Halifax-based contractor GVA is the first UK customer for Mulag’s new Eco 1200 plus mowing head. Designed to protect insects and other creatures, the new head will be used on roadside verges across northern England.
Delivered by South Cave Tractors (sole UK importer of the German manufacturer’s verge maintenance equipment), the Eco 1200 (1.2m) is fitted to a Mulag SB600 suction mower. The mechanical scourer fitted ahead of the disc mower is there to chase up insects in the grass before the cut material is sucked up from above. The cutting surface of the new disc blades is approximately 50 times smaller than that of a flail mower, which is more commonly used to undertake such work.
Cutting heights above 10cm has been found to greatly increase the chances of survival for creatures living in and on the grass. The new head is designed to cut no lower than this and German university tests confirmed that in comparison with a standard mower, the new head results in a reduction of between 20% and 80% in losses of spiders and most insect groups.
The Mulag SB600 suction mower was also supplied by South Cave Tractors, of Brough, East Yorkshire, as was the Mercedes-Benz Unimog on which it is mounted. The vehicle pulls a Harsh drawbar trailer with grass collection box.
The cut and collect set-up being used by GVA already sucked up the cut grass, then scarifying the ground ready for planting with wildflower seeds. “The Eco head technology takes environmental compatibility to another level, by extracting considerably fewer bugs than other, more conventional equipment,” comments South Cave Tractors managing director Tony Levitt.
