This afternoon I shredded (mowed) the pasture in which the pensioner racehorses have been living this summer. It finally rained enough to settle the dust on Tuesday so I wanted to clip the weeds off the pasture so the grass (dormant from drought) could see the light of day. (Horses are useless as weed-eaters.) This pasture is roughly triangular in shape and I am constantly trying new patterns to mow it efficiently. Anyone out there have a logical route to drive the tractor to shred a triangle?

After you get a few passes made around the perimeter to give you some room, you then make the turn going oposite of what you would normally turn, but make a small loop and come back It's easier then trying to make the sharp turns, and missing a bunch and having messy corners to deal with. Just like you would with a hay rake if you were putting hay into a windrow to pick up, Also what you'd have to do with a bailer.

Yes, that is what I end up doing. I turn as much of the triangle into rectangles as I can, but I always end up with a triangle. The unproductive loop needed to manage the sharpest corner always offends me...

Is there anything that would not need mowing to "fill in" the sharp corners with, instead of grass? Like forage Brassicas?

I guess it would have to be something that out-competes weeds even if horses crop the forage but not the weeds. Probably there is no such thing.

A tractor sounds big and unwieldy. Even on a small suburban lawn, I hated spending time turning, when what I wanted to do was "always be cutting"!

Would it be practical to use the tractor to shred/mow 90% or 95% of the triangle? Like, mow a spiral pattern (very rounded corners, whatever the turning radius of the tractor is) with the corners left un-mowed, then go back and cut the acute angles with a weed-wacker or hand mower?

Or would 5-10% of the pasture still be too big to cut by hand?

I wouldn't want to cut the spare corners by hand, but I have tried something similar to your idea when I was in a hurry (storm brewing) with the plan of backing into the corners later - time permitting.

Thanks, I love the suggestions, keep them coming. I am sure someone will have a magical solution or at least another fun alternative to try.

>> backing into the corners later

I understand!

I assume that you don't want to waste the pasturage that would be lost if you moved the fence so that it had rounded corners!

The county requires that our perimeter fences be on the property lines. Outside the point of this pasture are two intersecting roads. My fences are protected by hot wire so I have to keep the lines fairly clear. What ever happened to the open range system...

I'm still hoping for a miracle!

Well, if you win the lottery you can get a Bobcat, and then they have front brush hogs that are almost zero radious turns. But like I said, you'd need to win the lottery to afford one. lol.

PorkPal, we live on about a 1 mile road that T's at either end, with most properties being 10-20 acres. When we first moved here, almost everyone ran cows and cows being cows, they were always getting out to go be with the other cows. I always thought it would be genius to simply fence off our yards and driveways, do away with the side fencing, and keep the back and front fences, sort of a modified open-range. Needless to say, my dyed-in-the-wool neighbors thought I was off my rocker. Must have been a carry-over from my hippie days when we all thought communal living was the answer...

Deb, I always figured you for a fellow ex-hippie. Of course, I didn't realize what I was until the 80s when it was out of fashion.

Ha ha -- it wasn't until years after we'd been here that our [slightly] older neighbors confessed that my neighborhood nickname was 'Granola' for many years.

I never heard that one before!

Have a great weekend, "Granola"!

Actually Texas is a "fence out" state, not a "fence in" state. In other words, if you don't want cows in your yard it is up to you to fence them out as opposed to their owner's job to contain them. As far as I know this law is never enforced. My neighbors are even upset if my cows poop in the road when I move them from pasture to pasture!

That is a good practice no matter what the laws are. I've always kept our veggie (now herb) garden fenced and have been thankful on so many occasions when we've been greeted by cows, horses, llamas, etc. munching on the front lawn. We usually just push them into the front field and wait for the owner to spot them. We once had a very nice looking steer for about a month before his owner finally came for him.

lol, after 30 days, I'd say STEAK! I think.

We have a triangle meadow - hayfield. It was much smaller and more difficult to deal with when we first moved here. Now it's part of a larger triangle and a little easier to deal with. There's only one bad corner and it gets left when it's wet. In this case the point is where two diversion ditches come together - best not to fool around with those, as erosion down the ditch has made them tricky.

Deb...........RE: the steer.........I'd have said that possession is 9/10 of the law and he'd have been steak. Can't take back what they can't find. :>)

Kathleen, on the farm we rented for 35 years, there was a field that had 10 sides. It was pretty good sized, but still.........10 sides????

I just noticed this and I will pass on my method since I do most of the tractor sitting around here. I hate turning as well, but I avoid some by mowing pastures like I drag an arena. I turn at the halfway point of the long side, on my next pass I mow one pass past half. As I move up the field, my length stays the same. I will turn left on occasion and catch the edge, making a figure eight sort of pass. Don't know if that makes sense.

We have a sharp corner in one area due to trees, and I back into the corner, shred out, repeat. I shred far enough out so that I can make the corner easily. It is a bit tedious but goes fast. We have 30 and 40 year old oaks that have low canopies and I have to back in to easily shred under them.