This is Ray McDonald starting his annual mow-down of our fields and borders yesterday, which lasts all day. He does both “straight” and “tricky” mowing, and we offer both.
All the while, he’ll be swinging his eyes backward and forward to avoid hitting a partially hidden rock or stump with the mower in back or bumping into a tree or boulder with the tractor in front.
A good mower, such as Ray, clearly is a master craftsman performing a job that can be difficult and hazardous. But, it also can be satisfying when he sees the remarkable transformation that his efforts have caused.
The equipment attached to Ray’s tractor is commonly called a “Bush Hog®.” However. that’s a brand name of an Alabama company, Bush Hog, Inc., that makes only one of several competing rotary field and brush mowers. (According to the company, the Bush Hog name derives from when the then-unnamed new product was being demonstrated in 1951. An amazed farmer said: “That thing eats bushes like a hog.”)
The distinctive features of all of these rotary mowers is their ability to me maneuvered into position from the tractor and their big, flexible blades on hinges, which are designed to bounce away when a rock or stump is hit. See also the image in the first Comment space. (Brooklin, Maine)