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The time of the year has come when nature outstrips machine and animal!  The growth rates of pasture are phenomenal currently and as you drive around the countryside and see lush pasture literally climbing out of the ground, it is clear to see that no amount of intensive stocking rate can keep up with this level of growth.

While this seasonal flush needs to be harvested by the herd as efficiently as possible, and surplus put in the bunker, it is also critical to managing the grass quality to ensure milk production keeps climbing.  A drop off in quality and production quickly becomes evident, and this translates to milk in the vat and dollars in the bank!  Long growth and the stalkier seedhead is not as palatable to high performing dairy cows.

This brings us to the question of how you can efficiently get across a large milking platform on today’s 1,000 cow plus intensive dairy farm? Topping grass in spring/summer to control pasture quality is a critical function in today’s large scale dairy operation with some of these having a lot of hectares to top in a day.

Topping with conventional disc or drum mowers can be quite demanding on these machines, as it is often carried out at a higher speed, especially in regions with stones or recently converted farms. Tying up a valuable labour unit for hours at a time topping can also put pressure on other farm operations.

The answer is the 6.0mtr MZ 6000 heavy-duty topper/mulcher from Bednar, with a good number of these robust units performing on large scale pastoral farms nationwide for the past 5-6 years, and some having clocked up over 5000 ha of operation.  These 6.0mtr machines are delivering an impressively clean-cut quality on these farms plus a huge daily throughput of up to 7.0ha/hr! , all with as little as 140 horsepower in front!

With a fully hot-dip galvanized body to withstand the effects of manure, rocks, sticks, and weighing in at 3300kg more than twice the weight of equivalent disc mower combinations, these machines are built for years of tough work.  The four massive swinging blades per rotor boast a top speed of 312km/h, and the large heavy anti-scalping saucers and optional hardened underbody protection guarantees a long service life.

The eight transport wheels arranged across the back of the machine, combined with adjustable wing float and parallel linkage lifting on the headlands, mean they do an excellent job of contour following for such a wide machine.  With the outer wings able to still operate at 60 degrees of lift, raised paddock borders, or stop banks can also be reached.

Folding to 2.5mtrs on the road, they have a soft-ride function built into the transport cylinder allowing comfortable road transport at 50km/h.  The convenience of these monster toppers is so quick and easy, only putting a drawbar pin and connecting PTO shaft and away you go.  With impeccable clean cutting at 14km/h a topping work rate of up to 8.0 hectares/hr is achievable without compromising quality.

These machines are equally at home in the mulching blade configuration in heavy crop residue such as maize grain, sweetcorn, cereals, etc.  Finely mulching and evenly spreading heavy residue gives far better organic breakdown and greatly eases the job of cultivation tools.  This has a real appeal to a mixed cropping/livestock operation as the machine is utilized in more roles.

Invest in years of quality topping without the expensive maintenance and regular replacement of your hay mower, with these purpose-built robust machines.

Phone our product specialists today on 0800 424 100 to find out out how you can keep your pasture profitable this spring, and not spend hours in the tractor seat doing it!