Tag Archive for: Forest

Mansfield Sand is fab for Forest

Mansfield Sand is fab for Forest: Ewan Hunter, Grounds Manager at Nottingham Forest FC, has praised the products and service he receives from Mansfield Sand.

After starting his career as a greenkeeper, Ewan Hunter moved into football grounds management and has remained in the sector for over 20 years. His first job in football was at Rushden & Diamonds FC before starting at Nottingham Forest FC in 2005. Having been at the club ever since, Ewan’s work has been recognised through numerous groundsman awards, and he can now add the title ‘Premier League Groundsman’ to his CV after Forest recently achieved promotion to the top tier.

Mansfield Sand is fab for Forest

Mansfield Sand is fab for Forest

Ever the professional, Ewan remains focussed.

“Our work won’t change with us being in the Premier League,” he said. “We will continue to do our job the same way we always have. Obviously, we want to improve standards all the time, and there are future projects, which include new first-team pitches for the training ground, and eventually we will have a new stadium pitch. Yes, the technology we utilise might be better and more modern, but our work will remain the same.”

Ewan oversees a team of seven members of staff that work across the stadium pitch and the training ground. All the pitches across the two sites are of the same construction as Ewan explains.

“All of the pitches we have here are Fibresand, and we use a variety of Mansfield Sand’s products. I’ve been working with Mansfield Sand since my days at Rushden and Diamonds, so well over 20 years.”

Mansfield Sand is a company with history and pedigree – in fact, its origins can be traced as far back to 1840. It has been a long-standing pioneer in the development and production of premium sand-based products and boasts the most up-to-date and advanced equipment currently in the industry.

From winter sports pitches, golf courses, bowling greens and all amenity turf areas – Mansfield Sand has a solution for all.

Ewan continued to offer an insight into how he uses Mansfield Sand’s products.

“Most of the products we use from Mansfield Sand are renovation products. We will strip the pitches, Koro them off and then top dress with Mansfield’s MM40. If we are adding fibre to the pitch then we will use their Fibresand, and that is mixed into the rootzone by the contractor.

“Through the season, we will use their top dressing and a little bit of rootzone, mainly to level out the goal mouths that get a lot of wear.

“Rootzone is very important and is integral to a healthy pitch.”

Furthermore, two pitches at the training ground are currently being reconstructed using 5000 tonnes of gravel, 6902 tonnes of MM40 sand and 4089 tonnes of 85/15 sand soil rootzone, all of which are sourced directly from Mansfield Sand’s Two Oaks Quarry.

The work is being carried out by Ewan’s reliable contractors MJ Abbot and Premier Pitches, who order the products directly from Mansfield Sand. Ewan may not necessarily be involved in the ordering process anymore, but he still maintains a good relationship with the company.

“The customer service from Mansfield Sand is perfect, and Sharon Morris (Sales Manager) is brilliant. She is a life-long Forest fan, and she comes to watch the games. I talk to her pretty much after every home game and she will wander down from the stands after the match to have a chat. She is always on the other end of the phone if we need her, and she always goes out of her way for us.”

For more information visit www.mansfield-sand.co.uk

You can also follow the company on Twitter – @MansfieldSand and Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MansfieldSandSportSurfaces/

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Kubota RTV supports community forest

Kubota RTV supports community forest: Kubota has formed a partnership with the Forest of Marston Vale, part of England’s Community Forests which together form the country’s largest environmental initiative.

For over 25 years the Forest of Marston Vale Trust has been working with local communities, businesses and partners to plant trees and create new woodland across 61 square miles between Bedford and Milton Keynes; transforming a landscape once dominated by brick making, mineral extraction and landfill while growing tree cover from just 3.6% to well over 15%. The 12 new Community Woodlands are an extraordinary local resource bringing significant environmental, economic and social benefits to the area. The newest, Queens Wood near Houghton Conquest, also has the honour of being Bedfordshire’s Jubilee Wood, part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative to mark the Platinum Jubilee.

