Jonno wrote:
Max wrote:
len garden wrote:

On Sat, 05 May 2007 12:27:09 +1000, Max wrote:
snipped
g'day max,

Yes well, that's probably pretty good advice, and I was wondering
why he didn't get Cox on to it straight away myself.

exactly! where in this planet do you rside, general area will do ie.,.
nth/west nsw etc.,. if you are talking cox then it sounds like you are
in aus'?

I thought Cox was one of the better brands, what would you say were
the most durable for a large block? We have about 5 and a half acres
of fairly flat land but it's a bit lumpy with rocks here and there.

no like all the tap-n-goes it is one of the cheaper makes, not know
for long lasting durability with their slipping drives and many long
belts. the most reliable rider mowers are the models with gear box or
speed change mechanisms eg.,. rover rancher, snapper, deutscher, these
models all have differential rear axles to help turning capacity, and
with the speed selection means the motor doesn't get over revved to
go faster over the lawn.

and no slippy drives that the home handy man can' repair, years as a
mower mechanic is a real eye opener.

for that many acres you would almost be better off with a mini tractor
up to 20 hp but not under about 18hp, you can get those mulching
cutter heads that do a good cut, plus the tractor can do so much more
than what a rider mower (rememeber they are a mower you ride on) can
do.

but at the very least look at the commercial quality riders, and
reckon you would be wanting to cut at least a 4' cut even 5'.

This block was deep ripped about 20 years ago, which brought a lot
of rocks to the surface. The fella who owned it grew pumpkins on it
one year, but the council stopped him after that. It's pretty good
black soil on clay and basalt, and nearly everything we plant does
really well. Except stuff that doesn't like wet feet. The last wet
season killed a few things, as the soil holds water below about a
foot down.

now the rocks pose a problem unless yo can clear them you need to cut
taller to miss them and the only cutter that will be reliable is a
normal slasher type head if you went to a tractor? but rider mowers
won't do well in rough conditions, again they are only a mower.

for planting in those conditions use raised beds, see our page for
ideas, and for trees that requier good drainage plant them in a raised
manner that is don't dig too deep as you want the root ball or most of
it above ground level and build up a round it creating a well.

planting indemic natives will do better.

We have mowed most of the block, first with a whipper-snipper then
with a push mower, and moved most of the rocks that we could lift or
roll, to the base of the trees. I think I would be welding some
sort of bull bar onto the front of any ride on we bought. :-)

again maybe rethink you application? riders don't tow heavy loads and
they can push a blade but only loose sand say nothing else, tractors
are designed for that as well a tractor can tow a trailer with a
decent load in it.

Thanks for your reply Len.
-Max

With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/



Yes Len, we live in Ravenshoe, Far North Queensland on the Atherton
Tablelands at about 1K meters of altitude. We usually get a good wet
season each year, but the cyclones (Larry for instance) are only about
half strength by the time they get here. Larry came straight up the
gorge from Innisfail just missing us. We lost a few really big iron
barks mainly, but this may be a good reason not to plant anything that
can't get it's roots down deep, re your suggestion about planting
trees above ground.

As to a small tractor with a slasher and a collection of other handy
implements, there is nothing I would like more! :-) Unfortunately, I
am building the house at the moment, so all our spare cash (is there
such a thing!? :-) ) is going into that. The house is 160 odd meters
from the road and consequently the same from the power pole, water
mains, and phone.

Last week I helped our sparkie lay the power lines. One and a half
hours work cost just over $5K and that's without even touching the
house. Another 3 to 5K$ for a half-way decent tractor is out of the
question at this point in time. Another factor that may come into
play is the rate we are planting trees and other things,
manoeuvrability may become an issue at some point with a tractor and
slasher combo. At the moment though, we still have a lot of wide open
space, which I have been mowing by hand now that the wet season is
over for the year. At least the grass won't grow much in the next 6
to 8 months.

So the main reason I was interested in the Cox is that John would let
us pay it off, which would help not break the budget. But as you say,
they are not a great unit to begin with, and with our rough ground may
not last very long at all. Which only leaves walk-behind slashers.
But even a half way decent one of those costs quite a lot.

I went and looked at an old snapper the other day. The bloke wanted
$500 for it. I know they built the first ride-on, but I didn't think
this would be it! :-) It did have a newly rebuilt B&S motor, but it
the mower it's self needed work. Looked like sh1t, but built like the
proverbial brick dunny. My misses didn't think much of it though.
This bloke rebuilds ride-ons, and I think he just keeps it to get
people out there. ;-) He himself swore by Greenfields. I myself
quite like rovers for reliability. But I was a bit surprised at the
internal construction of the bottom end. What with the swinging
balance housing and the plain metal bearings. Not very impressive,
but surprisingly long lasting.

I really don't know much about these mini-tractors you speak of
though. Could you enlighten me a little on them? Like what is the
difference between them and ride-ones?

Btw, your website looks good. Lots of great tips on the mowers and
trimmers page.

Remain in light.
-Max

If youre on a tight budget, why not allow a few goats/sheep to graze for
free for a while. I'm sure a farmer in the dryer parts of Queensland
would love the idea.
As well as this, $5000 for a sparkie? Darn it would almost pay for half
a wind/solar system install. Keep it in mind...

Jonno.


G'day Jonno.
We have discusses the idea of having some goats or something. I am not
in favour of it myself, but Christine is. Chris has kept goats before.
I have had a bit to do with them and imho they are hard to fence and
love peeling the bark off trees. Also half of our weed problems come
from people keeping and so feeding horses here. The horse feed brings
is all sorts of really bad vines and other undesirables :-) I don't
know anything about the feeding habits of sheep though. Again, our
fences would need lots of attention. But some form of livestock is not
something we have ruled out completely.

Part of the issue is that not only cars but also ride-on mowers,
tractors and the like go for about $1k more up here than they do down
south. What you can get in Brisbane/Sydney/Melbourne for $600, people
want $1600 for here. It sucks I know, but there it is. Our last car
for instance, even with me flying down to Brisbane and driving it back,
we still saved over $1k on something comparable from Cairns or Townsville.

As to the power costing so much, when you factor in the price rise in
copper over the last few years, three 200 meter rolls of 25 square mm
copper cable (and the 40mm conduit), it isn't that remarkable. I
actually got $200 off for helping him, and the promise of some casual
work when he need an offsider.

We will go down the solar/wind path when we can afford it. We are of
course going to have solar hot water and gas stove and oven. Although a
fuel stove with a wetback is another option too. All our appliances
will be energy efficient, so running from an inverter wont be a big
deal. Anyway, if we ever wanted to put our green power back into the
grid, we would need the link to the mains.

Actually we already have our own wind farm! Have a look here on google
earth: 17 35 30.09 S 145 31 44.31 E
Our place is over near ;-) the Millstream Falls marker.

Remain in light.
-Max

--
Why don't blind people like to sky dive?
Because it scares the hell out of the dog.
--
NetscapeMozilla SuiteSeamonkey
The proud history continues!