5.5m Mowing Bucket Trims Weeding Costs

For Andy Price, Operations Manager of the South Holland Internal Drainage Board, a trip to Mastenbroek’s Environmental Polder Day last July, proved a real cost cutter.

Seeing Herder’s new 5.5m mowing bucket, he immediately recognised its potential benefits over the 4.2m versions he was currently employing on more than 700km of Fenland and marsh drainage channels. Six months and around 180km later he can show impressive operational savings to the tune of £57 a kilometre: £234.60 compared with £292.23 with a 4.2m mowing bucket.

The 5.5m mowing bucket is used on the Board’s Volvo EC 210 CL tracked excavator. This is SHIDB’s main bank maintenance machine so the quick fix mounting is particularly useful allowing easy replacement with tree trimmer, buckets etc. The Volvo has a 12m reach comprising a 5.7m boom and 5.4m dipper.

The Mowing bucket is fitted with reciprocating knives to tackle weeds along the channel bottoms. Andy explains that excessive weed growth can potentially hold up water in the watercourses by one foot per mile. SHIDB operate 16 pumping stations but uncut watercourses result in restricted flow and the pumping stations not working to their full potential.

In an area like SHIDB’s where gradient is negligible to non existent, this is a major factor in removing water especially after summer down pours which have a habit of arriving just as the Board recommences maintenance programmes in July (due to environmental restrictions). In the first week of August last year 96mm of rain fell over 48 hours in the Holbeach area with the result that several farmers expressed concerns about the amounts of water in the Boards drains. This is where machines with bigger capacities can help by cutting problem areas faster and allowing the water to flow freely to the pumps.

“Drains are like roads, they must be kept clear at all times” explained Andy. But farmers can help themselves.  He gives the example of 2 potato fields on opposite sides of the same drain. The extra yield from the field where land drains were installed was sufficient to recover their installation cost in just one season!

With around 394 km of high priority water courses which have to be roded twice a year, SHIDB are completing around 1000km a year. The 5.5m mowing bucket has proved itself and the Board plans to replace more of its 4.2m buckets in the future.

Besides 3 more Volvo units with Herder buckets, SHIDB also operate a Herder Grenadier mounted  on a Case MXM 155 and 2 Herder Rapier flails on a MXM 140 (2.25m flail head) and a John Deere 6830 (2.25m head).