Front mowers: Front mowers with more go

It goes without saying that front mowers increase mowing output to match the pace of harvest offered by high capacity balers and foragers or to take advantage of weather windows in a catchy season. With the wide range of sizes on the market they can be an equally good addition for a trailed or mounted mower on tight, undulating fields as for a butterfly combination on more expansive acreages, making use of commonly-available tractor front linkages.

Attachment of the mower to the tractor’s front linkage is key, enabling the cutterbar to travel over undulating ground smoothly without scalping, handle side slopes and offering some protection when meeting and obstacle such as a large rock, although some mowers also have additional impact systems within the mower bed itself. For more even terrain, a push-type headstock with spring suspension provides flotation and can lift upwards to clear an obstacle.

Most manufacturers now offer a ‘pull-type’ headstock range, using a trailing linkage to attach the mower bed to the headstock. This offers increased oscillation both fore and aft and side-to-side, and may incorporate either spring or hydro-pneumatic suspension to tackle undulating land and work at higher forward speeds. The trade-off is that these systems are both heavier and more costly.

Claas

The Disco Move front mower, available with or without conditioner, incorporates a design that allows the mower to move over a range of 1,000mm independent of the tractor linkage, so ensuring optimum contour following