Came across a Shulte batwing mower today. Impressed by the seemingly durability.

What's your experience? I've only ran Rhino and JD but that was 20 years ago.

I needed a bat wing about a year ago and spent a ton of time shopping and going to look at all brands. I own JD tractors and skid steers and have a fairly new HX7 JD rotary mower….. so I'm partial to JD.
I looked at JD, Bush Hog, Land Pride, Schulte and Bush Wacker brands.
Bush Wacker is a family owned business in North Little Rock that builds Only rotary cutters. They are used exclusively by ARDOT for highway right of way mowing.
Schulte has a good reputation and are also used by many contractors for highway mowing.
It really depends on your needs and use. Do you need a 15' Bat Wing or 12'? What cutting capacity do you need?
What size tractor are you using to power it?
I found that you could get heavy duty series and medium duty series in all brands for the most part ….so you gotta make sure in your shopping that you compare apples to apples. Like so many other things they all have good points and bad points.
I was not impressed with Land Pride at all and marked them off my list.
I eventually narrowed it down to Bush Wacker, John Deere and Schulte.
I bought the John Deere as they made a 12' version that I thought would be easier to go around trees and maneuver better in some of my pastures.
I like the way John Deere adjust the cutting height and the trailing wheel assemblies better than the other brands.
If I had gone with the 15' I would have done John Deere heavy duty series or Schulte.
My other deciding factor was I did not have a Schulte dealer near me…. closest one was 1.5 hours away.
In retrospect I wish I would have gone with the 15' John Deere or Schulte. My 12' keeps bending shafts if I high center it in dirt,etc. The clutches slip but it has bent the shafts twice in one year of use.
The gear boxes are hell for stout but I think the shafts are too small for my horsepower and torque of my tractor.
If JD built a 12' heavy duty like they do in the 15' I think it would work for me…. but they don't.

Well with all that BS above…. to answer your question …. yes Schulte is a good brand… but I've never owned one.
As I said they all have pros and cons. See which one best fits you and your use.

ETA… for non bat wing type I have really been happy with my JD HX7…. but I clear some pretty heavy stuff with it.
I had an MX7 before buying it and it lasted me many years.
Like I said… all the brands are good ….just gotta fit what you do and what you like the best.

Sorry for the long response. I talk too much.

Man Gunny, that's great info and I appreciate it.

I'm looking at their 18-foot. I'd be running it with a 168hp (120pto) Kubota M7-174. Mostly hayfield cleanup but we have some bad Johsongrass in our bottoms. Some occasional trash limbs from storms and washed gullies uphill.

I'm also soon going to be in search of a mower for a skidsteer so will have to look at those too.

Holy Moly. That's outa my league.

My next purchase will be a heavy duty cutter for my skid steer too. Let me know what you learn.

I have been researching and looking for a while.
Narrowed it down to:
Vernig
CID
Blue Diamond

Let me know what you come up with please.

For what it's worth, I'm in the equipment industry in central Tx and I am fairly partial to Virnig if I'm not buying manufacturers attachments directly from bobcat, Vermeer, Kubota, etc.

Virnigs are made well and easy to work on. Not saying the others aren't, we've just had good luck.

Thank you for the comment. From reading and researching they look hell for stout. Really thank for your input…… good to hear that from someone who has the knowledge.

I like the concept of a boom/swing arm cutter for a skidsteer. Blue Diamond makes one that looks handy to reach over and get under trees and banks.

But it seems to invite getting bent and I don't hear much on these so I may have to stick with a regular one.

Yea. Same here. Sure could think of a lot of cool uses for that!

Love the schultes. Failure point is usually the tongue in my experience, usually due to the tractors being 200+ hp pulling them. Most of the ones I've sold/worked on were 26 or 30', only had a handful of the smaller ones come through.

I have a Rhino on one of my tractors and a Land Pride on the other tractor. I think the Rhino does a better cut but both are sufficient for me.

After years of weekend warrior in Webb county with a little 7' JD that was mostly an effort in futility, we broke down and got a 15' medium duty Land Pride batwing. Abused the hell out of it pushing the limits of what we were supposed to shred. Shredding probably 40 miles of roads, ROWs, and senderos all 3 passes wide we lost our first gearbox. Ultimately replaced all with the heavier duty versions but that shredder kept on keeping on with no real problems.

Finally accountant decided we needed new tractor and implements so we upgraded to the LP heavy duty version and sold old one to neighbors. It's still working hard every day.

Really impressed with its durability while I for sure abused it to achieve my goals. I think thick grass is harder on both tractor and shredder than some occasional brush. Ours was an 85 hour New Holland, that I wish I had kept over the newer Kubota. The DEF crap will be the end of tractoring for weekend warriors.

