Frank Mayo, Square Buttes, Montana, recently sent FARM SHOW photos of a 5-ft. high, 2-ft. dia. plastic "street brush" that he mounted on front of his Case 930 tractor to "weed fences".

A hydraulic motor atop the brush frame drives the brush.

"I use it on CRP ground to sweep weeds away from fence lines and into a windrow. I pull a baler behind the tractor at the same time so we can bale the weeds up right away," says Mayo.

"I use it to clean up kochia and Russian thistle. It works so good that some of my neighbors also want to use it for their fence lines. I drive the tractor in first gear at 1 mph. I have to drive precisely so that the brush just touches the fence. If I get too far away from the fence the weeds that are stuck in it won't come out, and if I get too close it will shake things up. I've had some problems with weeds plugging up the baler so I often have to look back, which makes it difficult to drive precisely along the fence. I think it might work better if I had two people -- one driving and the other watching the baler."

The brush was originally designed to be horizontally mounted on a tractor and was used to sweep sidewalks. Mayo bought it used at a farm sale. He used scrap steel to build a frame, which is supported by a single wheel. The brush can ride up or down a total of 18 in. A metal skid plate mounts just ahead of the brush to help it over obstacles.

He ran a rod down the center of the brush, which has an 8-in. dia. opening. A sprocket attaches to the top of the rod. A hydraulic motor direct-drives the sprocket, which turns against a series of bolts welded around the top of the brush. The brush rotates at 1,150 rpm's.

"I set everything up so if I have problems with a bearing or if the shaft breaks down, I can pull the shaft out," notes Mayo.