WELCOME TO KVERNELAND NEW ZEALAND

KV combination mower-conditioner proves itself high country tough

11/01/2018

If you’ve driven between Christchurch and Hamner Springs, as you drop down from the Weka Pass you will be in Fletcher Farms country, Waikari.


As well as the home farm the Fletcher family run Fletcher Transport and Fletcher Contracting. Dad Lionel helps out on the farm whilst younger son Hilton manages the trucking business and Nigel runs Fletcher Contracting.


The Fletcher’s home farm is on rich alluvial soils in the valley and besides cropping, runs 1800 Corriedale/Romney cross ewes and 100 head of Angus preferred, beef stock.


Over the years the contracting business has developed. Fletcher’s Contracting now offers a comprehensive range of services from medium square and round bales, baleage and wrapping, direct drilling, general ground work and discing, as well as hill development work and preparation for fodder beet seeding. Their 2 combine headers work a 3-month season both on their home farm and under contract.


But Fletcher Contracting’s established and regular client base reaches far afield. Customers farm as far away as Waipara in the south, and into the tough and stony ground around Lake Sumner, and into the high country stations of East Kent Station and Lake Taylor Station in the north. The harsh ground conditions met in the high-country, and the distances travelled, have a direct impact on the choices made by the Fletchers regarding machinery.

 

For the 2016/17 season the decision was made to buy a new Kverneland front and rear combination mower conditioner. Nigel wanted to improve efficiency ahead of his 6-year-old McHale V660 baler.


“Previously we had bought a 2nd hand front mounted Kverneland mower to try out the combination approach. We knew that Kverneland mowers were low maintenance, heavy-duty machines and it did a really nice job, so we decided to stick with the same,” he said.


The new KV 3632 front mounted mower conditioner with steel tines, and the rear mounted KV 3232 with nylon tines, have made a good impression during their first year.


Nigel reported, “The flotation on the front mower means it follows the contours really well. We don’t have to do any ground prep.


“We really like the round discs of the cutter bar. We have had no problems with breakage or damage despite the stony ground. The stones are pushed straight out and there has been no damage to the knives.


In fact we haven’t changed knives at all. We use a grinder to keep them touched up and the ends squared,” he added.


Nigel considered that the tines do an excellent conditioning job, “The steel tines on the front mower look as though they will last longer and show very little wear. The nylon ones showed some wear on the edges but they can be reversed to provide double the life.”


The total 6.4m width is managed particularly easily with GPS in the irregular, undulating shaped paddocks frequently encountered in the Fletcher’s patch. He said, “Using GPS certainly makes for quicker raking.”


During the first season the mower was used with a Case Puma 185, “But that was more than it needed,” he said. “This season I think I am going to use it with a 155, and I expect that will be heaps too.”

 

Nigel finished by saying, “We are really happy with the Kverneland mower conditioners. They are doing exactly the job we hoped they’d do with minimum maintenance.”

 

  Click here to learn more about KV 3632 

  Click here to learn more about KV 3232