New 3.0m Cs Pro transforms the mowing efficiency for sports turf contractor Parker Pitches in East Anglia.
Parkers Pitches is a busy commercial operation delivering high quality sports turf management services across East Anglia. The company started as a father-and-son operation in 2015 and now has five full time staff offering maintenance of all sports turf surfaces including renovations, drainage work and construction on just about any sport playing on natural grass.
“We’re based in Suffolk, but we cover all of East Anglia,” owner Will Parker begins. They offer full mowing services on a wide range of surfaces from golf greens to rugby. School sites with rugby, cricket and football pitches keep Will and his team busy.
Today, he’s working at Ipswich Rugby Club, about 30 miles away from their Woolpit depot. The club runs one of the largest youth and mini sections in the Eastern Counties. It also has active senior men’s and women’s sessions playing nearly every weekend.
“We offer full contract mowing here at Ipswich, which is a 7-hectare site,” continues Will. He used to use a 1.9m mower to keep it trimmed 45mm to 50mm. “We found we’re not getting through the ground quick enough – it would take all day to cut this site”.
Some sections of the site were pretty rough. “Lighter weight mowers seem to bounce along so we had to crawl along the work to get a higher quality finish,” added Will.
With more clients requesting mowing services on larger sites as well, it was time to find a wider mower that would be able to deliver higher output without compromising on quality of cut. It also had to be transportable by trailer.
There weren’t many options on the market. “The options for foldable mowers were too wide and couldn’t be transported on a trailer,” explains Will. “Triple deck options were trailed and too long.”
“The Major CS Pro was the only option on the market.”
The only option on the market was the Major CS Pro. Will knew of the build quality of Major Equipment machinery and expected no less from the CS PRO. “We used to have a 8400 Major Roller Mower. It was very old but kept going and did a good job right to its death,” Will recounts.
The CS Pro is a multipurpose mower for compact tractors. The 3.0m model requires a minimum of 30-hp on 540 PTO. The machine has 4 rotors – two in the middle deck and one on each wing – fitted with 16 blades capable of cutting, chopping and shredding dense vegetation yet precise for fine turf applications. Front and rear rollers on each deck eliminate scalping and produce a striped finish.
Wings can be folded up to 2.0m transport width. Body produced from high-performance Strenx™ 700 MC structural steel makes it stronger yet light enough to fit onto a trailer. Its galvanised finish protects the machine from corrosion, extending the life of the unit.
Local dealer TNS demonstrated the machine a few months ago. “We decided to buy it and we haven’t looked back since,” exclaims Will.
“We’ve almost halved our time mowing the whole site.”
“With this mower we are able to save fuel and time,” enthuses Will. “With the 3.0m CS Pro we can cut this site in 4 to 5 hours. It used to take a whole day! Now we can go to a second site on the same day which saves a massive amount of time and effort for us.”
The build and weight combined with the gear-box driveline means no reduction in power and cutting performance when going over rough ground. “The mower cuts very well and the spread is very even across the rear without leaving clumps,” continues Will. “The rollers are very heavy duty, they take all the bumps very well. And the bearing system is very strong.”
The CS Pro is mainly powered by the 40-hp Iseki tractor in the fleet. “There’s more than enough power to cut the sports turf we cut. It runs absolutely fine on our 35-hp tractors as well.”
“The CS Pro is great! It has transformed the mowing side of our business especially when the growing periods are strong. We can get over the work quickly and still offer the high quality of cut we’re giving our customers.”
“We recommend the CS Pro to any sports club with wide areas to cut. From 20mm to 80mm it will do a great job. We couldn’t ask for anything more from this mower.”