Looking to upgrade from a 1025r to either a 2038 or 3038. I don't really want to get a mid mount mower and have been drawn to the flail mower idea. The actual yard I need to mow isn't very nice grass and pretty bumpy. I have rough areas and trails that are too much for my mid mount mower on the 1025r.  Do any of you use a flail in the yard? If a flail would do a decent job they seem the smallest to store and would then cover all my needs.

I just picked up my first flail mower. I went with a Betstco VL-MF125CMAD.

So far I'm very happy with it. I wish I could have went a little larger, but was afraid of the weight as my PTO lift rating on my Kubota L2800 is 770 and this thing weighs almost 700.

As far as yard mowing mine does a good job if it's straight and flat. Tight turns and it tends to dig in a little and if it's humpy ground it can dig in too.

You may be able to adjust the hitch to lessen this, but I'm using mine for trails and such so I don't really mind if it gouges. I did try it out on some nice flat lawn at my parents before taking it to our property and it really cuts the clippings up fine.

Would you be fine with that as the only mower for your tractor?

No, because I feel like if I'm just cutting grass my small manuverable John Deere with a 54" deck is better. For encountering sticks, and brush and such though I need it.

This thread is relevant to my interest as I've been watching a few YouTube vids on flail mowers and looking for somethingbetter than a brush hog. One of my tractors is a mid 80s kubota L275, so basically a 30 years older version of yours. When I read what you wrote for lift capacity I was surprised it's that low as the ballast weight I use on mine weights around 900#s.

I looked it up and according to tractordata.com the 3 point lift capacity on your tractor shows 1985#s. You used the term "PTO lift rating", I'm not familiar with that phrase and duck duck go didn't turn up anything either. Is that an oversight on your part or is it something I'm not familiar with?

I should have delivery of a flail mower in a few weeks.  Not the perfect mower, but I don't have the use for heavy brush clearing, more like a cross between field and yard as I smooth it out over time.  And we have an area that tends to get long between mowings, so the riding mower isn't the best for that, and I'd get the same problems with a 3 point finish mower.

One big concern for us was storage space.  I'm trying to keep everything in our carport, so the shorter form from a brush hog was a big plus.  And my wife wasn't thrilled about the "quality" of a cut from the brush hog.  Still have the riding mower for fine work.  And should beat that one up a little less.  And be able to dig up the stumps I usually beat it up on anyways.

One thing that the sales guy assumed we were interested in at first was safety, because they are less likely to throw stuff.  So that's one benefit we weren't really thinking about.  I tend to mulch near the house anyways, but this means I won't worry if I am mowing near livestock.

How hard are flail mowers to sharpen compared to a regular mower?

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Try replacing your blades with Meg-Mo blades.  Similar to a brush hog blade but made for standard mower decks.

Been in the tractor and equipment industry my whole life.  I've always heard of flail mowers, but never really understood their advantage.

Fast forward to last year.  I've always had an area of woods that I wanted to clear the underbrush, but leave the bigger trees.  Thought I'd try a little 48" flail with hammer blades and see what happened.  I bought the cheapest Betsco I could find.

WOW I have been impressed with this little thing.  It's like a poor man's mulching head for a skid steer.  I set it so the blades just barely cleared the ground and when I got done it looked like you'd cleared the area and mulched it.  The best part is that unlike a bush hog, it doesn't leave a bunch of stobs that will poke holes in my tires when I mow it again this year.

Would I want one for my yard as my only mower?  Only if my yard was wide open with nothing to mow around.  I do use ours around the garden as it lets me mow without discharging the clippings into the garden.

I'm using a Ford 917 on a 1210, which is really way way way too small to have any business pulling a 6' flail around, but it does it.

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Great cut, and faster than the mid-mount deck, which I only leave on for ballast.

You can sort of abuse them as a forestry mulcher, but flails can start getting expensive, fast.

Once I get this thing behind a 50hp+ tractor I'll be in business.

Big advantage vs. a mowing deck or a rotary cutter is that you have very little chance of slinging debris.

ETA: To answer the OP more directly, I've cut my front/back yard with it, but normally only mow the fields as the house yard has some tight spots that you're not gonna get with a 3-point, so I normally cut those with the lawn tractor.

The roller on the flail prevents much of the scalping action you'd see with other types of mowers (though I haven't tried out a finish cut mower.)

I think I'm gonna go with a rear finish mower. I had the dealer work up quotes for all three on a new 2038r for me. I don't think they've sold many flails, but flail was $6500, mid mount $6000 and rear finish mower $3750. Everything I need/want to mow is either turf grass or tall grass nothing woody. I just don't get why a flail is way more expensive than a tiller, pretty similar machines to me.

Good grief man!  They gettin top dollar plus for all of it.  WOW!

Well now the wait starts! Gonna trade my 1025r (loader, mower, box blade) in on a 2038r (self leveling loader, rear finish mower, box blade, and 1 bottom plow) was quoted about 60 days

I normally mow this are about 4 times a year with my Exmark 72”. It is miserable to do because the grass is so high.

I haven’t mowed it a single time this year so it was really overgrown. Used the B2620 and 47” flail mower. MUCH better experience than with the ZTR!

ETA: Planned to show before and after pics, but can’t get them to load from phone.

I'm looking for a sickle bar mower so I can seed with something that grows tall and see if I can get away with only mowing the fields twice a year.  :)

Looking for a sickle as well.

My neighbor has a 7’ flail mower up there that he’s trying to sell. I would need a bigger tractor than my NH 1720 to haul that beast around. That’s why I told the guy that cuts my hayfields to be on the lookout for a 7’ sickle bar for me. Not heard anything yet.

Just sold my tractor and flail mower. No complaints on the flail mower at all. It performed great for a cheap mower.

It would be painfully slow if you had to mow around anything.
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