Purchased in 2012 from DealerJames Gervaisin Beragh Tel No: 0044 (0) 28 8075 8262.
April 25th 2013.
I called to the Stein family farm in the Tyrone countryside on an untypically bright sunny day in April. I wanted to see how the Kverneland twin rotor TA91110C had performed for the first season on this large Dairy farm in Northern Ireland. My first visit confirmed that the Stein family run a nice clean operation here in the heartland of Tyrone’s grass country.
The farm extends to a sizable acreage, and is managed by father and son Edmund and Gareth Stein. Edmund’s brother also farms in the same area and machinery can and is shared at the busy times.
The TA91110C was the first of the new generation twin rotor machines imported by the Kverneland Group in Kilkenny in 2012, and replaced a single rotor Pottinger on the Stein farm.
“It’s proved to be all we expected” said Edmund. “We handle only our own grass, but it is necessary to get out and get the swaths rowed up in a timely way when busy”. “You wouldn’t find yourself rowing up forty acres” says Edmund, leaving it ready for the following Deere 7400 Self Propelled forager. The TA91110C is generally fitted to the Deere 6420S—an ideal tractor size for the rake. This model is adjustable hydraulically from 9.3 (30ft) to 10.9 Metres (35ft 6ins) –making it suitable for most pickups to follow. The closest setting leaves a swath of 1.40 Metres (4ft 6ins) and the widest setting produces a row of 2.5 Metres (just over eight feet). (The TA91110C has a theoretical output of 12 ha/hr)
The machine has 15 tine arms per rotor with four “Duo” tines per rotor, for a clean gentle sweep of the ground. This coupled with Kverneland’s “Terralink” Tandem Axle plus the “Quatro” pivoting action ensures that the large rotors are always in close contact with the cut swath.
Gareth had the rake mounted on the tractor when I arrived checking it over in good time for the forth coming season. This nine meter + machine is well built with the typical Kverneland angled tine arm layout. Kverneland call this feature “Tangential” i.e. – the row of tines going at a tangent to the circular motion of the rotors. This means that the row of four tines hit the swath squarely and “leaves a nice tidy row for the harvester” says Gareth.
“We are close neighbours of our local dealer, Peter Gervais” said Gareth “and we find this a great benefit if we need a spare part or a little advice during the year”.
Gareth can be contacted on Mobile at: 0044 (0) 78 10127947.
For further information on this or any other Kverneland products please contact Paraic McCarthy- Product Specialist on 087 9508510 or John Colgan- Demonstrator on 087 2531888.
