Long grass - topper or flail mower?

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canteron

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My topper has finally given up with rate the grass is growing this year, and I am going to have to reinvest.

Has anyone got any thoughts on whether I should buy a flail mower instead. Anyone have one? Do they cope with the long grass better and can you still use them on shorter grass. Any makes anyone can recommend?

Going to have to have a major piggy bank raid, so all experiences welcome.
 
Go for the flail, but one with many blades (I think the one we have has 48...I can't find the brochure). I found, after years of using a topper, the cut was too long. With the flail, the grass gets sliced several times and breaks down much faster. The flail also does very coarse stands of mature nettle, thistle, and scrub with ease.
 
I have a logic flail 'topper' which does a very good job. It is ready to adjust the height of the cut and as long as the grass is not too long it gets shredded and doesn't leave long grass lying on the field.
 
Flails are a lot more expensive(both purchase and maintenance) than toppers , and quite unnecessary if you keep on top of the job. A decent topper second hand ,is about £600.
 
Can't the topper be adjusted for cutting height? My Fleming can, though it's a bit of a pain to do. I just lift the thing and drop the skids, then bolt them up again. Top leaving fairly long grass, then top again a bit lower when the toppings have wilted, and so on. If the topper isn't working, I'm assuming you know about shear bolts.

Keep the revs up and go slowly. I associate a flail with roadside verges and brush rather than long grass, but maybe I'm wrong. I only know about tractor implements.
 
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We have a flail and frankly it is hopeless on really long grass, just constantly gets clogs and breaks down - costs a fortune to maintain too. Would go for topper if really long.
 
I use a Tow and Farm topper with flail blades, leaves a nice finish and handles long grass as well as doing a good job on the short stuff. Are you looking for a tractor mounted machine or towed behind a quad/4x4?
 
Thanks everyone good information. I have both an old tractor and a quad bike, so can use something that needs a power take up or something with its own engine.

Interesting that flails can be annoying to upkeep - I suspect that like everything else that they come in different qualities? More investigation needed.
 
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