MAJOR Rotary Hedge Cutter delivers the ideal finish and savings for hedge maintenance contractor Michael Tomlinson in West Midlands.
When it comes to hedge-cutting, Michael Tomlinson is a perfectionist: what he doesn’t know about trimming hedges isn’t worth knowing. Since starting in 1982, his business has grown to serve a wide range of agricultural and rural clients in Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Warkwickshire. He also contracts annual hedge maintenance programmes for local golf courses, parish churches and manufacturing facilities.
“We generally start the hedge-trimming process from July, right through to the following March,” commented Michael Tomlinson. “We work on all kinds of hedging styles and types, so we need the right equipment to maintain our level of finish and provide the ultimate customer satisfaction. I take a lot of pride in my work and I want my customers to love what I do so they come back to me year after year.”
Limitations of flail head systems
Up until 2023, Michael solely used flail heads on contracts. These cutting heads were used to maintain hawthorn hedging which is typical of farms. Suburban properties are more varied with evergreen hedges using Leylandii, laurels and other species. Flail mowers on these hedges produced a poor finish, often leaving a lot of often large leftover clippings
“Using a flail hedge-cutter head on typical thorn hedges is fine, but it doesn’t perform on many evergreen hedges,” said Michael. “We found the rotating flails would create a draft, causing the tips of the hedges to blow away from the blades. As a result it was often difficult to maintain a straight, neat cut. Also, there would be large clumps of un-mulched clippings that would collect and leave an unsightly mess, which is typical for a single rotor flail machine. So we had to do something about improving our service because it needs to be a professional finish every time.”
Michael learnt that a hedge cutter unit was being launched by Major Equipment through his machinery dealer G Richardson Agri Ltd., in Cheshire. As an owner of a 2.8m front mounted Major Cyclone which he uses on grass maintenance projects, Michael knew this hedge cutter unit would be an excellent consideration.
MAJOR MJ39 Rotary Hedge cutter
The MJ39 Rotary Hedge Cutter is designed to fit on most power arms without modification. The head has a total width of 1.6m and a working width of 1.43m. It requires 36hp to drive and an oil flow of 80 litres per minute at a maximum 170 bar pressure.
Gear box driveline powers the twin rotors with eight blades spinning at 82 m/s ensuring a clean cut with maximum mulching. An adjustable front hood, hydraulically or manually enabled, control the amount of vegetation to be cut.
The full-length roller provides eliminates scalping when used for verge work. The roller can be moved up and away for hedge cutting.
Like all Major Equipment products, the MJ39 is built with durable components. The deck is made of Strenx® 700MC high performance steel and Hardox® skids ensure abrasion resistance when working on uneven terrain. Fully galvanised finish extends the working life.
“The hedge cutter requires much less oil flow to the head drive and therefore much less engine power, so immediately I’m saving on fuel costs.”
MJ39 delivers immediate cost efficiencies
Michael put the MJ39 on his Shelbourne Reynolds HD 865 VFRT arm mounted on his John Deere 6140R tractor. “It was just a matter of removing the flail head and re-attaching the Major rotary head,” continued Michael.
“I immediately saw how it required much less oil flow to the head drive and therefore much less engine power,” enthused Michael. “So I thought this would likely save me a lot of money in reduced fuel costs.”
“Once we started using it, we could see immediate savings,” he continued. “Compared with our flail heads, we were saving ninety-eight pounds (£98.00) per week on fuel costs alone purely because it was so much easier to drive,” exclaimed Michael. “It mulched the evergreen clippings about the same as a flail head, but taking into consideration the fuel savings alone, on an annual basis, we are saving as much money that would buy the equivalent of another Major hedge-cutter head for free, and that’s impressive!”
Minimal maintenance produces further savings
“The maintenance time and costs on the Major head are much lower compared with flail type heads. Firstly, there is only one grease point that needs a pump, once a month. Day-to-day maintenance of the rotors take about a minute and a half on each rotor. The blades are easy to sharpen compared to flail heads. Also, the cost of a set of blades on the Major is less than £160, whereas the cost of replacement blades on a flail head is in the region of £350 – £400 and take a lot longer to replace.”
“We’ve put over 250 hours on the Major already and the blades are still perfectly good. No real signs of wear. Don’t get me wrong, we still use both heads according to the type of hedge we are trimming, but I’m mightily impressed with both the performance and the lower cost of the Major. I’m sold on it.”
“One thing I really notice between the two heads is that, when I have finished working the flail head, the oil cooler fan on the tractor carries on working for quite some time. Comparing the same function when coming out of work with the Major head, the fan hangs briefly. So overall, I think we are getting less stress on the tractor and components but as good and often better results from the rotary head, depending on type of hedge.”