Thinking of buying topper / mower

davemrocks

I have around 16 - 17 acres of heavy enough rushes , and will have about 35 - 40 acres of grass to top. Considering a trailed topper ( major ). Just wondering would it be able for the rushes or would I be better off getting a disc mower ?

Farmer

There seems to be as many threads on boards about rushes as there are rushes in the country

You might find your answer here http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056680557/1/#post79368374

Edit:Another interesting thread here that shows that there are as many opinions as there are ways of cutting them

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056968682/1

Cattlepen

The mower does a lovely job on grassland. Far superior to a topper IMO . Just left wit the trash in lines though being the only drawback

Miname

toppers are a complete waste, theres one lying here that i stopped using when i bought a mower.

caseman

First year here that their was no topping done. All excess grass was wrapped.
A good spraying and reseeding plan that started 3 years ago is working now.
I used to waste some diesel and time topping.

lakill Farm

davemrocks wrote: »

I have around 16 - 17 acres of heavy enough rushes , and will have about 35 - 40 acres of grass to top. Considering a trailed topper ( major ). Just wondering would it be able for the rushes or would I be better off getting a disc mower ?

id say the following

buy a topper id your a sheep or suckler/beef lad. top your grass land and get a lad with a mower to cut the rushes and bale them up out of the way

if your milking buy a mower

Reggie.

lakill Farm wrote: »

id say the following

buy a topper id your a sheep or suckler/beef lad. top your grass land and get a lad with a mower to cut the rushes and bale them up out of the way

if your milking buy a mower

+1

eric prydz

lakill Farm wrote: »

id say the following

buy a topper id your a sheep or suckler/beef lad. top your grass land and get a lad with a mower to cut the rushes and bale them up out of the way

if your milking buy a mower

Best of luck with that plan

jack o shea

what kind of money is in the difference of a new trailed topper and a new mower?

Night Nav

If I were you I'd buy a mower. Alot of toppers out there are belt driven and hate heavy grass.I do my topping when cattle are still in paddock and they can either eat or scatter the waste then rather than leave it in rows.Also I notice grass recovers faster after mower rather then topper.

Muckit

Night Nav wrote: »

Alot of toppers out there are belt driven

I think you've it the wrong way round. Very few if any modern toppers have belts. Side mounted disc mowers are the ones with belts.

Ye lads running mowers through cow sh*t.... how do the frames and canvas like it?

eric prydz

Night Nav wrote: »

If I were you I'd buy a mower. Alot of toppers out there are belt driven and hate heavy grass.I do my topping when cattle are still in paddock and they can either eat or scatter the waste then rather than leave it in rows.Also I notice grass recovers faster after mower rather then topper.

Theres nothing wrong with a belt once its tensioned right,why don't you make the cattle graze it down tighter

Muckit wrote: »

I think you've it the wrong way round. Very few if any modern toppers have belts. Side mounted disc mowers are the ones with belts.

Ye lads running mowers through cow sh*t.... how do the frames and canvas like it?

Most toppers are gearbox driven now alright
Id say it doesn't bother many lads what order the canvas of the moer is in

johndeere3350

If your going cutting alot of rushes then a heavy duty topper is the one to go for.
We have a mconnell rhino cutting them at hire work does a serious job the trash rots away in no time.
If your milking cows a disk mower is the way to go

funny man

lakill Farm wrote: »

id say the following

buy a topper id your a sheep or suckler/beef lad. top your grass land and get a lad with a mower to cut the rushes and bale them up out of the way

if your milking buy a mower

Buy a mower unless your land is very rough no matter what the enterprise as someone else said already better results from a mower.

jack o shea what kind of money is in the difference of a new trailed topper and a new mower?

depends on make and size; in mowers a new 8' KUHN €6500, 8' JF €6100 and a 8' Malone €5500 and a similar sized topper an 8' Major €3400. all models are 3 point linkage and the topper is fully off-set. trailed mowers come with conditioners on them so it would be comparing apples and oranges, my neighbour has a 10' mower that he bought second hand and threw the conditioner off it.

Muckit


I think you've it the wrong way round. Very few if any modern toppers have belts. Side mounted disc mowers are the ones with belts.

Ye lads running mowers through cow sh*t.... how do the frames and canvas like it?

most of the toppers have belts to with more than one set of blades to give a better cut the old semi-offset ones had just a gearbox and no belts.

the canvass cover is fine but the frame does rot quite fast even when kept washed. I see the Malone mower has a galvanised frame, that would help it last a bit longer.

Reggie.

funny man wrote: »

Buy a mower unless your land is very rough no matter what the enterprise as someone else said already better results from a mower.



depends on make and size; in mowers a new 8' KUHN €6500, 8' JF €6100 and a 8' Malone €5500 and a similar sized topper an 8' Major €3400. all models are 3 point linkage and the topper is fully off-set. trailed mowers come with conditioners on them so it would be comparing apples and oranges, my neighbour has a 10' mower that he bought second hand and threw the conditioner off it.



most of the toppers have belts to with more than one set of blades to give a better cut the old semi-offset ones had just a gearbox and no belts.

the canvass cover is fine but the frame does rot quite fast even when kept washed. I see the Malone mower has a galvanised frame, that would help it last a bit longer.

The new malone mower is made of serious metal

eric prydz

johndeere3350 wrote: »

If your going cutting alot of rushes then a heavy duty topper is the one to go for.
We have a mconnell rhino cutting them at hire work does a serious job the trash rots away in no time.
If your milking cows a disk mower is the way to go

that sounds like a right machine,how many acres a hour would you cut on average ?