the tractor if you engage the PTO and
let it up halfway the blades start
spinning and letting it up the rest of
the way and the tractor moves and and
the opposite is true if you push it a
half way down the tractor start stops
its movement PTO continues to spin push
it all the way down the PTO stops and
the tractor stay stopped so that's a
two-stage clutch now when you engage
your power take-off here's another thing
your brush hog is gonna have one or two
types of protection in case you hit
something that doesn't move it's gonna
have a shear pin which is just a light
gauge bolt that goes through that's
going to shear off and it's going to let
everything spin free and then you got to
get off a tractor and put another pin in
or it's gonna have a slip clutch and
slip clutches have to be slipped from
time to time to make sure they're worked
or barney stinson barney so whenever you
say that from time to time to make sure
they work but when you're kicking in the
power take-off try to gradually ease it
in if it's a two-stage clutch you're
gonna slowly let up on the clutch and
tell everything catches and starts going
around if it's a lever like I'll my
tractor if I just throw the lever and I
sure sure pin every time but if I
gradually ease that thing in those
blades just start spinning like this and
then they're gone and I'm fine
so be real yeah very deliberate when you
engage the power take-off now you want
to find the sweet spot of when to engage
your power take-off I usually in my mind
think you don't want to engage it at
full throttle you don't want to engage
it and idle or you may kill the tractor
I usually think the sweet spot is
somewhere around 1200 to 1600 rpm
depending on whether you're in tall
grass or not and so you're gonna rev the
engine up a little bit to that speed and
then gradually engage your pto or your
blades and then you just drive but I'm
gonna give you ten tips here that will
make that driving a little less
stressful because there's a lot of
things to watch out for and a lot of
things going on when you've got all that
spinning back there and you're trying to
watch the ground and you're trying to
navigate the tractor and not hit
anything or tip over or anything like
that so here are the ten things I'd
recommend to make your experience a
little bit easier number one I'd
recommend taking your tractor bucket off
if you've got a quick attached bucket
drop that thing in the weeds somewhere
and then take it off because especially
if you're a new operator that's that tip
of that bucket sticks way out there and
when you make a turn you could encounter
a tree or a fence post and knock
something down number two and this is
kind of common sense drive slow if
you're a hydrostatic drive put it in a
low gear and creep along a while til you
get comfortable if you're on a tractor
with a gear drive transmission put it
put it in a lower range in the lower
gear and lower Numerical and and and and
just kind of creep along until you get
comfortable that's number two number
three of course this is common sense
watch for obstructions but not only down
on the ground but up above too because
if you've got a roll bar and you go over
a lone limb or I had a guy one time went
through a one of those guy wires on a
telephone pole you know those wires that
keep the telephone lines or the power
lines tight and it tried to peel the
whole top operator area of the tractor
off when it encountered the roll bar the
roll bars are to protect you if it rolls
over
if you encounter something that doesn't
move with that roll bar it could be ugly
so be watching down below and up above a
lot lot to think about there watch out
for animals if you've got cattle a lot
of times a mama cow hides the calves in
the tall weeds where your brush hog and
sometimes those calves don't know to
leave so it's best to get all the
livestock out you can number four don't
start in tall wheat start your blades
going if you can sometimes you can't do
this
away from the tall weeds and lack of the
edge of the yard and then drive into the
tall weeds so everything's kind of
moving when you get started number five
watch your temperature gauge if
specially in stuff like this where
there's
seed heads like this those will shatter
as the tractor goes over it these are
not real ripe yet so they're not as bad
but with another few weeks and they'll
shatter and they'll they'll suck right
into the radiator and clog up your
radiator and pretty soon your engine is
getting hot so keep an eye on your
tractor temperature gauge ever ever a
few minutes while your brush Auggie
number six get some kind of sun
protection there's nothing that'll cook
you any faster than being out on a 90
degree day on a tractor seat but nothing
to protect you from the Sun if you got a
cab that's great if not I really like
Rhino hide canopies and I sell them on
my website the neat thing about them you
can take them off if you're gonna go cut
a trail back in the woods so get a
canopy if you're on a budget an old car
hood will work but your neighbors will
make fun of you
number seven keep people and pets away
from where your brush hogging and
livestock to if you can you can't always
do that but I had a friend the other day
that was brush hogging actually I was a
guy did the video with where we helped
start his tractor who ran over a wire
and it cut up the part of that wire and
through a piece of wire through the
polyurethane fuel tank and started the
fuel leaking out so if I'd have been up
a little higher head level that could
have been kind of ugly so you never know
where that stuff's gonna go so keep
everybody away while your brush hogging
the next thing is if especially if
you're new operator go down the center
of the feel first until you get
comfortable with how much that brush hog
sticks out past the wheels and most of
them stick out past the wheels a little
waste you don't want to be next to a
fence when you start trying to mow out a
center and just mow back and forth you
can flat ground if you can't and and get
the feel of what it feels like to brush
hog on a flat area where there's no
obstructions or anything like that
number nine
avoid draws valleys if you when you're
running the brush hog here's your
tractor here's your brush hog and here's
a tail wheel if you start down a valley
and you get to the bottom and your
tractor starts up when it starts up the
tail wheels still coming down it puts
that PTO in an awful bind and you can do
real damage to your tractor your brush
hog or both or at least a PTO shaft if
you mow through a draw like that so mow
mow on the edge if you can if you have
to most
through it kind of mow through it at an
angle but I don't like to mow through
drawers at all and it could because you
can do some serious damage to a tractor
or a brush hog when you do that and
finally number 10 watch your butt watch
your watch your cutter when you turn
that cutter is sticking way out there
and probably further than you think and
if you make especially when you make a
tight turn that thing is swinging around
real fast and if you've got a tree or a
fence poster or anything that's that's
out on the way just a little bit you're
gonna hammer that thing so keep an eye
out to the back of you when your brush
hog in and make sure that you clear all
the obstructions when you turn and turn
slow you know invariably when you get in
the field I've heard lots of stories
from my viewers about things that they
ran over a mattress I've seen all kinds
of wire tied up and brush hogs I've done
it myself
you could run over a stump you don't
want to but but a lot of rocks I've run
over a ton of rocks and and most brush
hogs will take a few rock hits in fact
most of them will take a lot of rock
hits we my dad liked to mow really
really low and I hated it we'd pick up
rocks not only the rocks that were above
ground but we'd kick rocks out of the
ground and cut them up and I hated that
and it's actually better on your grass
if you mow a little higher like at least
three inches four inches is better and
let the grass grow back and and and help
you out there so but invariably you're
gonna grind up a few rocks and it sounds
like when you're we haven't been an
experienced operator the world's coming
to an end but you're probably not going
to tear up the cutter and you're
probably going to be alright so those
those are the things I recommend when
you're running you're running a brush
hog I've done a bunch of other videos
about brush hogs and here's some links
to a couple of my favorites right here
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