Welcome to "How To Mow Along A Roadside Fence" by John Deere Tips and Notebook.

How To Mow Along A Roadside Fence

Property owners everywhere have to keep the grass mowed around their place. But properties in more outlying and rural areas often have some challenges their in-town friends don’t, like how to mow along a roadside and a fence with a ditch in between.

For example, the area we’ll be working in today is on uneven ground between the property owner’s fence and the gravel county road that runs parallel to it. The challenge is to cut the vegetation growing here to about 4-inches (10.2 cm) without buzzing the ground with the rotary cutter blades.

To do that, we’ll be using a John Deere E12 Flex Wing Rotary Cutter (US CA). It has a 12-foot (3.7 m) working width and two folding wings that are designed to flex up and down for rotary cutting on just this kind of terrain. And we’ve matched it with a John Deere 5055E Utility Tractor (US CA).

Get set up the right way.

So first, while the tractor and rotary cutter are on level ground, Alexis will set the cutting blade at 4-inches (10.2 cm) by using these spacers. They act as piston stops on the hydraulic cylinder that lowers the rotary cutter into cutting position. By measuring the height of the blade, then adjusting the number of spacers, she can adjust the cutting height from 8-inches to 4-inches (20.3-10.2 cm), or anywhere in between

Why the flex wings flex.

Once she is on the fence side of the mowing area, the flex feature on the rotary cutter allows the wing to drop down and cut the vegetation almost parallel to the sloping ground.

And because the wings can flex in both directions – above and below level – the operator can seek the best path for the tractor to follow while still cutting the vegetation at the 4-inch (10.2 cm) height.

Using this flex-wing rotary cutter in this kind of situation allows you to get the job done in the quickest, yet most effective way possible.

A couple more tips.

Now here are a few more tips. First, before you start, walk the area where you’ll be rotary cutting to make sure there aren’t any hidden stumps, rocks, holes, dead varmints, or anything else that could cause damage to any of your equipment.

Next, rotary cutting is not a spectator sport. So make sure no one is standing around watching just in case any kind of material is thrown out from under the cutting deck.

Finally, after all that mowing, our flex-wing rotary cutter is covered in grass. To prevent corrosion, it’s important to clean off the deck before putting your machine away.

There are a couple ways to do this. First, you can use a broom. Or, you can use a high-powered blower.

I don’t know about you, but we prefer the blower.

If you’re looking for implements that help turn your tractor into the workhorse it was built to be, you’ll find them – and all kinds of advice on how to use them – every day at your John Deere dealer.

And remember, always read the Operator’s Manual before operating any piece of equipment and follow all operating and safety instructions.