Cyclone mower makes sure natural habitat can flourish

Balancing agricultural land use with care of the environment can be challenging but is not impossible.

Back in its homeland, a 2.8 metre Irish Major Cyclone rotary mower is helping the RSPB NI and its Countryside Land Management Service (CLMS), along with conservation groups and farmers, who are working together to protect natural habitats and indigenous biodiversity.

Part of the CLMS work is to control rushes and scrub around the Lough Beg National Nature Reserve in Northern Ireland.

“It is important that the dense rushes are controlled, and scrub is not given a chance to take over, which could potentially lose the very species and habitats for which it was designated,” says Paul Trimble, CLMS business manager at RSPB NI.

Farmers sharing the ground allow stock to graze the area during the summer period, and CLMS undertakes mechanical vegetation control using the Major Cyclone mower during the winter months.

“The Cyclone mower is more reliable and requires less power consumption than flail machines, which means lower fuel consumption and reduced carbon emissions,” says Trimble.

“They also leave a better, open stubble finish, that the waders find more acceptable for nesting.”

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