Increasing mowing capacity is one area Irish contractors are investing in more in recent years, mainly because of the requirement for speed and the need for higher throughput. This drive, for the most part, isn’t down to increased acreage but down to the need to drop a large number of acres in a short period – due to weather, for instance.
Years ago, contractors could work the mowers days in advance of harvesters or balers, whereas now the process has become more ad hoc.
We caught up with Jonny and Philip, two out of the six brothers involved in Killen Bros contracting. Based in New Buildings, Co Derry, the family team operates a large contracting service alongside a 500-cow dairy herd. The majority of contract work undertaken is slurry and pit silage.
Keeping ahead of two foragers, lifting in the region of 12,000 acres annually, the Killens require substantial mowing power. To do this, the business has three mowing setups, two of which are butterfly units, a Krone EasyCut B 870 CV (8.7m) and an EasyCut B 1000 CV (10.10m). Alongside these is a Krone Big M 420 (9.7m) which has recently been upgraded to the newer 450 (9.95m) model for the coming season.
The Killens have replaced their Big M 420 for the new 450 model for the coming season. / Phill Doyle
Krone Big M
A Big M has been part of the fleet for five years now, originally the older mark ll model before upgrading to a secondhand 420 for the 2019 season. The reason for buying secondhand was because they didn’t know at the time if the initial investment of buying new could be justified over another tractor and set of butterflies. Philip noted that the older Krone Big Ms based on their experience hadn’t been all that reliable but that said, a good machine once going.
The 420 was an improvement but not without its own issues too, Philip said. During the 2019 season, the brothers got a demonstration of the new 450 as part of the “mowing the country” tour.
“It was like owning a Rover and getting a drive in a Mercedes,” said Jonny. Everything from operator comfort to its mower setup, power and fuel consumption seems to have improved, he noted. Being pleasantly surprised with its improvements, the decision was made since to place an order for a 450 for the coming 2020 season.
Butterflies
With the volume of grass being cut annually, more than just a Big M is needed. Keeping to Krone, the Killens run two sets of butterfly mowers, a set of EasyCut B 1000 CV (10.10m) now going into their third season and a set of EasyCut B 870 CV (8.7m) bought new last season. Up until now, both mowers were on 7726 Massey Fergusons which Jonny said were well fit to run them, although running the B 1000s on a hot day would see the 7726 struggling to stay cool. Power certainly won’t be an issue this year because they recently purchased a new 405hp Massey Ferguson 8740S. Philip said the 8740S’s main purpose will be running the larger butterfly mowers before ploughing duties on the six-furrow Lemken.
Positives and negatives
The Killens feel that both a Big M and Butterflies have a place. In their case, they feel it justifies to keep one Big M, but only one. “It just wouldn’t add up financially to have two Big Ms in the yard. One makes sense as it works hard all summer mowing roughly 6,000 acres but after that the butterflies suit best, cutting roughly 6,000 acres between them annually. We’d have the tractors there anyway and mowers are only a fraction of the cost of buying another Big M. On top of that the two tractors are there to be made use of when not mowing,” Jonny said.
Philip explained how the butterflies in some places run the Big M tight in terms of comparable output.
“If you’re in a big field, the tractor and mowers are well able to keep up with the 420; maybe this will be a different story this year with the 450. The Big M comes into its own in the smaller fields and mowing out the headlands. We’d typically send the Big M to the smaller fields given its manoeuvrability and its ability to side-shift its mowers, reducing slivers of uncut grass.”
In terms of operator comfort and visibility, the brothers feel that this is where the Big M excels.
“After all, the Big M is a purpose-built machine. You are sitting up front watching each mower and all that comes towards you. This is something you’ll not get with front and rear mower combinations but from the control aspect it’s almost as good, depending on the tractor. When using Isobus, mower functions can be assigned to buttons on the tractor’s joystick,” Jonny noted.
The Killens reckon that the Big M 420 is that bit easier on diesel than the 7726s and butterflies. On average, the 420 is burning 5l an acre, where the 7726 and larger B 1000s are burning in the region of 6l or slightly more. Philip reckons that this year the new Big M with its 450hp Liebherr engine will burn less diesel compared to the old 420 judging by the demo last season. Similarly, the addition of the 8740S and its 405hp on the butterflies will burn less fuel compared to the 280hp 7726.
Big M
Advantages
Manoeuvrability in small fields.Operator visibility and comfort.Throughput.Disadvantages
Initial buying cost.Higher servicing cost.Butterflies and tractor
Advantages
Lower initial cost.Flexibility of the tractor at other times during the year.Disadvantages
Manoeuvrability isn’t as good.Visibility of each mower isn’t as good as a Big M.Weight distribution isn’t as good as a Big M.Verdict
Even to this day, the Killen brothers remain divided in the opinion of whether a Big M is worth the investment over a good butterfly setup.
Philip laughed and said “three of us were for a new big M and three weren’t. It just so happened that Christopher who drives the current Big M was in favour of another one”.
Everyone has a different opinion and preference. Some will want to make use of tractors in the fleet (if available) and opt for butterflies, others will want to save or free up that tractor and opt for a Big M. There is no right or wrong – both methods are a serious way of mowing grass fast.
In some cases, the initial outlay of a new Big M will be greater than a new butterfly unit and tractor. This will obviously vary depending on brand and spec.
High output
But for many contractors having a high-output machine dedicated to mowing makes more sense than owning a 250-300hp tractor which is likely to sit up anyway for the rest of the year.
For many contractors, butterflies remain the most attractive solution from a financial point of view which is key in their decision-making, even more so if there is a tractor in the fleet up to the job.
The debate continues. Each setup has its own positives and negatives, but the fact that over 20 new Big Ms were registered in 2019, an increase from 13 units in 2018, says something in its own right.
