With extensive green areas to manage, Swansea City and County Council has its work cut out keeping vast swathes of grass looking lush and green.

Five years ago the parks were mown on a weekly basis with gang mowers.  But budget cuts prompted a move to folding rotary mowers.  “Last July we began trialling a selection of machines better able to cope with the heavier workload brought on by the extended cutting cycle,” explained Andrew Collins, assistant central services manager for the City and County of Swansea Council Parks Department.

After some tough testing of four different mowers, it was Major Equipment’s 12000GR roller mower that stood out for its overall performance in the tough conditions and its sturdy build quality.  Mr. Collins initially put in an order for two units which arrived midway through last season.

“They were put to work immediately and instantly proved themselves in heavy, wet grass,” said Andrew. 

With last year’s two machines having proved themselves to be more than capable, this spring the council ordered another pair of mowers.  “So with four MAJOR 12000GR roller mowers we’ll be covering Swansea’s entire parkland area with them from this season on,” concluded Andrew. 

and on lighter stuff from the shorter cycle we were running previously,” said Andrew. 

Belt-driven, these did a reasonably good job with the relatively short grass that would spring up over two to three weeks. However when it came to the latest range of budget cuts in 2014, necessitating a doubling of the interval between mowings, the old machines were just not able to cope.

“We were having problems with the amounts of grass left on top where our previous mowers just weren’t able to do a good job of mulching and spreading it,” explained Andrew Collins, assistant central services manager for the City and County of Swansea Council Parks Department.  “In addition, where the load was so much heavier on the mowers, the belts were slipping and burning out.”

These issues prompted a rethink of the Council’s policy on mowers and last summer

“Last July we had four different mowers in on demonstration, trialing each one on grass grown over a four week period and on lighter stuff from the shorter cycle we were running previously,” said Andrew.  “What became immediately apparent was the need for a robust machine that would be capable of handling everything we would throw at it and that would last a good long time.”

After some tough testing, it was Major Equipment’s 12000GR Roller Mower that stood out for its overall performance in the tough conditions and its sturdy build quality. Given this and the back-up provided by local dealer Ted Hopkins, Mr Collins initially put in an order for two units which arrived midway through last season.

“They were put to work immediately and the new mowers instantly proved themselves in heavy, wet grass. They did the job brilliantly – I’ve never seen clippings disappear like that,” said Andrew.  “Because we’re mulching long grass we need it chopped fine and spread evenly to allow for re-growth and not to cause dead spots,” he explained.

The 12000GR’s twin swinging blade arrangement is felt to be one of two key factors in producing such a good mulching effect. The second is the fact that rather than using a belt drive, each of the three cutting decks is powered by a shaft and protected by overload clutches. This means that the rotors don’t slow or stall when heavy grass is encountered, maintaining a decent mulch quality and an even spread.

That allows the mowers to run at a good 8-12kph, comfortably covering the ground in the limited time available. In just one season, each unit will clock up some 700-800 hours cutting time.

The other key improvement is the move to a trailed format rather than the mounted arrangement of the old mowers.        

“Being trailed, the MAJOR mowers are much more stable and put less weight on the tractor. Our operators are happy because they travel so much better on the road – there’s no bounce,” explained Andrew.

“They’re no wider than the old gang mowers so they’re easy to manoeuvre, even with our tight gateways to some of the parks.  Importantly from a health and safety perspective they can be jacked up and propped for servicing and blade sharpening without a tractor on the front,” said Andrew.

As regards servicing, the maintenance requirement is pretty low. Even after half a season’s work (approx. 400hours work) there’s been no need to change the tempered steel blades. And of course there are no belts to tension, adjust or replace.

And as regards back-up should something go wrong, Andrew and his team has the peace of mind from his previous dealings with Ted Hopkins Ltd.

“We get fantastic service, the parts department is brilliant and any issues are always sorted quickly,” he said. 

But where the MAJOR roller mowers really shine is their quality of cut and ability to cover the ground quickly with the extended cutting cycle. With last year’s two machines having proved themselves to be more than capable, this spring the council ordered another pair of mowers.  “So with four MAJOR 12000GR roller mowers we’ll be covering Swansea’s entire parkland area with them from this season on,” concluded Andrew.