Best bat - wing topper ?

Oscar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Meant to be outside but p...ing down so will ask this question .
Arable farm going over to GS4 and livestock( but not for first year )and thereafter very low stocking rate , max 72 Livestock Units on nearly 300 acs!
Can foresee a need to top areas either for tidy up appearance or stuff just racing away . Have 155 hp tractor but no front linkage/ PTO so my old set up ( 7 years ago on different tractor) of a front 3m flail and rear off set 2.8m flail is a non starter so guess bat wing is probably the only alternative?
Think McConnel and Spearhead is same machine painted different colours ?
Is nt there a " Woods"? Any others to think or avoid ? What max width would 155 hp cope with?( wider the better)
Ps have seen a previous thread , years old but @Clever Dic bought a 8.2m McConnel . What happened to him , he was a regular TFF poster ??
 

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
Think @ED.D sell these? Must be petty good because despite best efforts the lads at the airport haven’t managed to destroy it!
EC64F303-A2D6-46EF-8255-0581CF22F4CE.jpeg


Ps, they’re running it behind 65/6920 so 155hp would be fine, the Nissan struggles a bit though 🤣
 
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neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I have an ancient 4.6m Spearhead which I have on a JD6920 (150hp or so). It can fair cover some area in lighting stuff, or clear thick rushes more slowly, and leaves a tidy job. Practically indestructible too.👍

Didn’t Spearhead make their name by sending their machines over to clear East German airfields after re-unification? They managed to stay intact whilst most other machines disintegrated when faced with lumps of concrete, etc.
Mine is an ex-contractor machine, that previous owners did their best to destroy. Even so, I’ve had it 10 years and have never had to put a drop of oil in any of the gearboxes.
 

ED.D

Member
Location
Cheshire
Think @ED.D sell these? Must be petty good because despite best efforts the lads at the airport haven’t managed to destroy it!
View attachment 1046008

Ps, they’re running it behind 65/6920 so 155hp would be fine, the Nissan struggles a bit though 🤣

thanks Phil, have a woods myself too and very pleased with it. Think the trouble is the exchange rate is against st them at the moment but if you can find one in stock go for it. Alternatively, speak to Simon richard for a suitably strong alternative.
 

jrss

Member
Also was interested in Woods, but when I enquired I was told no chance for this year and as stated exchange rate is awful.
Researched McConnell & Spearhead as thought they were the same apart from colour, but not so.
McConnell 3 year gearbox warranty but Spearhead now come with 7 year gearbox warranty as they now build their own.
So bought Spearhead Proline Multicut (six blades each rotor) which leaves a great finish.
 

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Horn&corn

Member
Let more animals onto land and take grazing payments with much less to cut. Then hire a batwing for a couple of days a year or use mower that you potentially already own and cattle will pick over mowed grass.
 

onthehoof

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cambs
Meant to be outside but p...ing down so will ask this question .
Arable farm going over to GS4 and livestock( but not for first year )and thereafter very low stocking rate , max 72 Livestock Units on nearly 300 acs!
Can foresee a need to top areas either for tidy up appearance or stuff just racing away . Have 155 hp tractor but no front linkage/ PTO so my old set up ( 7 years ago on different tractor) of a front 3m flail and rear off set 2.8m flail is a non starter so guess bat wing is probably the only alternative?
Think McConnel and Spearhead is same machine painted different colours ?
Is nt there a " Woods"? Any others to think or avoid ? What max width would 155 hp cope with?( wider the better)
Ps have seen a previous thread , years old but @Clever Dic bought a 8.2m McConnel . What happened to him , he was a regular TFF poster ??
@Oscar @Nick
Slightly off topic but are you putting whole farm down and what would be the reason
 

Oscar

Member
Livestock Farmer
@onthehoof , yes whole farm reverting as a result of landlord decision ( NT) and end of my previous FBT . Basically , yes you can have another FBT for 15 yrs but on these terms , take it or leave .
Was a real kicker and disapointment to start with ( late 2019) but then got head around it and getting older so decided to go for it but make it work for me financially so have screwed money out landlord and RPA( HLS) so will tell you in 4- 5 years time . Covid delayed things but signed in April 22 backdated to Jan 22 on 10 yr HLS.
 

Oscar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Also was interested in Woods, but when I enquired I was told no chance for this year and as stated exchange rate is awful.
Researched McConnell & Spearhead as thought they were the same apart from colour, but not so.
McConnell 3 year gearbox warranty but Spearhead now come with 7 year gearbox warranty as they now build their own.
So bought Spearhead Proline Multicut (six blades each rotor) which leaves a great finish.
That looks new , ballpark price ?
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

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  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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