Maintaining the pitches and grounds at North Sunderland Football Club (NSFC) just got a lot easier! Through a grant from the Football Foundation, the club recently added a new Iseki Compact Tractor and, a new Major CS Pro Mower to their fleet.
“We acquired both of these pieces of machinery through our local dealer, Rickerbys, and they were instrumental in helping us to make the right choice for the long term. They knew exactly what we needed,” explained Dave Moor, Chairman of NSFC.
Their new Major CS Pro Mower has significantly reduced the frequency of mowing passes that they used to have to operate, using their old cylinder mower. The cylinder mower struggled to handle anything over 34mm and therefore the pitches had to be mown every three days, which meant a significant level of labour input. Being a cylinder mower, it was also a high maintenance machine which increased operating expenditure and operational downtime.
“Now that we have our new mower, the Major CS Pro MJ65-150,” added Dave, “we are cutting at an average of 42mm during the summer non-playing period and it only requires a run over every five or six days – plus the forward speed is much faster with the Major and we can cover the ground in two-thirds of the time.”
Apart from the main, 7000 sq m competition pitch at NSFC, there is also a 5000 sq m training ground and surrounding perimeter ground areas that require regular maintenance.
“The maintenance costs of the Major CS Pro are virtually zero. It’s a gearbox drive to the rotors – so no belts to adjust or fail. It comes with a fully galvanised finish – so it’s going to do a great job and our investment will last us for many years to come,” concluded Dave.