Owners of commercial mowing businesses know having reliable and durable machinery at each cutting job is paramount. Greg McCann has been mowing contracting for over 30 years in Central Waikato in North Island, New Zealand. He provides professional grass maintenance services for parks and sports grounds, schools and lifestyle blocks, and industrial premises such as construction sites, utilities and transport. “Clients would expect us to be on the job every week, especially when you are doing schools, cricket and soccer fields,” Greg stated. “You know you can’t have a hold up so you need a machine that’s not going to break down and let you down.”
The Major Swift roller mower is a gear driven mower built for high-output use in areas such as parks, schools and sports grounds. Said Greg, “Andrew Giltrap got me onto Major and got the ball rolling on this one. The beauty of the Major 4.1 Swift is it’s not belt driven. You don’t have to worry about it – you just go. To be honest, it’s actually quite an incredible mower. It makes a beautiful job; we’re pretty wrapped with it really.”
Major’s unique, patented swinging blade design easily copes with heavy grass while leaving a professional striped finish every time. “You can go into a paddock with grass about 10-inches high. And if you stick it in first gear it will grind it off the ground, mulch it all up, and put it all out the back,” Greg continued. “The blades on it are real robust. Like if you hit something real hard, it might put a little ding in the blade but the shear pin system will allow you to continue mowing and give a beautiful bowling green finish.”
Users frequently comment highly on how the winged, three point linkage Swift roller mower delivers considerable time and cost savings. “We’ve found this machine to be time saving. We do a lot of work for highway management agencies and they’ve got a lot of land that’s quite long. So my operator, Andrew Goodland, he can get in that tractor and he just grinds the way through it. And that’s where we pick up the time,” enthused Greg.
“It’s great that being a 3pt linkage we can back into corners,” Greg added. “It saves me bringing my other little machines in to tidy up. You can just pick it up, back in, put it down and go again. You’ve squared your corners and you’re not leaving anything behind – that’s pretty much a fully finished job.”
Professional mowing crews frequently travel from one job to the next and need a robust machine that can handle multiple road trips quickly and safely. Greg remarked, “We can fold the Major Swift up when travelling on the road. It’s narrower than the tractor so you’re not worrying about hanging out when you go around corners and stuff like that. It’s nice and easy to use. It’s a reasonably weighty mower on the back of the tractor but it still travels well. We don’t run any weights on the front of the tractor or anything like that. No water in the wheels either. We don’t get a lot of bouncing on the road – the road has to be very, very rough before you get to the point where you have to slow down.”
Major machinery are renowned for its excellent build quality, another advantage for Greg and his crew. “Overall build quality is excellent!” exclaimed Greg. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve spent money on it. I’ve probably only spent money on blades. We’re getting up to 3 months on a set of blades, whereas the other machines, we could blow out a set of blades in 2 weeks. And the blades are easy – you just take them off and put new ones on.”
Efficiency is critical for professional mowers and the operational ease of all Major machinery helps eliminate down time. “It’s way simpler than the last machine. Greasing and general maintenance is so easy. And I can adjust the height of the whole mower in probably 20 minutes. For day to day, the Swift mower is just absolutely fantastic,” Greg raves. “All you need is a good rattle gun – or socket and spanner – and the job’s done.”
“I’d recommend Major mowers to farmers, councils, and private operators. I’ll definitely put my name on it. Major machinery are excellent. I won’t be changing for quite a while,” Greg concluded.