We've used both down in Westchester. The weeds were very tall and think (mugwort, multi-flora rose, and bittersweet vines). We brought in a guy from Dutchess County who had a small tractor who did an amazing job brush hogging, but it took multiple passes to really get it cleaned up. After that, we could keep it maintained with the ride-on belly mower. But our site is only a couple of acres, so if we had 10-20 acres, we'd probably just stick with the brush hog and do multiple passes. BUT we have 250+ planted saplings that need to be protected, so the large tractor/brush hog is sometimes too big to get in between the trees. This is where the belly mower has really helped. I'll attach a picture here, and then some more: Here's the small tractor/brush hog from Dutchess. The weeds were originally 6'-10' tall. [attachment]1.JPG[/attachment]

Here's where there were no trees, so we used the larger tractor. But like you said, it was a little more rough. [attachment]2.JPG[/attachment]

Here's the belly mower we used to keep it maintained after the tractors did the heavy lifting. [attachment]3.JPG[/attachment]

Check ou AEBI New England for mowers that can go up 60% slopes or more, if you can.

wow, buckle your seat belt!

As long as you use tree tubes, it makes sense to let GOATS mow the land, while you enjoy watching them.

Yes, goats are an increasingly popular way to control unwanted vegetation. The City of Albany hired a Catskills based farm to help control vegetation on one of their dams. The article can be read here.