Kubota RTV supports community forest

Kubota RTV supports community forest

A core target for creating the Forest is increasing tree cover to 30%, a tenfold increase,

as a means to transform the social, economic and environmental prospects of the area. The Forest of Marston Vale Trust, working with local communities, businesses and partners, has already increased tree cover to over 15%.

At the heart of the forest is the Millennium Country Park, 225ha of woodland, wetland, lakes and meadows. The Park, a fifteen-time winner of the prestigious Green Flag Award welcomes up to half a million people each year, and offers local people and visitors to the area the opportunity to get outdoors and connect with nature

It is cared for by a team of five forest rangers who need to travel around 8km of hardened path, 4km of horse trail and numerous tracks to plant and care for trees and maintain wetlands. Kubota has supplied the team with a new RTV X-1140 utility vehicle to help make their work more efficient, safer and more convenient.

The RTV X-1140 is powered by the renowned Kubota engine delivering 24.8hp, and can carry up to four people in comfort plus their cargo, or quickly switch to a two-seater with even more space for tools and equipment.

Senior ranger Nicola Ceconi comments: “We have to be able to travel on grassland and to work on the wetlands outside the season for ground nesting birds; some of the site can only be accessed by this type of vehicle, on foot or bicycle. It’s often muddy and we certainly need off-road capability, yet many of our paths are narrow and we can encounter cyclists or walkers so the compact size of the RTV is an advantage. We rarely need to use four-wheel drive and the Kubota’s low ground pressure is appreciated for the more sensitive landscapes.”

The full-size cargo bed offers plenty of room for tools and equipment, but the team often need to switch back to four-seater mode for jobs requiring more labour.

“It’s a quick and easy swap – when we had our training on this new machine it was good to see how simple it was to convert,” says ranger Lottie Scoltock. “The bed also has a useful hydraulic tipping function for jobs such as mulching flowerbeds.”

Nicola adds that the RTV is driven by all of the members of the team who appreciate its straightforward KVT automatic transmission and is spacious and comfortable to drive.

“It has an open sided cab which is easy to get in and out of and much cooler in summer. We really enjoy having the RTV and it makes our job so much easier.”

Forest of Marston Vale commercial director Grant Sorrell comments: “The loan of the RTV X-1140 by Kubota makes a huge difference to our work. It’s a small team with a significant task so anything that makes us more efficient is a godsend.”

It’s part of a programme of community support by Kubota, which is based nearby at Thame in Oxfordshire.

“The Forest of Marston Vale was identified by our employees as a deserving community organisation to support, and it’s clear to see the tremendous social and environmental benefits it offers for current and future generations,” comments Kubota Tractor Business Unit marketing manager Rob Edwards.  “It is an excellent fit with Kubota’s ‘For Earth, For Life’ ethos. We are delighted to support the team with the loan of the RTV X-1140 which is perfectly at home in this type of application.”

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Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest

Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest: Since their Turf Tank One arrived at the Nigel Doughty Academy, Nottingham Forest Football Club has marked every pitch and grid they have with the GPS line marking robot.

The club’s interest in the Turf Tank One began at the end of a hectic 2019/20 Championship season when a high volume of games were played before a short renovation window led straight into the 2020/21 season. With initially marking the pitches taking two or three days, the Turf Tank was brought in to mark everything comfortably within one. And after seeing it in action, it was difficult for Grounds Manager Ewan Hunter and Academy Head Groundsman Matt Tietjen to let it leave the site.

Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest

Turf Tank makes its mark at Nottingham Forest

“I was very, very impressed. Obviously, I had never seen it before, and as soon as it started marking out, I was like, wow, this is brilliant,” Matt begins. “It’s very, very accurate, and every time it goes out, it’s spot on.

“It saves us a hell of a lot of time. To mark one pitch, it would take myself or two of my staff an hour, an hour and a half to two hours. But obviously, with the Turf Tank to mark one pitch alone, it takes 20 to 25 minutes. Another factor for us is it allows our staff to carry on with the other jobs that need to be done, and the machine can basically look after itself. Generally, we’d use five to six litres of paint to mark a pitch, but with the Turf Tank, we probably use four litres.

