Best ride-on rough meadow?

[Hornbeam]

I'm getting old and arthritic (70 as near as damnit!) and now need - nay deserve! - a ride-on mower for 2-1/2 acres of 'rough' meadow/old orchard plus a small bit of informal lawn. I long used a walk-behind powered rotary and a Stihl strimmer/brush-cutter... but my joints are aching badly. I usually 'top' at 3" about 3 times a year from mid-June to preserve the wild flowers and habitat for reptiles/insects, but the docks/nettles/grass/bracken is about 12" tall... and what with the rabbit holes/mole hills, that rules out a standard Mountfield/Westwood type ride-on mower's floating deck.... or does it? Are they worth a punt and do they have enough beam axle articulation? It needs a towing eye for a small harrow/leaf rake etc (I usually use a Fordson Major). 

 

The other major problem with arthritis is seating position! Ride-on mowers seem to be designed for dwarfs and contortionists! I need an adjustable, sit-up and beg seating position!

 

Any recommendations (l'm pensioner so £2,000 is about my limit!) - l've tried geese... and Biddenden cider!  I'm in sunny Sussex.

Barry

[Conor Wright]

I was going to suggest an iseki sxg, but 2 k wont get a bad one.. not being rude..

Maybe a sub compact kubota or similar with a topper? 

2k wont get you Much, certainly in a diesel.  I wouldnt reccomend a petrol machine for 2.5 acres, the higher purchase price of a diesel is usually offset by the vastly cheaper running costs. That's before build quality comes into play.

To be honest, you're in the price range of a domestic mower, but looking to do the work of a small tractor! You might pick up an old kubota g18 for 2k, but I'd expect it to be well worn and possibly problematic.

If topping 3 times a year, maybe get a local farmer/contractor/landscaper to do that bit and spend the money on a tidy domestic machine for the lawn?

 

[Blake@waveney]

If you can find a good Grillo or AS motor ride on brush cutter then your onto a winner. Just finding a good one for only 2k maybe hard 

[Hornbeam]

Thanks lads: I appreciate my price-range is a bind (I still use a 1960s Clifford-Howard 500cc diesel rotavator power unit ... but they don't make things to last these days)… and ride on garden mowers are an expensive  rip off!

 

I'm slowly returning the old orchard to its natural heath/meadow, preserving self-sown (squirrel/jay sown!) Sussex oaks... but local farmers/contractors would simply top the lot and not worry about pesky oak saplings standing in their way!

 

What realistic budget should I be looking at? The major issue is flattening the tall vegetation by the cutting deck skirt preventing its proper cutting; reciprocating scythes don't like rough ground!... and nylon strimmer cords are forever breaking!

 

Perhaps I just need a new air of legs….

[dig-dug-dan]

12 minutes ago, Hornbeam said:

Thanks lads: I appreciate my price-range is a bind (I still use a 1960s Clifford-Howard 500cc diesel rotavator power unit ... but they don't make things to last these days)… and ride on garden mowers are an expensive  rip off!

 

I'm slowly returning the old orchard to its natural heath/meadow, preserving self-sown (squirrel/jay sown!) Sussex oaks... but local farmers/contractors would simply top the lot and not worry about pesky oak saplings standing in their way!

 

What realistic budget should I be looking at? The major issue is flattening the tall vegetation by the cutting deck skirt preventing its proper cutting; reciprocating scythes don't like rough ground!... and nylon strimmer cords are forever breaking!

 

Perhaps I just need a new air of legs….

You need an out front machine, with a flail, ideally  something like a kubota or John Deere. That way the wheels dont flatten the grass before its cut, and it will also cope with mole and ant hills.

You need at least 5k to be honest 

[Stere]

How about a quad with an flail attachment  or would that be similar price?

[Bunzena]

We have a two-wheel tractor [Pasquali XB40] with a front mounted 90 cm flail.  The Pasquali has balloon tyres and that means it’s great over rough, pot-holed ground.  I can ‘mow’ around an acre of rough paddock in about an hour.  It tackles anything from long grass to brambles.  Diesel engine, electric start.

 

However, it is quite hard work man-handling things around.

 

But I have seen people mount a small seat on a set of wheels and then attach that to the back of the tractor to create a sort-of ride on.  There are some videos and pictures on the net.

 

You could go this route.  A Camon/BCS two wheel tractor would do exactly the same job.

 

I have seen these [including a flail] on fleaBay for under £2,000.  The engineering is pretty basic – but there’s less to go wrong.  It’s also the kind of thing that if well looked after will lose little value when you come to sell it.

[scbk]

Another, slightly wacky idea, would be a tow behind topper or flail mower (with it's own engine), and then get something cheap to tow it with that you find comfy to sit on.

An old site dumper, jeep or even a car? Price of scrap is low at the minute, I bet you could get an mot failure very cheap.

[woody paul]

1 hour ago, scbk said:

Another, slightly wacky idea, would be a tow behind topper or flail mower (with it's own engine), and then get something cheap to tow it with that you find comfy to sit on.

An old site dumper, jeep or even a car? Price of scrap is low at the minute, I bet you could get an mot failure very cheap.

The cricket club in my village used a  old rover car  to pull a set of gang mowers years ago when tractor engine blow up 

 

 

[Blake@waveney]

Our AS motor brush cutter it’s fantastic. Here’s  10ft high bramble it deals with no issue with 1 pass. Quicker and a much better finish than a flail we used before. Then we can go cut lawns straight after. It saved about 80% of strimming. Paid about 7.5k new