Alpine Farming & Mountain Farmers:
Mowing Assistance for Steep Areas
Scrub encroachment, bracken and advancing forest have threatened alpine pastures for generations. The JACK Flail keeps open pastures open: remote-controlled, safe, and in a fraction of the time a person with a brush cutter would need.
The Silent Crisis of the Mountain Landscape
Abandoned alpine pastures become overgrown within a few years. Bracken, dwarf pines, elderberry, blackberry — well-maintained pastures turn into wilderness. Grazing capacity disappears, the biodiversity of alpine dry grasslands declines, and the cultural landscape of the Alps erodes.
Where mountain farmers once fought with scythes and motor mowers, labor is often lacking today. Riding mowers are prohibited or life-threatening on steep alpine slopes. There is a gap between "manual labor is no longer possible" and "machine is not possible." This gap is precisely what the remote-controlled crawler mower fills.
Why the JACK Flail is the right machine for the alpine pasture
Schlegel System with Y-Blades
Hardened Y-blades lay down bracken, brush and woody growth up to one year old — material that normal sickle mowers fail to handle.
100% Gradient & Stability
With a weight of 530 kg and a low center of gravity, the JACK Flail operates on slopes up to 100% (45°) — exactly where manual mowing becomes life-threatening.
200 m Radio Range
The operator stands at the top of the alpine path or at the bottom of the riverbank — no person in the danger zone, no risk in case of a machine defect.
Robust chain drive
The steel insert in the rubber track withstands stony alpine ground, gravel and roots. Maintenance-friendly for use far from the workshop.
Three typical application scenarios
First mowing — restoration
Alpine area that has not been mowed for a long time, with tall bracken: the JACK Flail works through it systematically, including woody growth up to one year old. Remove stronger woody plants beforehand. What would take weeks by hand, the machine accomplishes in days.
Annual maintenance mowing
In alpine areas with active grazing, residual areas, riverbeds, and slope sections must be maintained. One to two Jack operations per year keep these areas open.
Preparation for funding programs
Many ÖPUL measures require regular maintenance. With your own machine or a mowing service, this maintenance can be done economically. Whether your areas qualify for funding is clarified by the Chamber of Agriculture.
Frequently asked questions from alpine farming
By trailer to the access road to the pasture, then independently on its own track. In extremely inaccessible alpine areas, helicopter transport is also possible; this is organised by the customer.
Main cost drivers: travel, area size, growth strength. We calculate with a daily flat rate plus travel. For a 3-hectare alpine area with normal growth: one to two machine days are realistic.
Yes, this is even a core application area of the JACK Flail. Bracken is sustainably pushed back by the Schlegel system in several deployments per year — significantly more effective than manual cutting.
Location Sankt Stefan im Rosental — we primarily serve Styria, Carinthia, Burgenland, Upper Austria, and Lower Austria. We assess Salzburg and Tyrol individually; for larger areas, the trip is worthwhile.
Stop bush encroachment, maintain alpine pastures?
We know alpine terrain, funding landscape, and the JACK Flail at the load limit. Let's talk about your alpine pasture.