“If you are able to use a tablet or are reasonably good with technology, it’s very, very simple to use, and the programme is very straight forward. I’m not particularly brilliant with technology, but it takes five minutes to set it up, and then you can go and do other jobs while it marks out.

Adding the Turf Tank One to their team initially relieved pressure during a busy time, but the benefits of saving time, being able to work while the robot marks and the accuracy of the lines have all been vital during another packed season.

Using the Turf Tank tablet, custom grids are regularly overmarked within pitches, as well as custom goalkeeping areas and other pitch markings. This is just another reason why the robot has worked so well at Forest, but for Ewan, it’s the accuracy that really impresses.

“We have got some really good staff, and they can do some really good marking. And the lines looked straight, and they looked to be in the right place,” Ewan explains.

“It wasn’t until we used the GPS machine that it highlighted the fact that when you come to mark a line freehand, they creep a bit. And then they creep a little bit more. And then they creep a little bit more, and you don’t really notice the little bit of creeping until you get a GPS line marker overmarking the pitches that were already there. You realise that they’ve moved a considerable amount of distance, and it kind of highlights that the lines were actually in the wrong place.

“They managed to plot it with all of the additional markings on top of the pitches. So we’ve got dashes and little grids and five-a-side pitches and full-size pitches, and it can basically do whatever you plot it to do, and it takes care of all the markings on the whole site now.”

For more information on the Turf Tank One or to have a demonstration contact alex@turftank.co.uk (southern UK) or matt@turftank.co.uk (northern UK).

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Forest Green extend Infinicut partnership

Forest Green extend Infinicut partnership: It is perhaps no surprise that the club described by FIFA as ‘the greenest football club in the world’ would turn to battery power when it comes to their choice of mowers.

However, what did surprise Forest Green Rovers Grounds Manager Nigel Harvey was the enormous improvements in both operation and finish achieved with the club’s duo of 34” INFINICUT® FL’s compared to their previous petrol-driven units.

Forest Green extend Infinicut partnership

Forest Green extend Infinicut partnership

Now nine months into his role, and with the assistance of club Apprentice Matt Berry, Nigel’s transition from the Forest Green training ground to the Stadium was a swift and steep learning curve. “I had only used petrol mowers previously and because of the speed of the handover, when I took over at The New Lawn Ground, I stuck to what I knew. That was until Oliver Hall from INFINICUT® came in and did some training with me on the pair of floating head units and I just could not believe how good they were – I’d been missing out!”

“It’s not just the fact they’re battery powered, which obviously means they’re quiet to operate and aren’t kicking out noxious fumes, but it’s the quality of cut too which is just outstanding. Within the time it took me to mow half the pitch I could tell the definition of stripe and cleanliness of cut was far superior to what we had been using. With fewer conventional tools and techniques at my disposal to tackle issues such as disease control, the balance and adjustability of the INFINICUT® delivers the perfect cut – with no shredding or bruising – to maintain plant health.”

Along with the two FL 34’s, Nigel has also got a range of TMSystem™ cassettes as his disposal including the SarelRoller™ and ThatchMaster™, which will be of particular use in preparing the surface for next season. The club are also looking at add further battery powered equipment to their fleet, with the aim of significantly reducing petrol usage at the stadium.

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GrasPro vital at Forest Green

GrasPro vital at Forest Green: GrasPro Pitch Management System has become a vital data collection tool for Forest Green Rovers head groundsman, Adam Witchell.

Adam is into his fourth season with the League Two football club, and he has used GrasPro throughout that time to record data from the club’s stadium pitch and training pitch. The system has helped him save time recording data and generating reports, allowing him to concentrate on doing the work that is needed.

GrasPro vital at Forest Green

GrasPro vital at Forest Green

“I think it’s wonderful, it’s one of my main tools as a head groundsman, and I use it to manage a different site as well, I find it one of the most beneficial things I have,” Adam began. “When I first went to Forest Green Rovers, it was one of the first things that I got because I needed a data management plan.

