Thoughts on Kellfri Quad Flail Mower?

[doobin]

2 hours ago, Muddy42 said:

Beautiful work! I'll see if anyone nearby has a flail will collector.  My concern would be the capacity of the collector and that it would fill too quickly.  How often do you find it fills?

 

In thick grass like that, every twenty yards. We just make local piles and then load them into a tipper to run to a dump site.

 

Where are you based?

Edited August 10, 2022 by doobin

[Muddy42]

3 hours ago, doobin said:

In thick grass like that, every twenty yards. We just make local piles and then load them into a tipper to run to a dump site.

 

Where are you based?

Gosh as I feared that is too frequent.  Our grass looks even thicker than that. Maybe there will be someone with a larger capacity machine.

 

I have interest for 2023 from a small farmer that also sells square hay bails. I'm not holding my breath.

[doobin]

2 hours ago, Muddy42 said:

Gosh as I feared that is too frequent.  Our grass looks even thicker than that. Maybe there will be someone with a larger capacity machine.

 

I have interest for 2023 from a small farmer that also sells square hay bails. I'm not holding my breath.

A larger capacity machine doesn’t help much. That’s a 5’ flail, the bigger 7’ machines don’t hold much more grass, and a tractor is so slow running to the dump site. 
 

This is what we do. Today we cleared two days worth of cut and collect in under two hours. One on the loader and one in the truck. The tipper pickup is very quick off-road, and holds around three to four tractor bins, especially when the grass has wilted for a bit. Work smarter, not harder. 

 

This is the best brand I’ve found for

thick stuff. It’s a Major  

Edited August 10, 2022 by doobin

[Stere]

How about one of thoose  BCS 2 wheel tractor if its just a few acres?

Edited August 11, 2022 by Stere

[GarethM]

Talk about making up cruel and unusual punishments!.

 

Flail mowing even in a cab with the radio is one of those jobs where I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy, might be ok with air conditioning.

 

I average 50+ hours a year flailing off scrub and grass livestock can't or won't eat.

Edited August 11, 2022 by GarethM

[doobin]

4 hours ago, Stere said:

How about one of thoose  BCS 2 wheel tractor if its just a few acres?

Would take you forever and a day. The BCS ones are shit as pedestrian flails go- much better off with a Scag or a Ferris. Stronger decks and bigger engines but we still only use ours for the odd steep bank maybe once every two years! Can’t beat sitting down. 

 

Here she is, I bought her as a pallet of bits for £400. The Kawasaki engine started first pull, so I went through it all and fixed it up.

Edited August 11, 2022 by doobin

[doobin]

3 hours ago, GarethM said:

 

 

Flail mowing even in a cab with the radio is one of those jobs where I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy, might be ok with air conditioning.

 

For what I charge rich Surrey folk who want their overgrown paddock cleared, I'm quite happy to get a bit of dust down my shirt!

 

I'd love an air conditioned cab, but we have to be realistic about access and the need to fold the rollbar down on occasion- same with the 1.9t digger.

[GarethM]

I'm a tight fisted farmer from the north west. I'd probably not have to work for six months with Surrey folk rates 🙂

Edited August 11, 2022 by GarethM

[Muddy42]

21 hours ago, doobin said:

A larger capacity machine doesn’t help much. That’s a 5’ flail, the bigger 7’ machines don’t hold much more grass, and a tractor is so slow running to the dump site. 
 

This is what we do. Today we cleared two days worth of cut and collect in under two hours. One on the loader and one in the truck. The tipper pickup is very quick off-road, and holds around three to four tractor bins, especially when the grass has wilted for a bit. Work smarter, not harder. 
 

 

This is the best brand I’ve found for

thick stuff. It’s a Major  

Thanks for the additional photos.  I was wondering if there are collectors with larger grass storage capacity rather than cut width, basically a small sileage harvesting setup.

[doobin]

5 minutes ago, Muddy42 said:

Thanks for the additional photos.  I was wondering if there are collectors with larger grass storage capacity rather than cut width, basically a small sileage harvesting setup.

Trailed units tend to have a slightly larger hopper. The limiting factor is that as the flail is throwing the grass in, it can’t fill up too far before it stops working. 
 

you might be able to find an old tarupp style flail forager which you put a trailer behind but they are all getting very long in the tooth now and need an airfield to turn around on.