To make the most of clover in forage for his customers, Phil Hallett of PH Agri based at Aboyne Elberton, Bristol, replaced a front/rear mower conditioner for a plain disc, Kverneland 5087 M triple.
“We had 1,000 acres to mow for one customer, and moving to a plain disc gave the delicate handling required for clover,” explains Phil Hallett. “An added bonus is that we’ve gained a great step-up with productivity, while using less diesel too.”
“The Kverneland 5087 M is a very easy triple mower to use.”
Bought two years ago, the mower is about to start its third season, which will see around 2,700 acres go across the discs. Used on a New Holland T7.225, Phil says the tractor is comfortably on top of the job, and at speeds of up around 16kph, output is consistently 20 acres/hour. “We’re not blessed with generous sized fields, so when we do move, it needs to be a quick fold-up and go, to reduce our downtime,” he adds. He says that the outfit’s three beds match up perfectly, leaving a clean cut while following ground contours extremely well. “The 5087 M is a very easy triple mower to use,” says Phil. “It’s simple to set the float using the springs, and quick-change blades make it easy to stay on top of performance and efficiency.”
“Some customers just don’t place much importance on rolling grass fields in spring, which tends to shorten our blade life,” he adds. “And with 26 discs in total, blade changes really do need to be quick.”
“We do grow some huge grass crops here in the Severn Vale, and I’ve often wondered how effective a conditioner might be when we’ve struggled to push a lot of grass through a mower conditioner in the past,” he says. “And it’s easy to see why, as crop flows through the plain disc mower very easily.”
“The higher output means we can start mowing later, during the best part of the day, which enhances sugar,” he says. “So we’re now making far higher quality forage and saving diesel, by letting good weather do the conditioning for us. This is cost-effective mowing.”