FYI, I'm looking for a 4020 now for the Zapata county ranch.

Super happy with my Rhino

I know an old neighbor who has one (4020) that he has re done. Not a show type restoration but fixed up to use. Has new paint. He is having some bad health issues and his kids trying to put him in a home…. which is sad cause he is sharp as a tack. He has always kept it in his barn.
I talked with him about two weeks ago and he said he may sell it.
I need to do check on the old feller anyway so I'll find out.
Only thing is it's up here in the Ozarks.

I wish I never would have sold mine a few years back.

For sure let me know. BIL had a line on one that had a mfg rebuild done about 15 years ago. BIL slow played him and missed it.
Yes I expect one in work clothes, not a show tractor. I just love the simplicity of those older machines.

I am going to go see him in the morning.

The only one you can get next day parts for. John Deere. We mow a lot of farm/ ranch roads and pastures and a few commercial jobs. In the past we have had rhino and Shulte but now on our third JD cx 20. The Deere mowers have held up great and have good trade in value after years of use.

I have a Modern 20' batwing that I really like.

John Deere is a nasty corporation. My dad owned a John Deere dealership back in the 60's until the early 80's. We grew up with practically everything JD (even had JD clothing). I recall as a kid my parents stressing out over JD treating them poorly and they eventually had to give up their dealership because they were "too small".

My dad still only bought and ran JD equipment until his recent passing (did hay until he was 86!).

Then came the Right to Repair fiasco. No one should ever buy JD again. Very bad, and I dare say "evil" company. Shame that America lost this one.

Sadly I have to agree here. I can remember sittin on my dads knee as we plowed our fields on his John Deere Model B. Can still hear the classic "pop, pop, pop" of the old engine. My grandfather had an even older one.
All our implements were JD as well.
I can't even remember how many JD tractors and implements we owned over the years.
As a kid I had all kinds of JD tractor and implement toys.
I personally have owned 12 John Deere tractors, implements.
There is a distinct difference in the company between the Ag Divisions and the Industrial Divisions. I own a couple of yellow paint pieces….. a 310 and a 328G.
The industrial dealers still seem to do business the old school way. Doggett Machinery and RDO Equipment have been outstanding dealers for me. ( Lots of Aggies involved with their management and sales).
However the green and yellow paint AG Divisions now truly suck. John Deere made a corporate decision years back to go with large regional chain dealerships and have basically abandoned and crapped on all the mom and pop old time individually owned dealerships.
However they are too stupid to realize those are the folks that actually built John Deere.
I currently own a 6615, 4200, HX7,E12, MX6, 310,and 328G JD's. Just sold a 4520.
Before purchasing the 6615 I bought a Kubota M7060 and my experience owning it and the Kubota dealer I bought it from was horrible…. so I sold it as well.

The marine industry went through the same mindset of getting away from small individually owned dealerships and going with large multi store and locations conglomerates and learned a very hard lesson of how bad that can be. Especially if they go bankrupt. You can lose half your dealer network overnight!
John Deere will have to learn these lessons as well.
I drive extra to still deal with one of the remaining independent owned JD dealers. That's why I keep buying JD at present.

Hate to break it to you guys but all the major ag manufacturers are pushing the same model. Multiple stores under single ownership. Doesn't matter if it's Kubota, Case or New Holland. AGCO isn't pushing it nearly as hard but in most of the US, they aren't competitive enough to have the leverage to do so. AGCO is just looking for anyone that can run a single, competitive dealership much less a chain of them.

I came up through the ag industry and have thought for years, if I ever had a chance, I would love to own my own dealership. In today's landscape, it's not possible unless you are already independently wealthy. It is possible to do it with smaller tractor lines like AGCO, Yanmar, Kioti, Mahindra etc but most of the places where those types of dealerships are successful are places where there isn't competition from the major, large chain stores. If you make a go at it with one of the smaller lines, in most cases you are selling an inferior product with a lot less support from your OEM.

I'd love for JD, Case or Kubota to go the other way and push for more individually owned stores again but realistically, it won't happen in my lifetime.

Agree with Gunny, regarding the large dealerships. Kubota isn't perfect, but it's why I eventually changed from Deere to Kubota. (In my area of the state, Kubota is more likely to be from 1-2 dealer operations, not chains/regional. The Deere dealer is now a 3 state operation, no other dealers for 120-200 miles in any direction, and couldn't care less about you, unless you're buying something at a $200k or up price point…).

