How to mow the hill behind my house

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rationull

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Behind my house is a hill, which unfortunately has some brush on it. I've got to mow it down for fire prevention reasons, and I want to do it at some point soon (before it gets too hot and before it grows too much). I'm new to this and I need a reality check. I have a friend who has a brush mower I can probably borrow, or I can rent one. I gave some serious thought to getting a scythe and giving myself a workout but I don't think that's realistic. The other thing I was wondering about is whether I should just buy a gas powered weedwhacker since they're pretty affordable.

Here's the hill (picture was taken in the winter, there's more brush now but it's not too bad yet):
IMG_1365.jpg



I'm worried a mower will be a pain because of the slope, but it seems like a lot of ground to try to cover with a weedwhacker.

Any input from the more experienced?
 
I would just get a mower and mow it side to side starting at the top, do not try to go up and down unless you want a difficult workout. That is what I've done for hilly yards, not sure what the grade is there but I think it would work.
 
Will any old lawn mower likely work? What's special about "brush mowers" that make them more versatile (and so much more expensive)?
 
Wish I could see the pic (firewall) I'll have to look at it later. If you can borrow a self propelled brush cutter for the price of gas and a case of beer do it for the 1st mow you will not regret it. Cutting brush that has had allot of time to grow is always when it is the roughest.

What is so special is the design of the deck and weight of the blade that allows it to cut and discharge heavy brush and grass. Something similar to a DR self propelled would be ideal. I mow down trees with a bush hog (brush cutter) on my tractor.


F0568-features.jpg
 
You might be surprised at how quickly that could be cut with a sling blade. Many years ago at Boy Scout camp they gave 10 of us sling blades and asked us to clear a large field. Even as petulant teenagers in a murderously hot Alabama summer we were all astounded at how quickly it went. Get the blade moving side to side and you just walk forward, clearing a big swath as you go.
 
How high up are you wanting to mow? To the horizon you need something serious if you do it a couple times a year.
A stihl fs90 with a polycut on it will go through very small woody stuff and do grass well for a smaller area, I put line on it as well to do around the house without damaging stuff.
Line trimmers don't really do tough weeds even, pencil thick hard stuff stops them from doing a significant area quickly.
Bicycle bars and a harness are the way to go if your hacking away for an extended period of time.
 
I found a 20" mower at the dump, fixed it up, and use it on the 45 degree angle at the edge of my driveway/garage. Was filled and seeded by the gravel company with this fast growing nasty stuff. Try to keep it under a foot tall so there aren't many ticks.

Didn't want to use a "nice" mower as the 4 strokes get oil starvation when tilted a long time. Turns out my nice mower blew up and I use the hill mower on everything now and it's still hanging tough!

I've run consumer grade briggs $99 walmart mowers through raspberry bushes and similar junk and they do better than string trimmers. Most string trimmers are so cheesy now they are not actual weed whackers. You probably want sensible shoes and ear plugs so the nasty grating noises don't get to you.

From the looks of things you can probably get 95% of the stuff on your hill with a mower then the rest by hand.
 
For safety's sake the manuals tell you to mow side to side and not up and down. A slip can land body parts into the blade.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino

From the looks of things you can probably get 95% of the stuff on your hill with a mower then the rest by hand.


That's what I'm thinking/hoping. It's not pictured well but there's a fence about 3/4 up the hill that I'll need to clear up to. I'm wondering if what I'll want to do is get a cheap mower and a weedwhacker. I have an electric weedwhacker now that's pretty decent but it's corded so won't work that far from the house.

I need to go look at mowers. Am thinking about electrics so I don't have to worry about the slope too much (assuming most gas ones are 4 stroke now) but I have a feeling gas is going to be the way to go, especially for self propelled (preferably).

Thanks all, for the input so far!
 
You know, I would almost consider goats except that it would be too easy for them to get on the highway and cause an accident!

I guess I should hit my local stores (and maybe craigslist) and see what mowers are available. Hopefully something with reasonable ground clearance and plenty of power. The rest of my questions are probably better placed on the small engine forum (Honda vs B&S vs ??, FWD vs RWD -- the fact that both are an option is amusing to me). All the questions BITOGers love to ask even though we know the answer is probably "it doesn't matter" :)
 
If you find a mower with bent crankshaft for free and hit a rock right you might "fix" it!
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
They have goat service around here. Just call 'em and they set up the fences and tend them.


Really? Do you have any local recommendations? Seems like it could be pricey given I assume you're paying someone to hang around the whole time.
 
Originally Posted By: rationull
Originally Posted By: tom slick
They have goat service around here. Just call 'em and they set up the fences and tend them.


Really? Do you have any local recommendations? Seems like it could be pricey given I assume you're paying someone to hang around the whole time.

I imagine they setup a solar electric fence and a couple livestock guardian dogs to keep the wildlife and other dogs away, so someone just needs to check on them maybe once or twice a day and provide water and dog food. Usually I think they try to get a number of landowners involved to get the acreage up, so they can leave them there for a while.
 
Thanks tom, I'll look into it.

I'll probably end up going w/ a mower anyway since there's not that much land on my property (it's essentially a big back yard that happens to be on a hill) and some of the neighbors already have grazing animals on theirs. But it's worth a look!
 
I have seen goats being used in Riverside Co. California...I laughed the first time, but they are effective!

Second best bet: just hire a service to do it.
 
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