200 Blades

We need this machine to cut the horse paddocks after the horses have eaten as much as they are prepared to. Horses are very poor "users" of pasture and leave large tracts untouched although, to human eyes, it looks like tasty lush green food. Added to this, it has been very humid with almost daily thunderstorms so the grass has been growing like mad.

The machine cuts the grass & loads it into a hopper. Can also cope with horse droppings (we collect ourselves daily with wheelbarrow), leaves etc depending on the type of blade. In the picture are mainly cutting blades but also a row of winged blades which help to create the suction & collection of the grass. Today decided to sharpen the knife-blades and to replace some of the winged blades with knives as we need more cutting power at the moment. I've never counted them but there must be about 100 anchor points & on each, there are at least 2 blades (can add a 3rd for aeration). Luckily one can remove the blades without any tools, they are simply hung on, but it's a time-consuming process as each blade also has 2 edges to be sharpened.

Anyway, it paid off & managed to cut most of the paddocks including ones the horses haven't been on for a while as mainly the weeds have grown too long. I think the machine could be better set up to get a better result. I know someone who probably knows exactly how to set it up but he's a long way away & I need to find a way of tempting him over - Bavarian Beer perhaps but he probably wants to stay loyal to his local Guinness.