Increasing mowing capacity is one area Irish contractors are investing in more in recent years, mainly because of the requirement for speed and the need for higher throughput. This drive, for the most part, isn’t down to increased acreage but down to the need to drop a large number of acres in a short period – due to weather, for instance.
Years ago, contractors could work the mowers days in advance of harvesters or balers, whereas now the process has become more ad hoc.
We caught up with Jonny and Philip, two out of the six brothers involved in Killen Bros contracting. Based in New Buildings, Co Derry, the family team operates a large contracting service alongside a 500-cow dairy herd. The majority of contract work undertaken is slurry and pit silage.
Keeping ahead of two foragers, lifting in the region of 12,000 acres annually, the Killens require substantial mowing power. To do this, the business has three mowing setups, two of which are butterfly units, a Krone EasyCut B 870 CV (8.7m) and an EasyCut B 1000 CV (10.10m). Alongside these is a Krone Big M 420 (9.7m) which has recently been upgraded to the newer 450 (9.95m) model for the coming season.
The Killens have replaced their Big M 420 for the new 450 model for the coming season. / Phill Doyle
Krone Big M
A Big M has been part of the fleet for five years now, originally the older mark ll model before upgrading to a secondhand 420 for the 2019 season. The reason for buying secondhand was because they didn’t know at the time if the initial investment of buying new could be justified over another tractor and set of butterflies. Philip noted that the older Krone Big Ms based on their experience hadn’t been all that reliable but that said, a good machine once going.
The 420 was an improvement but not without its own issues too, Philip said. During the 2019 season, the brothers got a demonstration of the new 450 as part of the “mowing the country” tour.
“It was like owning a Rover and getting a drive in a Mercedes,” said Jonny. Everything from operator comfort to its mower setup, power and fuel consumption seems to have improved, he noted. Being pleasantly surprised with its improvements, the decision was made since to place an order for a 450 for the coming 2020 season.
Butterflies
With the volume of grass being cut annually, more than just a Big M is needed. Keeping to Krone, the Killens run two sets of butterfly mowers, a set of EasyCut B 1000 CV (10.10m) now going into their third season and a set of EasyCut B 870 CV (8.7m) bought new last season. Up until now, both mowers were on 7726 Massey Fergusons which Jonny said were well fit to run them, although running the B 1000s on a hot day would see the 7726 struggling to stay cool. Power certainly won’t be an issue this year because they recently purchased a new 405hp Massey Ferguson 8740S. Philip said the 8740S’s main purpose will be running the larger butterfly mowers before ploughing duties on the six-furrow Lemken.
Positives and negatives
The Killens feel that both a Big M and Butterflies have a place. In their case, they feel it justifies to keep one Big M, but only one. “It just wouldn’t add up financially to have two Big Ms in the yard. One makes sense as it works hard all summer mowing roughly 6,000 acres but after that the butterflies suit best, cutting roughly 6,000 acres between them annually. We’d have the tractors there anyway and mowers are only a fraction of the cost of buying another Big M. On top of that the two tractors are there to be made use of when not mowing,” Jonny said.
Philip explained how the butterflies in some places run the Big M tight in terms of comparable output.
“If you’re in a big field, the tractor and mowers are well able to keep up with the 420; maybe this will be a different story this year with the 450. The Big M comes into its own in the smaller fields and mowing out the headlands. We’d typically send the Big M to the smaller fields given its manoeuvrability and its ability to side-shift its mowers, reducing slivers of uncut grass.”
In terms of operator comfort and visibility, the brothers feel that this is where the Big M excels.
“After all, the Big M is a purpose-built machine. You are sitting up front watching each mower and all that comes towards you. This is something you’ll not get with front and rear mower combinations but from the control aspect it’s almost as good, depending on the tractor. When using Isobus, mower functions can be assigned to buttons on the tractor’s joystick,” Jonny noted.
The Killens reckon that the Big M 420 is that bit easier on diesel than the 7726s and butterflies. On average, the 420 is burning 5l an acre, where the 7726 and larger B 1000s are burning in the region of 6l or slightly more. Philip reckons that this year the new Big M with its 450hp Liebherr engine will burn less diesel compared to the old 420 judging by the demo last season. Similarly, the addition of the 8740S and its 405hp on the butterflies will burn less fuel compared to the 280hp 7726.
Big M
Advantages
Manoeuvrability in small fields.Operator visibility and comfort.Throughput.Disadvantages
Initial buying cost.Higher servicing cost.Butterflies and tractor
Advantages
Lower initial cost.Flexibility of the tractor at other times during the year.Disadvantages
Manoeuvrability isn’t as good.Visibility of each mower isn’t as good as a Big M.Weight distribution isn’t as good as a Big M.Verdict
Even to this day, the Killen brothers remain divided in the opinion of whether a Big M is worth the investment over a good butterfly setup.
Philip laughed and said “three of us were for a new big M and three weren’t. It just so happened that Christopher who drives the current Big M was in favour of another one”.
Everyone has a different opinion and preference. Some will want to make use of tractors in the fleet (if available) and opt for butterflies, others will want to save or free up that tractor and opt for a Big M. There is no right or wrong – both methods are a serious way of mowing grass fast.
In some cases, the initial outlay of a new Big M will be greater than a new butterfly unit and tractor. This will obviously vary depending on brand and spec.
High output
But for many contractors having a high-output machine dedicated to mowing makes more sense than owning a 250-300hp tractor which is likely to sit up anyway for the rest of the year.
For many contractors, butterflies remain the most attractive solution from a financial point of view which is key in their decision-making, even more so if there is a tractor in the fleet up to the job.
The debate continues. Each setup has its own positives and negatives, but the fact that over 20 new Big Ms were registered in 2019, an increase from 13 units in 2018, says something in its own right.
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