As proposed at our Spring Meeting on April 13^th, CMG held an “Equipment Day” on Sunday 19^th May.  The event was on a smallholding belonging to one of our members, so for security reasons we couldn’t invite non-members, so we didn’t advertise it on the CMG website or Facebook Group.  Instead, an email was sent out to all the CMG members and those who wanted to attend were sent directions.

The equipment was brought to the event by the attendees, and there were also photos of some other items on the display boards and a display relating to the Big Meadow Search (don’t forget this year’s 3-month search window is opening on 1^st June). 

Many of the tools and machinery were concerned with grass cutting and grassland management; but there were other tools too, such as those useful for putting up fencing:

and a range of different styles of billhooks used for hedgelaying and scrub cutting, both petrol and battery powered brushcutters, a long-reach hedge trimmer, chainsaw, heavy duty ratchet loppers, and a long reach saw for cutting high branches on trees.  Most of the small machines are powered by petrol engines, but battery versions are becoming more widely available and more usable with longer running times, so it may become more possible to avoid this use of fossil fuels as time goes on.  There are premixed fuels for 2-stroke engines such as “Aspen” fuel, which also avoids the rapid deterioration of garage pump petrols with high ethanol content.  It’s also a good idea to use biodegradable chain oil for chainsaws – and as was pointed out at the meeting it’s also useful for lubricating the cutters on a cutter bar mower.

We also saw a mystery tool, whose owner enlightened us as to its function (cutting stems on a coppice stool):

Most of the items at the event were for meadow and grassland management.  We had a scythe; scythes were used for about 3 millennia to cut hay until the invention during the Victorian era of horse-drawn cutter bar hay mowers.  We didn’t have a horse-drawn mower, but had both a tractor-mounted and a walk-behind cutter bar mower:

and a drum mower:

Apart from hay mowers, we had a tractor-mounted topper:

and a “Grillo” 4WD mowing machine used by Conservation and Trees land management contractors – this can work on steep slopes and will cut anything that it can drive over:

Also from Conservation and Trees was a backpack powered leaf blower which is an efficient way to move cut grass along a field, especially if you need to move it downhill.

We looked at a Honda walk-behind Rough-Grass mower which has a hinged deck which will lift up over thick clumps of vegetation rather than flattening it:

For dealing with the cut grass, we had the invaluable hand hay-rake, and the tractor-powered “Haybob” which can be set up to both turn hay to aid its drying, and also to rake it into windrows ready for baling:

As well as photos displaying the use of hand-balers and how to make them we saw a tractor mounted mini round baler, which is very suitable for small fields as the tractor can lift it up and make tight turns.  There was also a wrapper, so the small round bales can be wrapped to produce haylage – this has a higher water content than hay but the wrap prevents the bale from going mouldy. It’s a useful thing to have in West Wales where the chances of five consecutive dry days in late summer seem to be diminishing:

It was an interesting and enjoyable afternoon; it stimulated discussion and the different experiences of the attendees were shared so we all learnt something – that was the point of the event, so we think it was a success.

With thanks to Ivy Denham, Laura Moss and Kate Smith for the photos.