Regarding the original question, I have an 8' Modern Ag that is fully galvanized. I believe Land Pride is making some galvanized shredders, as well. This thing is 9 years old, and still looks new. Real shame that more manufacturers don't do galvanized, instead of paint. It's also got 7 ga sides. Basically a heavy-duty model, at medium duty price.

There's obviously more to consider than just a galvanized deck, but I can tell you that it's definitely a great "feature".

No matter what you do, invest an extra $150-$200 in a good leaf blower, and get religious about cleaning off the deck after you mow. At $15-$20k plus, for a good batwing, it's worth the extra 5 minutes to take care of it..

New Mexico DOT uses these hydraulically driven batwing mowers to mow all of their right of ways. The pto on the tractor runs a hydraulic pump on the shredder so there is cushion between the blades and your tractors transmission. I'm sure it's expensive as hell and who knows how reliable it is, I just thought it was an interesting way to make a shredder.

You can open your own marine dealership! Lots of independent owned.

I do mine every time I finish. But I also keep it in my barn.

Wow. That's very interesting! Heck all the rotary cutters for skid steers work that way. Makes sense for sure.
Thanks for posting that.

Gunny456 said:

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Holy Moly. That's outa my league.

My next purchase will be a heavy duty cutter for my skid steer too. Let me know what you learn.

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We've rented this mower deck for our skid steer three years in a row and it's bad ass. The only problem we had was that we ripped a hose off, but that wasn't the fault of the mower.

Managing the coolant temp on the skid steer was a challenge too in the middle of a summer day. Keep the throttle at 2200 rpms and clean the filters and radiators every couple of hours and it would get the job done. We can run in the morning, dusk, and at night without any overheating issues.

Uses a lot of diesel and much slower than a bat wing for the big areas, but for trim mowing it's hard to beat.

A neighbor mowed the big areas today with a batwing for $60 an hour. At that price it's hard to justify buying a tractor and a batwing versus paying someone and doing something else with your time.

mhnatt said:

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Came across a Shulte batwing mower today. Impressed by the seemingly durability.

What's your experience? I've only ran Rhino and JD but that was 20 years ago.

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We sell Schulte mowers out of our CIH store. The state (KS DOT) and counties use them to mow ditches, and our larger farmer customers use them as well. They are very heavily built units. The only problems we have is from abuse. One township uses it to mow down the grader burm on the edge of the county roads, and that one gets 2 sets of clutches every year. Outside of that most of our parts sales are blades.

Deerdude. I ran down my old neighbor around noon and talked with him about his 4020. Get this…. he is the original owner. He used to have two but his brother bought one from him about 15 years ago.
Bad news is he is going to give it to grandson. Grandson lives in Iowa and just bought 40 acres.
I see them up here for sale pretty regularly. I'll keep my eye out.
Sorry sir. Thought I maybe had found you a gem.

I've been wanting one for some time for my skid steer. Almost pulled the trigger on one right before Biden got elected…. then the prices went up so much.
Does your skid steer have a case drain line? It is a return line from the cutter back to your machine for overflow hydraulic fluid. Supposedly it helps keep the temp lower.
My skid steer had the capability but was not originally plumbed for it.
Pretty easy to add if your hydraulic system has the plumbing for it already.

Gunny456 said:

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Deerdude. I ran down my old neighbor around noon and talked with him about his 4020. Get this…. he is the original owner. He used to have two but his brother bought one from him about 15 years ago.
Bad news is he is going to give it to grandson. Grandson lives in Iowa and just bought 40 acres.
I see them up here for sale pretty regularly. I'll keep my eye out.
Sorry sir. Thought I maybe had found you a gem.

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Thanks for checking, Gunny, I appreciate that. On the other hand, that's impressive that he's original owner, and even more so that it's staying in the family. I'm happy to say that I won't get in the way of that priceless hand me down, so to speak.

I purchased a 53 Ford 9N from wife's uncle that was purchased new by her grandfather. I'm going to hook up the little 5' deck and use it for light shredding. Hopefully I can teach my grandkids to tractor on it, that's what I learned on.

The hunt continues, but they are around. Biggest problem is my BIL partner is tighter than Dicks hatband. We have found a great one not 200 miles from ranch and he balked at $20k price tag. Has to think about spending too long, I guess so that deals go away. We know what we want but he'll have to think about the next one as well. LOL

We have a neighbor that is trying to get old school style heavy duty equipment builds off the ground. Problem is finding high quality welders who can weld 1/2" thick material on certain things.

He's built some round balers (8' wide 10' tall bales for corn stalks) but had to have it done up north. Now he wants to build shredders, box blades etc for end users.

He said he's tired of working to pay John Deere for equipment that won't hold up to actual daily use.