Having traditionally offered rear-mounted mowers, Smith Power will for the first time have a range of trailed disc mowers available for local South African farmers. The Kubota DM5032 and DM5040 trailed disc mowers are ideal for cutting any kind of crop that can be cut with a disc mower, mainly crops used as feed for farm animals, in most cases cows.
Rear-mounted mowers are directly mounted to the tractor’s three-point linkage. Erik Roelofs, International Product Manager at Smith Power Equipment, explains that customers who buy trailed mowers are looking for more output compared to mounted mowers.
“In general, a disc mower doesn’t need a high-horsepower tractor to drive it. Given that the trailed versions are equipped with their own frame and wheels, the tractor does not have to carry the majority of the weight. The 3,2 m or even 4 m working width as well as great working speed can be achieved with a relatively small tractor. This can be efficient for the farmer,” says Roelofs.
Due to the trailed concept, the load on the tractor is low, resulting in minimal wear and operating costs. The trailed mower has an optimal guidance of the mowing unit as it is suspended and guided on both sides of the mowing unit.
The ground pressure of the cutterbar is equal over the working width. The mowing unit is thus able to follow the ground contours very well, while still maintaining a good ground pressure, thus premature wear of the cutterbar is avoided. As a result of the gentle ground following, crop contamination by dirt is reduced. This increases the tastefulness of the crop, thus maximising consumption by animals.
On headlands, the driver has to operate just one double acting spool valve to raise and lower the mowing unit.
The unique selling points of these implements include:
- Long lifetime – fully welded cutterbar with high oil content, only big gears with multiple teeth touching
- Excellent cutting and capacity – three blades per disc, equal number of discs on all models
- Protected against obstacles – when an obstacle is encountered the cutterbar will pivot upwards
- Outstanding ground following – 17 degrees of sidewards adaption, 350 mm upwards and 235 mm downwards
- Narrow in transport – side guards can be folded upwards
