Cutters & Shredders in Kountze, TX

Yes, if you cut them while they're still small. Hardin County grows dense undergrowth of brush and vines, and a rotary cutter knocks it down before it turns woody. Vines can wrap a blade spindle, so stop now and then to clear them. Thick briars cut best at a slow ground speed with the PTO at its rated speed. Let the blades do the work instead of pushing the tractor through. Once saplings get as thick as your wrist, it's a clearing job. Clearing with a tractor sized to keep a place up can be done, but it's slow and hard on the machine.

Yes, and it's steady work on a place in the timber. A 5-foot cutter fits between trees where a wide deck can't. Cut the lane edges before brush leans in, and keep the middle low so you can see stumps and holes. A lot of buyers at our Buna store are deer hunters and cattle ranchers, and both need their lanes open. Walk a lane that's grown over before you cut it, and drag out the limbs and wire. Raise the deck over rough ground so the blades don't dig in. A cutter keeps a lane open, but the stumps in it stay put.

Look at where you spend most of your cutting hours. The Mahindra 5' Rotary Cutter SD gets around trees, fence corners and gates, and it suits smaller pastures. The Modern Ag 15' Predator Batwing Shredder cuts three times as wide in a pass, and its wings flex over uneven ground. It needs room to turn, and it needs more tractor. If your place is mostly pine with pasture worked in, the single deck usually fits better. If it's mostly open grass, the batwing gives you back hours on the seat. Some ground calls for both, so think about which job eats more of your week.

Raise the deck, slow down and get to know the ground. Set the cutting height with the tail wheel or the skid shoes so the blades ride above most stumps. Walk the field first and flag what you find. Go slow on the first cut of the year, when the grass hides the most. A shear bolt or a slip clutch protects the gearbox when you do hit one, so make sure yours works. On land that was timber, stumps can sit a long time before they rot out. Cut lower only after you've learned where they are.

Slower than feels right. A rotary cutter does its best work when the blades have time to chop what's in front of them. Run the PTO at its rated speed and pick a low gear. If the engine bogs or the cutter leaves uncut strips, slow down more. Heavy, wet growth wants a slower pace than dry grass does. In Hardin County's dense brush and vines, a crawl isn't too slow. Going fast also throws more debris, so keep people and animals well back. On a hot day, watch the temperature gauge, since heavy cutting works a tractor hard.