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What I am seeing is the most standout hedge-cutting outfit in the country, which consists of two Massey Ferguson 6615 tractors painted in day-glow orange fitted with two McConnell hedge cutters. These machines have been travelling up and down the M9 since 2015. They are owned by Holden plant hire in Kilkenny and are hired to and operated by Eigis Lagan.
When I was given the opportunity to go out on the road with Eigis Lagan for a few hours and sit up in one of the orange ladies, I couldn’t turn down that offer. The first thing I noticed as I climbed up into the Massey was how clean the cab was in comparison to your normal agri-tractor. These machines very rarely leave the hard shoulder of the motorway.
IPVs
Once on the move the two hedge cutters stay close together and are followed by an impact protection vehicle (IPV). This is a special truck with a crash structure built into the bed of it. This also has a sign on the back of it to warn following traffic to stay out from the machines at work. This is essential as the hedge cutters are travelling at between 8km/hr and 10km/h which explains why I have only ever seen a glimpse of orange while driving by.
From inside the tractors the speed at which the cars and lorries go by is breath-taking for the first while but the everyday driver of the machine said that after a while, you don’t notice them. The two machines cover between 20km and 30km per day depending on where there is an exit junction to get the machines off the road overnight.
Obstacle course
When cutting, the operator is constantly busy as there are more obstacles along the edge of a motorway than you would have ever thought possible – from manholes, signposts to crash barriers. Each of these have to be expertly manoeuvred around so as not to damage the obstacle or the hedge cutter. The M9 is 111km from top to bottom, so the round trip to cut the verges is 222km. This on average takes them nine days to do and is undertaken at least six times during the growing season. The larger areas of greenery are tackled with a newly purchased Major Cyclone. The day before the hedge cutters arrive, a team of litter pickers clears any debris from the cutting area so as to lower the risk of damage to machines or passing cars.
Models
These are two serious hedge-cutting outfits, the first hedge cutter is a McConnel PA7285T-VFR. This hedge cutter offers the big advantage of a variable-reach forward arm. This design allows the operator to move the hedge-cutter head to a working position alongside the door or further forward.
This is the machine that I was sitting in and Donal McDonald, its operator, said the forward reaching arm was very useful for working behind barriers and other obstacles. Donal also said that he has driven many different hedge cutters over the years and this McConnel was the smoothest and easiest to control. The other hedge cutter in this fleet is a McConnel 6570.
This is a standard arm machine and cleans up anything that the bigger forward arm machine can’t reach The only place where this was an issue was on the forward-side of a pole where the angle of the arm didn’t allow the bigger machine to cut right back to the base of it.
The tractors
The two hedge cutters are fitted on the very distinctive orange Massey Fergusons which have 150hp units. Both tractors have more than enough power for their respective mounted machines. One of the tractors is on road tyres and the other is on agri-tyres. Donal has noticed that the agri-tyres have tended to wear on the load-bearing side of the tractor, and on the forward arm machine the front left agri tyre has had to be replaced after only 1,100 odd hours.
The tractor with the road tyres has shown little or no wear on the tyres in the three years and 900 hours it has done so far. Both tractors are very low hours as this is the only work they do and they are rarely disconnected from their hedge cutters. Having only ever flashed by these machines on my daily commute, I would have thought that it couldn’t be a very interesting or exciting place to be. However, having spent some time on the road with the lads from Eigis Lagan, I can see that these are serious machines working in a harsh and slightly dangerous environment.
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