Topper. Which one?

Round Bale

Purchasing a topper, and given the following prices. All 6ft semi offset.

Abbey. €1400.
Major. €1500.
Fleming. €1250.
Nugent. €1150.
Belmac. €1000.

Also given price of €1550 for Belmac fully offset.

I'm leaning towards the Nugent. Looks heavier build than the Belmac, and for that matter heavier than the Abbey.

Price on the Belmac fully offset is attractive. Would give a better cut than the semi offset, but mightn't be all that robust for the rougher ground I have or in some heavy rushes!

Any thoughts?

Cran

Round Bale wrote: »

Purchasing a topper, and given the following prices. All 6ft semi offset.

Abbey. €1400.
Major. €1500.
Fleming. €1250.
Nugent. €1150.
Belmac. €1000.

Also given price of €1550 for Belmac fully offset.

I'm leaning towards the Nugent. Looks heavier build than the Belmac, and for that matter heavier than the Abbey.

Price on the Belmac fully offset is attractive. Would give a better cut than the semi offset, but mightn't be all that robust for the rougher ground I have or in some heavy rushes!

Any thoughts?

buy an offset worth it in the long run... I've had a major offset and currently abbey trailer couldn't fault either tbh

blue5000

Why not go for a disc mower, is your ground rough?

Round Bale

blue5000 wrote: »

Why not go for a disc mower, is your ground rough?

My ground is pretty clean to be honest, except for a few bits here and there. Disc mower would work fine, but couldn't really justify the price, for topping and topping alone.
Silage is done by contractor, so a disc mower would get no usage other than topping.

blue5000

Could you mow your own silage and get contractor to rake it up? Round here contractors charge 22/ac to mow. Diesel, labour and depreciation my guess is about 10/acre. I know if I was buying again this is the way I'd go and wrap any surplus grass instead of topping. Did it this way last year and there is 20 extra bales which I am glad of now.

Round Bale

blue5000 wrote: »

Could you mow your own silage and get contractor to rake it up? Round here contractors charge 22/ac to mow. Diesel, labour and depreciation my guess is about 10/acre. I know if I was buying again this is the way I'd go and wrap any surplus grass instead of topping. Did it this way last year and there is 20 extra bales which I am glad of now.

Not really an option for me. Don't know of any contractor in the locality using a rake. All seem to cut with conditioner mower, and group two rows into one. Not great, but it's all I have available.
I would still be baling extra grass from grazing ground.
Would use topper, not so much for topping strong grass ahead of grazing, but as a cleaner upper after grazing, and controlling docks, thistles, rushes etc!
In fact I can never see myself topping grass as a means to controlling growth or quality. If it grows ahead, I'll bale it.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

get the fully offset. much better job

mf240

For rushes you won't beat a disc mower along as there are no stones, but for rocky rough land you really cant risk a mower.

Those semi offsets will leave a mane where the tractor wheel flattens the weeds and they stand back up after the topper has passed over.

towzer2010

Round Bale wrote: »

Purchasing a topper, and given the following prices. All 6ft semi offset.

Abbey. €1400.
Major. €1500.
Fleming. €1250.
Nugent. €1150.
Belmac. €1000.

Also given price of €1550 for Belmac fully offset.

I'm leaning towards the Nugent. Looks heavier build than the Belmac, and for that matter heavier than the Abbey.

Price on the Belmac fully offset is attractive. Would give a better cut than the semi offset, but mightn't be all that robust for the rougher ground I have or in some heavy rushes!

Any thoughts?

Got a price of €1050 for a Malone 6' one before Christmas and £1850 from a place in NI for a 7' side mounted Belmac topper. I had a belmac one for years but I'm replacing it this year because its in bits. Great topper for rough work. It took dogs abuse because I have some fairly rough ground. I don't know if the new ones are as solid.

Round Bale

towzer2010 wrote: »

Got a price of €1050 for a Malone 6' one before Christmas and £1850 from a place in NI for a 7' side mounted Belmac topper. I had a belmac one for years but I'm replacing it this year because its in bits. Great topper for rough work. It took dogs abuse because I have some fairly rough ground.

Which type Belmac did you have? Side mounted or semi off set?
If you go with the Belmac off set, it would be worthwhile calling them direct. You will do a good bit better on that price you have from NI?
I'm a little confused as to why their fully off set models, are so much cheaper than say Abbey or Fleming? Does it cone down to lighter steel, etc?

