Based in Dunmore East, Lindsay Lodge has been operating his small agricultural contracting business for 12 years. Hedge-cutting now accounts for a majority of the workload. He started out with a McConnell hedgecutter, but later made the move to a locally manufactured Arbocut 2000 unit. As he needed a flail cutter and a pole saw, Lindsay opted for the Arbocut 2000 unit, which has both a 22ft pole saw and 5.2 meter flail cutter mounted on the one frame. This provides him with the option to switch between the two cutting methods from the cab, simply by pulling a lever to divert oil flow. Inside the cab, both the pole saw and flail cutter are controlled using electronic proportional joysticks. The 22ft pole saw is useful for cutting large branches and small trees. It is able to cut in excess of 12 inches, but can only move upwards and outwards.
Recently, Lindsay bought a front mounted hedge cutter, another Arbocut 2000 unit, this one slightly smaller in reach at 4.6 meters. Lindsay explained that the build quality and backup service provided by Arbocut was the main reason for buying another one of their machines.
All of Lindsay's hedge-cutters are made locally by Arbocut 2000.
Savings
The addition of the front mounted hedge cutter gives Lindsay the ability to use both flail heads at once when mowing verges or cutting hedges. The front flail head is detachable on a quick hitch design, and can be swapped out for a 2.2m Slane Trac finger bar hedge trimmer. The finger bar trimmer is great for cutting hedges, giving a cleaner cut with its shear-like cutting motion. Lindsay noted that it suits Leylandii hedges well.
Inovation
Having two hedge cutters on the one tractor halves the time spent cutting, as well as saving in fuel used, he said. Inside the tractor’s cab is a busy looking spot, made up of three joysticks, one for the pole saw and one for each hedge cutter front and rear of the tractor.
The multi arm setup is built onto his New Holland TSA 135, having been fitted with front linkage and PTO to accommodate the front hedge cutter. The complete outfit weighs in at 12.5t Lindsay noted, but the extra weight on the front helps balance the tractor , where a full weight carrier was his limit before. Lindsay charges €48 plus VAT per hour for flail cutting and €80 plus VAT per hour for work using the pole saw. At the beginning, according to Lindsay, it took some time to get used to having both the front and rear hedge cutters working at the same time, but after some time it became second nature to him.
Based in Dunmore East, Lindsay Lodge has been operating his small agricultural contracting business for 12 years. Hedge-cutting now accounts for a majority of the workload. He started out with a McConnell hedgecutter, but later made the move to a locally manufactured Arbocut 2000 unit. As he needed a flail cutter and a pole saw, Lindsay opted for the Arbocut 2000 unit, which has both a 22ft pole saw and 5.2 meter flail cutter mounted on the one frame. This provides him with the option to switch between the two cutting methods from the cab, simply by pulling a lever to divert oil flow. Inside the cab, both the pole saw and flail cutter are controlled using electronic proportional joysticks. The 22ft pole saw is useful for cutting large branches and small trees. It is able to cut in excess of 12 inches, but can only move upwards and outwards.
Recently, Lindsay bought a front mounted hedge cutter, another Arbocut 2000 unit, this one slightly smaller in reach at 4.6 meters. Lindsay explained that the build quality and backup service provided by Arbocut was the main reason for buying another one of their machines.
All of Lindsay's hedge-cutters are made locally by Arbocut 2000.
Savings
The addition of the front mounted hedge cutter gives Lindsay the ability to use both flail heads at once when mowing verges or cutting hedges. The front flail head is detachable on a quick hitch design, and can be swapped out for a 2.2m Slane Trac finger bar hedge trimmer. The finger bar trimmer is great for cutting hedges, giving a cleaner cut with its shear-like cutting motion. Lindsay noted that it suits Leylandii hedges well.
Inovation
Having two hedge cutters on the one tractor halves the time spent cutting, as well as saving in fuel used, he said. Inside the tractor’s cab is a busy looking spot, made up of three joysticks, one for the pole saw and one for each hedge cutter front and rear of the tractor.
The multi arm setup is built onto his New Holland TSA 135, having been fitted with front linkage and PTO to accommodate the front hedge cutter. The complete outfit weighs in at 12.5t Lindsay noted, but the extra weight on the front helps balance the tractor , where a full weight carrier was his limit before. Lindsay charges €48 plus VAT per hour for flail cutting and €80 plus VAT per hour for work using the pole saw. At the beginning, according to Lindsay, it took some time to get used to having both the front and rear hedge cutters working at the same time, but after some time it became second nature to him.
SHARING OPTIONS