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one of my customers gets me to use their cub cadet ride on. The neighbouring farmer was laughing at my efforts to hold a straight line as he effortlessly harvested the other side of the fence using some kind of gps. Won't be long until the farmer is not needed in the combine I imagine!
Ironically (?) it's Cub Cadet who are offering it in the US - and it's called 'SurePath'
Just think we'll soon be able to sit in the van all day long using the phone to control it. No skills, no effort and probably no pay 😗
i have a mate in agri his tractor has gps and other things on it but he says if he is anywhere near trees it goes haywire and he has to take manual control
I am from farming background. There is no way that you could have a driverless tractor or combine harvester operating. Imagine a 200hp tractor with 7 or 8 ft. wheels and a six furrow reversible plough losing the GPS signal and driving straight through the hedge and onto a busy road, or into a house or a school.
The idea of GPS mowing to me is also a clever idea that in practice won’t work. How could you have a driverless mower here for example? This is one of the churchyards that I mow.
Nice Photo Vic, is that the much talked about Hilux in the background :)
Yes, that’s the Hilux. I was there removing the Epicormic growth from the many trees. Hence no trailer and mower.
Out of interest Vic how do you deal with all the leaves , ?
I don’t think that the leaves are much of a problem really. This particular churchyard is what they call the ‘churchyard extension’, so it is a distance from where the church is. Behind the camera is a ten acre playing field and farmland surrounds on all other sides. It is an exposed spot, so the leaves tend to blow about and spread fairly evenly.
The trees are only around the perimeter and on three sides. I have never used/owned a ride on machine that collects, so the normal problem of filling the box/bag with leaves isn’t an issue. The Stiga mulches, so what leaves there are finely chopped. There is the odd patch where the leaves collect I suppose, but the Stiga jus ploughs through and chops them up.
HI Vic, If one sets up a specific "flight path" as is done with drones, one can quite easily mow between graves. R Neil
If only it was that simple. These old churchyards are uneven and do not have neat, straight rows of graves. They stones are randomly placed to be honest, they are all over the place.
You often have to drive over low grave kerbs or shunt about, squeezing between narrow gaps. It is sometimes a case of wrestling the machine along and through.
What about avoiding randomly placed pots? Every time you visit, someone will have moved one of those granite flower pots into the middle of a grave. Or maybe they have placed pots, wreaths, flowers and ornaments all over the grave. It changes every time you go.
What about if an area needs a second pass. What about needing to disengage the blades if something gets wrapped around the blades [like wreath ribbons], or you hit a stone. How would an autonomous mower see a tool left on the grass by a visitor who has been tending a grave and forgot to pick up their trowel or shears? [I have a lovely pair of quality shears I found on a grave] You need a skilled and experienced operator to be in control, to spot hazards.
It is all very good on perfectly smooth flat ground. But it just would not work in one of these old grave yards. I have had the machine stuck during slightly damp conditions in a low corner, or whilst mowing along a bank. It is only my physical efforts, coaxing and man handling the machine that gets it moving again. It just would not work on its own.
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