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Council Makes First Toro Purchase

February 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Rosie Duckworth

Council Makes First Toro Purchase: North East Lincolnshire Council has purchased Toro for the first time, due to to its competitive price in the tender process, and having received recommendations from other local authorities. Chris Whitfield, assistant fleet manager who co-ordinated the purchase, says: “We were in the market for two cylinder mowers, replacing like-for-like. […]

Coffee With Terra Spike

February 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Val Graham

Coffee With Terra Spike: A head greenkeeper based in Buckinghamshire has inspired a challenge among users of the Wiedenmann Terra Spike. After taking delivery of a new GXi8 HD in December, Gerrards Cross GC’s Adam McColl reckoned the machine was smooth enough to balance a full cup of coffee without spilling while it spiked its way […]

Council Makes First Toro Purchase

February 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Rosie Duckworth

Coffee With Terra Spike

February 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Val Graham

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Council Makes First Toro Purchase

February 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Rosie Duckworth

Chris Whitfield, assistant fleet manager who co-ordinated the purchase, says: “We were in the market for two cylinder mowers, replacing like-for-like. Recently we’ve been purchasing more flail mowers in response to the longer periods we have between cuts, but these cylinder mowers are intended for roadways, parks and open spaces; areas that require cutting more often, for which a cylinder mower is perfect.

“We followed the usual procedure by putting the request onto ‘Yotender’ and the Toro LT3340 cylinder mower met our specification and came in with the most competitive price.”

A good start, but North East Lincolnshire Council had never owned a Toro machine before so Chris needed a bit more to go on: “Jon Wright from Russell Group arranged for us to have the LT3340 on demo for a week. It looked great, performed well and the team confirmed it would be a good choice.”

It was at this point that Chris decided to refer to colleagues from the ‘Yorlincs’ regional fleet forum, a group of fleet managers from over 17 local authorities and councils sharing best practice, advice and experiences.

“I wanted to see if anyone had experience of using Toro and specifically this machine,” says Chris. “Very quickly I had positive reviews. East Riding of Yorkshire Council in particular stood out, they had a regional fleet of 17 Toros, including 12 LT3340 mowers. The fleet has been in use for a couple of years and the team using them gave good feedback – they had no issues, in fact they had nothing but praise for the brand.”

This is certainly feedback with which Reesink Turfcare, the UK distributor of Toro, is familiar. The heavy-duty, four-wheel-drive triple LT3340 mower is one of Toro’s hardest working grounds mowers, with Nigel Lovatt, Reesink regional manager, saying it is a machine councils and contractors appreciate for its durability, strength and performance.

With all that in mind, Chris confirms that there was no reason not to go with Toro!

For more information, visit: reesinkturfcare.co.uk

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Coffee With Terra Spike

February 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Val Graham

Coffee With Terra Spike: A head greenkeeper based in Buckinghamshire has inspired a challenge among users of the Wiedenmann Terra Spike.

After taking delivery of a new GXi8 HD in December, Gerrards Cross GC’s Adam McColl reckoned the machine was smooth enough to balance a full cup of coffee without spilling while it spiked its way across a tee or green.

Within hours his observation was relayed to others prompting greenkeepers and groundsmen across the country to get involved, posting on twitter when they succeed.

Adam, who heads the team of seven at the south Buckinghamshire Club, said:

“The coffee challenge just seemed possible. Aerators have moved on, modern practices mean the machine stays calm even when going deep. With the multi ribbed belt drive system and the way the crankshaft is balanced, the GXi 8 always remains stable. If you hit something there is no shock transfer to the tractor or the driver. It elongates the life of both the machine and the tractor. It’s all about smooth.”

Gerrards Cross Golf Club a parkland course with extensive woodland and views across the Misbourne Valley, had some fairly specific criteria for choosing a Wiedenmann aerator.

“We need to stay ahead of golf and not stop play,” continued Adam McColl. “Previously that wasn’t happening. At 1.8 m this is 60 cm wider than before so a combination of extra width and greater speed will mean an end to interruptions and lead to more frequent repetitions. This machine has a specific feature – Advance Tine Control – that ensures we get very clean tine entry and exit even where there’s compaction.”

Another major reason for Adam McColl choosing a Terra Spike, was the improvement it would bring to getting sand into the profile to ultimately benefit drainage.

“At demo we gave the 18^th green one pass using 20 mm tines. In the weeks before our own machine arrived we could see a tangible difference just from that one occasion. The green still puddled but the water residue shifted a lot quicker.

“The bigger picture however is to get between 180-200 tonnes of sand on the greens across the year. Assuming it remains dry enough we’ll continue with the 20 mm tines and go for 40 tonnes between now and the end of March plus an additional 40 tonnes at spring renovations when we will probably hollow core. During summer we switch to lighter 8 mm tines and hope to achieve between 20 – 40 tonnes. Then come autumn it will be back to the 20 mm tines and around 60-80 tonnes.

“Last year we didn’t even get to our target of 140 tonnes but we’re focussed on getting this additional sand to help create drainage channels.”

Eddie Jack, Field Sales Manager at Ernest Doe in North Walsham said: “Adam called it correctly with the smoothness of the machine. He really started something. Looks like I’ll be buying the coffees for the foreseeable future.”

For more information, visit: www.wiedenmann.co.uk

For the latest industry news visit turfnews.co.uk

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Council Makes First Toro Purchase

Coffee With Terra Spike

Council Makes First Toro Purchase

Coffee With Terra Spike

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Council Makes First Toro Purchase

Coffee With Terra Spike

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