New Spring Tine Harrow "Less Time Consuming And More Efficient than the chain harrow ". Says Denny Farmer.

By proving to be a "less time consuming and more efficient tool" in managing the grass crop on which the success of his beef cattle enterprise depends a new grass harrow has already proved a significant money saver for Stirlingshire farmer Ian Stevenson.

Explaining the decision to replace his chain harrow with the new tine 4.5 m width mechanically folding machine - supplied by local dealers Reekie of Stirling - he said: "When they gave me a demonstration I found the spring tine harrow a lot easier to transport from one field to another than the chain harrows and thought it made a far better job of the grass."

"Being on my own the new spring tine harrow also has the advantage of saving time because it's easier handled even on steep ground. You are also able to cover a bigger area faster and unlike the chain harrow it doesn't roll and compact the straw dung which we spread on the fields first."

"The OPICO spring tine harrow takes away a lot of the old wrack grass, allowing the younger grass to come through quicker. I also used it on the 15 acres that we re-seed every year and was very impressed. I didn't have to go over the ground as many times as I did with the chain harrow."

The spring tine harrow was also used on dung which had been spread on the fields in October. "Normally we spread the dung and it is left in lumps on the fields until the spring. This time we went over the dung a week later with the grass harrow and it made a good job. There are no lumps left and no grass rotted out under the heaps," said Mr Stevenson.