# Roadside Mowing Charge?



## prairie

Need to figure out what to pay for mowing my roadsides. Have searched the internet with no success.

My neighbor mowed our nearly 5 miles because my mower was broke down. I have decided the mower is not worth fixing just for roadside mowing and want to hire the neighbor from now on. He uses a 75HP tractor with a 3 pt mounted 7' sickle bar mower.

Any help would be appreciated.


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## NewBerlinBaler

Here's one way to calculate it...

A 7-foot mower would need to travel 6,222 feet (1.178 miles) to mow an acre. Figure out how much you're willing to pay per acre. You already know how many miles of roadside he's mowing. All you need to do is crunch the numbers.

Gary


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## endrow

I would say in the $50 to $60 per hour if he is a good operator


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## prairie

Thanks Gary,but it is easy to figure out the per acre charge. In my area that runs $15.00 per acre. However roadside mowing is *much* harder on equipment, especially guards and sickle sections, but also the sickle and bar. Many guys refuse to mow roadside with their haying mower. I know a few who keep an extra, older mower just for mowing roadsides.

I was thinking maybe 1.5 the going rate. That figures out to $19.08/mile, so lets call it $20.

I hire a guy with a skidsteer loader for $60.00/hr, and I would think roadside mowing would be about the same.

My neighbor told me to pay whatever I thought was fair. Do these above numbers seem fair enough?


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## deadmoose

Iowa custom rates:

Avg about $70/hr. I would think this would be disk mower going faster thouhh to not be on low end of rates (30-100). That's for fencerows/ditches.

$60 an hour sounds fair. Assuming 4 mph that is 1.25 hours or $15/mile?


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## Vol

I would also be inclined to sit down and figure what it is actually worth to YOU.....not to have to take the time to deal with it or use your equipment on a abusive task. That may mean a additional $5-$10 per whatever.

Regards, Mike


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