New Pottinger Novacat comes with automated curve control
Triple 'butterfly' or dual mower combinations have become increasingly popular, offering increased output and better utilisation of tractors that keep gaining horsepower.
Hari Hari dairy farmer Zane Wyatt says the arrival of the new Pottinger NovaCat Alpha Motion 301 front mower will slash his mowing times.
Zane Wyatt farms 240ha effective at Hari Hari with his wife Tania, milking 500 Jersey Friesian-cross cows.
The arrival of a new Pottinger NovaCat Alpha Motion 301 front mower will reduce time mowing, a bonus given the changeable weather conditions in the region.
Wyatt bought his first Pottinger mower — a NovaDisc 305 rear mower — in April 2018.
“I chose it for its good reputation and price,” he says. “And the machine has been faultless, bulletproof and easy to put on and take off the tractor.”
Because of the performance of the rear mower, Wyatt added a NovaCat Alpha Motion 301 front mower, taking delivery in October and having it installed by the dealer.
He says it’s “really quick” and easy to use. “I knocked over 20 acres in two hours yesterday without pushing too hard,” he said.
“A tractor and rear mower would take me nearer six hours to get 20 acres done. With this being our first front-mower we are amazed at how well it travels. Output is huge with no blockages, even in a very thick crop.”
The NovaCat Alpha Motion 301 has 3m working width and can mow up to 3ha/hour. Its suspension has 500mm of vertical travel and inclination angles of 12 degrees upwards and 9 degrees downwards to prevent the cutter bar from damaging the sward.
The design allows the guide arms to respond actively to changes in terrain and to the mounting frame itself, resulting in the cutter bar tilting upwards over bumps and downwards into hollows.
A rounded, low profile front edge lets the cutter bar move smoothly over the ground and separate the crop from the sward. At the same time, the mower uses the rounded conical surfaces of the mower discs to let the crop flow smoothly and uniformly, for maximum capacity regardless of conditions.
Three weeks on from Bremworth’s board overhaul, the carpet maker’s chief executive Greg Smith is stepping down.
For Marlborough Sounds farmer Noel Moleta, farming hair sheep that need no shearing is one of the keys to running a low-input, low-intervention operation in a difficult and highly remote location.
OPINION: Making it easier to get things done while protecting the environment - that's the Government's promise when it comes to the overhaul of the problematic Resource Management Act (RMA).
DairyNZ has set a new levy rate of 4.5c/kgMS from 1 June 2025 and aims to keep the levy at no more than this rate for a minimum of three years.
As it enters its second year, Zespri says the first year of the Zespri Innovation Fund (ZAG), has been “really positive”.
Rural trader Farmlands has launched an exclusive new casual clothing range across its 42 stores nationwide and online.
OPINION: In the same way that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, economists sometimes get it right.
OPINION: The proposed RMA reforms took a while to drop but were well signaled after the election.