What did you do with your SCUT Deere today?

Mowed the yard. Farewell green cool season grass… hello brown summer.

While the yard now has a base of about 50% good cool season perennials (fescues and KBG) the other half is poa which is dying off, plus clover. Hopefully the crabgrass stays under control (shhhh, don’t tell the mrs I used pre-emergent). This fall I’ll do a heavy overseed and try some ethofumasate (poa constrictor) to try to thicken up the desired grasses.

Considering this was mostly bare dirt and a half dozen wide burn piles when we moved in, I'm happy. The last owners tried growing grass and even seeded it again before we bought, but with no topsoil and an out of whack pH the weeds didn't want to grow, not even crabgrass, dandelions, or poa. Two years later after several doses of lime, Mag-I-Cal, and a lot of aerating, it's finally starting to come together.

Cut up a downed tree and hauled all of the brush away for a neighbor. He was doing this with a wheel barrow and his wife suggested he contact me, which saved him a ton of time. I hauled 6 loads of grapple packed tree limbs.

I have found it works so much better to gather a load with the grapple, then compact it packing the load tightly with the grapple jaws. Then open the jaws back up, drive further into the brush pile again, gather some more, compact it, usually two or three times to really get a full grapple load.

Also, use the small top handle, Arbor chain saw on the Big Tool Rack to cut off the long stragglers as I have to haul the debris 1/2 mile down the road to reach the dump site and I don't like to have too much hanging over the lane width on either end of the grapple. The small saw is very handy for this....Just toss the cut off stuff onto the next pile or pack it into the grapple once cut shorter......I hate losing ANY debris and having to stop and pick it up before reaching the brush pile.

Then I cut up the tree and split it with my splitting axe. I ended up with 5 loads in the Big Tool Rack which looked like this.



With the weight of the rack itself (about 300 pounds empty) and then the 6 suitcase weights I have hanging on the front of the BTR for ballast which is another 250+ pounds, a load of split woos, etc of this size, reaches the load limit for the BTR and the 3ph on the 1 series.

It's interesting because the higher you lift the Big Tool Rack, the closer it is to the back of the tractor and the better the tractor's steering with the extreme weight on the 3ph. I started out with the loaded Big Tool Rack barely 12" off the ground and the front of the tractor even with the grapple was so light, I had trouble getting the tractor turned on the pavement. The moment I lifted the Big Tool Rack as high as I usually carry it, the steering returned and the load was moved without as much drama............

Sure is nice to have the chain saw, extra fuel, chain oil, spare chains, tools, Splitting Axe and rake, etc, etc, right there on the rack with me all of the time.........Very handy and efficient way to get things done............

The smaller saw I carry is on the left side of the rack in the photo. I was cutting the large rounds, which were about 20" in diameter, so I had the larger saw off the BTR to cut the rounds. Holding the logs in the grapple and chunking them into lengths for splitting is so much nicer than cutting on the ground. Then I stacked the rounds on the stump and split them down as shown........

Then when all done, I pulled the battery powered blower off the BTR and cleaned out the BTR box and even the front of the tractor getting the saw dust and other wood stuff off of and out of everything. I even use the blower to clean the inside of the cab as I end up tracking in sawdust from the work being done, open both doors and let the air blow everything out, from inside the cab........I had saw dust and wood chips everywhere when I finished this one..............

I Sure like the Big Tool Rack.....

I also carry my "Weed Popper" on the rack and when I see a dandelion along the pavement on any of the lawns I take care of, I can stop and pop it out of the lawn, and put the weed into the bucket I carry on the rack. I recently popped a dandelion with a 14" main root......Empty into the trash when I get home......All weed infestations start at the edge of hard surfaces and work their way into the lawn. Get the weeds early, and avoid larger weed battles later.............