There’s more to hedge trimming than running a flail near it – the direction of cut is also important. For one farmer/contractor having a right hand cut was deemed to be essential.
Last October, farmer and contractor Roger Hicks took delivery of a new Shelbourne Reynolds PowerBlade hedge trimmer complete with a telescopic boom, which enables the machine to work at an impressive reach of 6m. Yet, while being standard in every other way, this particular machine was built to operate from the right hand side of the tractor – standard machines work from the left. The reason why it was specified as a right hand machine will soon become clear.
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Based at Pilning, a stone’s throw from the banks of the Severn Estuary, Mr Hicks and his son Edward, run a 300 acre farm and a general contracting business. The farm comprises a combination of wheat and barley crops along with a grassland area which supports a beef fattening enterprise.
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One of the features of the farm is its multitude of small fields and, as a consequence, several miles of hedges which need to be maintained in good order.“The largest field on the farm is just 14 acres,” points out Mr Hicks. “But the average would be nearer six or seven acres.”As a result, hedge trimming at home has always taken on a certain importance – one of the annual tasks required to keep the farm tidy and businesslike and it made sense then that hedge trimming should also form one of the services offered in Mr Hicks’ contractor business. A business which includes forage harvesting, big square baling and muck spreading.
“We first saw the PowerBlade on display at the Royal Welsh Show and thought it looked the business,” he says. “But I was conscious that being a left hand machine it would be cutting all the hedges we have been involved in the ‘wrong’ way and not leaving a very tidy job as a result. All our previous machines operated from the right and, over the years, the growth has become trained in that direction.” Shelbourne duly obliged with the right hand build and, on its arrival, the machine was linked to a 110hp Massey Ferguson 6265 and handed over to son Edward to operate. “The first thing I noted was just how easy the machine was to control,” comments Edward. “The joystick with its button extension control, plus the buttons for float, re-set and stop, are all conveniently placed in the right hand arm rest. After an about half a day the controls became almost second nature.” Electronic proportional control which can be adjusted in terms of response appears to have made a favourable impression.
Edward also points out that the machine’s ability to telescope away from the tractor is a key feature and says that for some of the work he is asked to do it is absolutely essential. “There are hedges in the area with wide ditches between them and the field boundary which means there is quite a reach to get to the hedge side and top. This requires the boom to be fully extended,” he explains, but surprisingly perhaps, the ability to extend and retract the boom also offers benefits when cutting close to the hedge. “Without the telescopic ability, the boom would have to be raised to a very high position to cut close into a hedge – which would mean wires and overhanging tree branches could catch on it,” he explains. At the business end, the 1.2m flail head is fitted with reversible flails allowing them to be turned if required or used with the flail running in the opposite direction – when verge mowing, for example. “It is a very good flail head with which it is easy to make a good tidy job,” says Edward. “I do make sure the flails are kept sharp though.”
Since its arrival, the PowerBlade has clocked up an estimated 400 hours – about half of what Mr Hicks expects will be its annual total. “We try and look after our machinery well with regular maintenance and attention,” he says. “To date though, there has been little more required than regular greasing. I feel that we have a strongly constructed machine which should be with us for quite a few years.”