CLAAS adds new beat to Disco mowers

Appropriately the venue was York farmer John Treloar's farm, who was busy cutting 1100ha of oaten hay for export.

John already is a CLAAS owner, with a front-rear combination of 3100 and 9100 Disco mowers, which are still going strong on the back of a 5000ha working history.

Incidentally, they were the first set introduced into WA.

"Those mowers haven't missed a beat so I was keen to have a look at the new models," he said.

With his old models still working alongside the new Disco 1100 (rear) and Disco 3600 (front), he hoped to have the program finished this week.

"Timing is everything," he said. "We will average 14 hour shifts to get the job done."

One of the immediate advantages of the new models is the ability to bale quicker.

"These models do a better job of conditioning plus you've got a working width of 10.5 metres (35ft), so we can get a lot of work done quickly, particularly using auto-steer."

According to John, this season has been the wettest season in 36 years - the time he has been farming - coming on the back of a "perfect" hay season last year.

"It has just about rained every two weeks this year since Christmas," he said.

According to Landpower territory manager north James Moss, the new Disco mowers are part of a 30 model range.

"This style of mowing with triples (one front mower and two rear) is catching on since we introduced the concept into WA five years ago," he said.

With this new combination, you have hydraulically-controlled width adjustment to the 1100 so you can create three equal-sized windrows which enhances drying time.

CLAAS added the Disco 1100 "Business" mower to its line-up this year with the 3600 model to deliver what it claims is the greatest mowing capacity of any triple mower in the industry.

The company says productivity is between 12 and 22ha an hour, depending on conditions and speed of operation.

A new Maxcut cutterbar features a wave-shaped bed, stamped from a single piece of steel, which provides a smoother operation, cleaner cut and easier maintenance.

The large cross-section created by the new wave-shape design is the key to strength and stamina.

"It is also equipped with an individual float that allows the mower to better follow the contour of the ground," James said. "This results in less soil in the forage and a better end product."

The model has a transport height of less than 4m (13ft) and a transport width of less than 3.5m (11.5ft) while the transport locking device is hydraulically locked and unlocked during the folding process to enable compact, manoeuvrable and safe transport.

The Disco 1100 "Business" includes an innovative safety link design for maximum deflection and impact resistance, to protect the discs.

It is also fully ISOBUS-capable for convenient operating functionality from a single device.