Deepsouthwest

Yousef Salty Sunspot wrote: »

get the fully offset. much better job

+1 on that, fully offset all the way. A few guys around here with the semi offset and they have to back around the field to get a clean cut!

Farmer Pudsey

I have a Belmac it is 10 years old bought it direct from them. It was onle of the models that you needed no belts going to back corners ( two box profile supported it to centre of frame). Has taken dogs abuse as a lot of rock and loose stone at the start.

Toppers have an advantage over disc mowers as they shred the material they top as you go along. A disc mower will cit clean at the butt and thistle and weeds can go to seed after. It will shred rushes as well a bit slow but they break down faster. Trick is to cut often.

The other thing about the Belmac that I have is that the direction of blades lift and cut material knocked by wheels. Not perfectly but if grazed well it will complete a good job. Main disadvantage is that as blades wear it shred top of grass and slows recovery I am told. But 1K as opposed to 4K for second hand disc mower leave no option.

I would consider offset if it can be got for 1500 euro. Would see no advantage in spending another 4-500 for a abbey or major as all toppers have a limited lifetime unless you powerhose like I do :rolleyes: ever time they are used and store away when not in use. I have had to do one overhaul on nuts holding blades and replacing blades is par for the course.

towzer2010

Round Bale wrote: »

Which type Belmac did you have? Side mounted or semi off set?
If you go with the Belmac off set, it would be worthwhile calling them direct. You will do a good bit better on that price you have from NI?
I'm a little confused as to why their fully off set models, are so much cheaper than say Abbey or Fleming? Does it cone down to lighter steel, etc?

I had one the same as this. It was semi offset and it is definitely a problem leaving a track that the side mounted wouldn't.



They have two fully offset models. One is just the normal one on a frame so the extra 500 is for the frame really.



The 7' one I got the quote for is a centre pivot one with hydraulic opening (I think) and is dearer but still a lot cheaper than the completion. The quality used to be fairly good so unless that's changed I don't know why they are cheaper.

Damo810

Major 601 here since '04. Working perfectly, well built, clean cut, no problems. Never have to go back around the field either! Even if the wheel runs over it, still gives a clean finish. No complaints from the cattle anyways!

I said

Bel mac semi off set here great machine

131spanner

We had a Major fully offset and it was a great machine, did a lot of topping with it and it gave it very little grief.

We since got a trailed Abbey. At 9ft it's a great topper to make progress with, for a few days we ran the conditioner mower along side it and we were flying. That said, it seems she's not as heavy built as the Major was, not able to take much dogging without breaking something.

lancerwall

go with fully offset, had a semi offset abbey for about 10 years great machine but a disaster with the wheel of the tractor tramping the rushes thistles ect into the ground before being cut,a day or two later there is lovely rows of rushes standing up in the middle of the field. have a trailer abbey now for the last 3 years probably not as good dealing with very strong rushes or that but for clean land it does a great job

Sami23

My advice is go with the Belmac fully offset for 1500 direct from Belmac

Farrell

Sami23 wrote: »

My advice is go with the Belmac fully offset for 1500 direct from Belmac

Have any of you got any experience of the quad flail mowers?

TomOnBoard

I'm sorry, but I am totally confused...

Are we talking about a 3 Pt Mounted:

a) Flail Mower
b) Disc Mower
c) Multi-Blade Mower
d) Cord Strimmer type Mower
e) Finger- bar Mower

OR,

A similar mower that is Trailed?

So many options and different configurations.

Sami23

TomOnBoard wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I am totally confused...

Are we talking about a 3 Pt Mounted:

a) Flail Mower
b) Disc Mower
c) Multi-Blade Mower
d) Cord Strimmer type Mower
e) Finger- bar Mower

OR,

A similar mower that is Trailed?

So many options and different configurations.

Are you taking the p**s or do you farm at all :mad:

onyerbikepat

I have a semi-offset Belmac. I bought it direct from Belmac. It seems fine strong machine, but I've never had any other make, so can't really compare. The blades do create an updraft, so very little trails of trampled stuff left behind. It works for me, cheap and does the job.
Keep the blade edged too, it makes a big difference.

micraX

blue5000 wrote: »

Could you mow your own silage and get contractor to rake it up? Round here contractors charge 22/ac to mow. Diesel, labour and depreciation my guess is about 10/acre. I know if I was buying again this is the way I'd go and wrap any surplus grass instead of topping. Did it this way last year and there is 20 extra bales which I am glad of now.

My uncle mows his own and gets farmvale to lift it.