An agricultural machine (10) or, particularly, a mower for an agricultural machine includes a primary frame (13), a mowing unit (14) mounting a cutterbar therein, an adjustable element (17) and a tilt sensor (19). The adjustable element is adjustable in response to a signal from the sensor to re-configure a mowing angle between the cutterbar and/or mowing unit and a ground surface. Such reconfiguration results in adjusting an effective stubble height of the mower. The adjustable element may be positioned between the primary frame (13) and the agricultural machine (10) or between the primary frame (13) and the mowing unit (14). In the latter case the adjustable element (17) provides independent adjustment of a tilt angle of the mowing unit to a primary actuator (A).

A wide area turf mower (10) has a wheel supported main frame (12) and cutting units (22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34) movably connected to the main frame (12) and positioned in rows (36, 38, 40) in a staggered order to form a mower cutting configuration for cutting a continuous swath of turf between any two outer cutting units (26, 32) located respectively on opposite sides of the main frame (12). One row (38) of the cutting units comprises a first pair of interconnected outer and inner cutting units (26, 28) at a first side (18) of the main frame (12) and a second pair of interconnected inner and outer cutting units (30, 32) at the second side (20) of the main frame (12). The inner cutting units (28, 30) are pivotally connected to the main frame and the outer cutting units (26, 32) are pivotally connected to a respective inner cutting unit (28, 30). Hydraulic cylinders (42, 44) cause the outer cutting units (26, 32) to fold in a direction towards the rear end of the main frame (12). Hydraulic cylinders (50, 52) cause the inner cutting units (28, 30) to lift in an upward direction. A controller operates all of the hydraulic cylinders.

A system and method according to one embodiment are provided in a vehicle to perform a two-stage cut of grass or other vegetation in a field or lawn. The first stage may be a coarse cut stage, and the second stage may be a finish cut stage. The first and second stages may be conducted by separate cutting configurations. For instance, the first cutting configuration or coarse cutting configuration may be a flail mower configuration, and the second cutting configuration or finish cutting configuration may be a rotary cutting configuration.