“With many customers choosing to take more frequent cuts of lighter grass crops, we’ve found that more mowing capacity is needed to keep enough grass in front of our 580hp forager,” explains Andrew. “There was a time when you could mow 150 acres/day and that would be enough – now we need to be capable of mowing up to 250 acres/day when dealing with much lighter crops.” While he continues to run a 6m front/rear combination using a Kverneland 3632FT and a Kverneland 3332MT, the extra fire-power from the Kverneland 53100MT Vario affords a 9.8-10.2m mowing width. Supplied by Mona Tractors, the butterfly outfit uses two 3.6m beds, in combination with a front-mounted 3632FT.
“With the ability to put up to five mower beds on the ground, I can hit spot work rates of 28 acres/hour,” he says. “Though we continue to operate with modest power – a John Deere 6195R is all that’s required to operate the triple.” His logic is simple – make full use of tractor power and keep forward speeds under control to achieve a high quality of cut. It’s a philosophy that avoids shaking operators and equipment to pieces. “Speed is not the key,” he adds. “Matching kit to tractors is far more important. And everything just works so much smoother, and the mowers leave a superior finish.” “Ground contour following is superb with the Race Car suspension, and the Vario frame lets us tweak the butterfly mowers to suit slopes or flat ground,” he adds. “Stubble heights are consistent, and silage quality is maintained.”
“We’ve been really impressed with the quality of cut from all our Kverneland mowers,” he says. “And genuine Kverneland blades still cut well when they’re almost worn out.”