“I’ve trialled other data collection systems and for me this is the best one. I was looking for a management system, and I was trialling a few, but really it was the ease of use because some data collection systems can take a while. It takes away data recording in the evening because it doesn’t take long to put it into the GrasPro system, so it saves me time and energy that I can concentrate on other parts of my job.

“I use it for all of my monthly reviews and daily and weekly plans. And I can look back on things that worked and didn’t work by doing PQS’s on the pitch. For me, it’s massively helpful to be able to do that. I think I’m the only person in the world working with an organic vegan pitch and it’s very a difficult pitch. It’s a very heavy clay pitch, it has its problems, but with the weather that’s added to it, you can look at when disease might be in and then you can look at how the pitch performs with some of the products you’ve used and how it’s performed in the games in that month.

“And then at other times when it might not be performing as well you can look back and think ‘ah, I didn’t do that when I’ve done that before.’ Also, when we’ve had disease, I can record the humidity, the temperature and things like that to so I can see if disease is coming. With the weather we’ve had, I can think I need to start using this product or feeding it a certain way because disease will be rife soon.

“Another part of it was getting to speak to Einar Brynjarsson at GrasPro. We were looking at how we could improve the system for the future, and how it would best work with the systems I use already, which was very good and very detailed.

Working closely with Einar means if there are bits that aren’t in the system, then I can contact him. We’ve spoken about machinery because it didn’t have that before and I said I needed something for it. Now I can record the hours every month, and I can see when the next service is, when it’s due an oil change or maybe it’s time for machines to be ground or start looking at how the batteries are doing.

“There wasn’t anything like that initially, and it was something I felt like I wanted, I discussed it with them, and they’ve come up with an excellent machinery section of the system which takes a lot of headache away. I have a lot of plate spinning in my job, and it’s something that I don’t have to worry about now, I don’t need to keep checking if it’s time for this to be serviced or putting lots of bits of paper down or notes all around my whiteboard.”

GrasPro has been built by groundsmen for groundsmen. It has been developed as a time effective tool to help speed up data collection and allow users to quickly use and analyse data from their surfaces and machines to make informed statistical decisions.

For a free demonstration of the GrasPro Pitch Management System, visit https://www.gras.pro.

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R Hunt & New Forest Merge

R Hunt & New Forest Merge: John Deere dealerships R Hunt Ltd and New Forest Farm Machinery Ltd are set to merge under the new name Hunt Forest Group. The family owners of both companies have signed an agreement which will commence on January 1, 2019. Until then, the two dealers will continue to trade as they do today.

Tim Hunt will become managing director of the new business while Ed Smales, the current dealer principal of New Forest Farm Machinery, will take a director’s role. Hunt Forest Group will continue to operate from the same outlets across southern England, with the same staff.

R Hunt & New Forest Merge

R Hunt is a longstanding John Deere agricultural and homeowner equipment dealer with four outlets covering Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey and the Isle of Wight. It has been a John Deere dealer since 1971 and currently employs 71 staff.

New Forest Farm Machinery is an agricultural, professional turf, homeowner and construction equipment dealer employing 43 people and trading from two outlets, one in Hampshire and one at recently opened turf premises in Somerset. It has been a John Deere agricultural dealer since 1979 and has held the company’s turf franchise since 1986.

“Both companies are well-established, profitable businesses that place a strong emphasis on customer service, and the merger is perfectly aligned with our Dealer of Tomorrow strategy,” says John Deere’s division sales manager Joedy Ibbotson. “This will provide the new business with more resources for both customers and staff, more inventory, more product support capability and a greater knowledge base, all of which will help deliver an even more distinctive customer experience.”

R Hunt managing director Tim Hunt says: “Both families feel confident that this merger will help to establish Hunt Forest Group as a frontline ag and turf dealer in the UK. The emphasis is very much on the ability for both companies to grow and have the opportunity to engage with more customers, with a more diversified product line-up for the entire business.”

New Forest Farm Machinery managing director Ed Smales adds: “We are excited about working with the Hunt family to further grow our business as Hunt Forest Group. Their experience in large ag machinery and precision farming will enhance the customer experience within our existing territory and help us create a more diverse and robust dealer business for the future.”

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

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