Somebody else can have the margins but I’ll happily come fence and stock your cover crops for free
he’ll I’d even plant them if you let me grow turnips 
Toppers - educate me please !
- Thread starter Clive
- Start date
he’ll I’d even plant them if you let me grow turnips 
- Location
- Near Beeston Castle
Wouldn't want to be topping at hedgecutter speeds.
I'd have thought the oil would be boiling if it was hydraulic off the tractor.
Flail with hammers for heavy stuff and it will cope with shopping carts. I mulch my apple prunings with mine and it will supposedly cope with 6" logs. Topper for light/whispy stuff. Buy cheap ignore the depreciation and just treat them as disposable, you will still sell them for summat when they are nearly dead.
- Location
- South Molton
Having seen mob stocking in the US ,going into massively high covers and cattle consuming 50% then mulching the rest in
Why do you have to top it?
M-J-G
Member
We have a local lad who hires out batwing toppers, so we get one for an area that we have in a scheme.
We have our own rear mounted 2.4m flail for doing roadsides and odd patches of weeds, it runs on a roller which I would say is a must when it comes to doing road edges etc.
We have our own rear mounted 2.4m flail for doing roadsides and odd patches of weeds, it runs on a roller which I would say is a must when it comes to doing road edges etc.
Had a Kuhn flail for nearly 20 years and it still looks nearly as good as new and has only had some new belts and flails in all that time. I’d get a front mounted and then an offset rear if you want more capacity. No risk of punctures or then falling over on the road like a batwing and they leave a neater finish. Don’t no any that our hydraulic powered they would soon overheat. A front pto is only about 3k fitted.
Cab-over Pete
Member
- Location
- Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Why do you need to top that?
- Location
- Ardrossan Ayrshire
I was going to ask the same
- Location
- Lincs / Cambs border
We have a 4.2mounted batwing . It will handle some serious growth as in brambles as high as the tractor wheels or can also be used for a very neat mowing job as in the picture.
- Location
- Cumbria
Topping is about the most basic job for a piece of equipment other than rolling.
Most s/h toppers have seen better days, and given the price of a 3.0m basic topper, s/h are not even worth considering.
We do a few paddocks with a 6' topper, which is often quite long, with a 25 HP Compact !!
240HP ??????
Sledgehammer and nut comes to mind.
Lot's of inefficiency, fuel consumption, emissions etc when a 100hp will drive a 3.0m comfortably.
You need to buy a classic tractor with no cab be a nice early summer job in the sunshine
- Location
- Northumberland
Horses for courses and everything…
This season I’m using my new Major 9ft trailed offset topper (MJ45-270). The last one (same model) was still ok, but a bit tired after maybe 15 seasons. I like it.
Obviously a much smaller piece of kit than others are using, but I can put it on an older ~80hp tractor which uses next to no fuel compared to a modern tractor.
Maybe not the best piece of kit if you’re mainly going to be doing margins, where you’re likely to hit stones/branches/posts etc regularly…
This season I’m using my new Major 9ft trailed offset topper (MJ45-270). The last one (same model) was still ok, but a bit tired after maybe 15 seasons. I like it.
Obviously a much smaller piece of kit than others are using, but I can put it on an older ~80hp tractor which uses next to no fuel compared to a modern tractor.
Maybe not the best piece of kit if you’re mainly going to be doing margins, where you’re likely to hit stones/branches/posts etc regularly…
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- Location
- Mendips Somerset
You have to laugh ,and its not a dig (well except the stupid rule book ) we are now supposed to be green and carbon saving , so we pay to put cover crops in and then have to heavy flail it off with a 240hp tractor , ffs , yet im supposed to only top 50% of my cs area and then only after july with a 90hp tractor and offset slewtic topper (only takes seed heads / weeds off as a rule )
- Location
- Peterborough
Hi Clive. We had a front and rear mounted flail very heavy-duty Spaldings one. Did a lovely job but quite slow ,worst of all on AB15 malleable cutting you overheat every half hour as the dead grass collects on the radiator panels. JD 6215 eventually had a fire under the tractor cab from a Ad-blue regen overheating. Kept the flails as handy doing margins and ditches and invested in a 630 Spearhead multi cut with mulching blads in. Does a lovely job and loads quicker and best of all no overheating or fires. But best to keep a fire extinguisher handy at they can start a fire if they hit a stone and the grass is tider dry. Have had a minor fire on a batwing we had years ago cutting set aside from a clutch.
PostHarvest
Member
- Location
- Warwick
I used to design sugar cane harvesters that used hydraulic motors to cut and chop the cane. The systems generated an enormous amount of waste heat and needed big oil tanks and oil coolers to keep the hydraulic oil cool. Maybe you could fry lunch on the go?? I always wondered what SAE 30 chips tasted like.
- Location
- Yorkshire
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- Location
- LINCOLNSHIRE/KENYA
It’s not topping it’s cutting it down. When we’ve harvested the baby corn we’ve got to get rid of it. We cut pathways for the cows to graze it.
- Location
- Berkshire
If it’s margins and corners then a 2.8m flail will be fine, any larger areas will be painfully slow with it though
I tried a Major Cyclone back in the spring which seemed a really good machine
Most S/H toppers will be knackered so best to buy new
I have a Bomford turbo mower and it’s rubbish, too light a rotor and bodywork
It’s a bit like triggers broom and it’s only 8 year old
Too much hp on a flail will likely destroy belts, mine is always used on the 100 hp “Estate tractor” and that’s more than enough hp for it and we’ve not changed a belt since using it instead of the 165 hp tractor used originally
I tried a Major Cyclone back in the spring which seemed a really good machine
Most S/H toppers will be knackered so best to buy new
I have a Bomford turbo mower and it’s rubbish, too light a rotor and bodywork
It’s a bit like triggers broom and it’s only 8 year old
Too much hp on a flail will likely destroy belts, mine is always used on the 100 hp “Estate tractor” and that’s more than enough hp for it and we’ve not changed a belt since using it instead of the 165 hp tractor used originally
- Location
- Berkshire
Not sure what options you have @Clive but if you have AB1 or 8 ( or SFI derivatives) then annual topping will choke out the legumes and/or flowers eventually as it returns too much mulch/fertility back so the grass and brome takes over
We’ve transformed some of our 7 year old AB8’s by cut and collecting with a hired machine, again it’s slow but a better option than reseeding
We’ve transformed some of our 7 year old AB8’s by cut and collecting with a hired machine, again it’s slow but a better option than reseeding
spin cycle
Member
- Location
- north norfolk
completely got wrong end of stick...when I saw title and op...2+2 ... thought it was about 'top hats'
or for on toast ..........
them were the days..
