The self-propelled mower market is one that Krone has, so far, had to itself with its Big M, but it may soon be challenged by the Cutaro from Fleigl.
The Cutaro is not a new machine; it was first brought to our attention back in November 2022 but little has been seen or heard of it since.
Developed by ARB-Tec of Switzerland, it has an 11m cutting width with infinitely adjustable disc speed and a weight of just 8.5t.
Treading gently
It is this lack of weight which is promoted as the Cutaro’s strongest selling point, helping, as it does, to reduce soil compaction, aided by the wide 710/50 tyres on the front and 560/45 at the rear.
For comparison, an equivalent tractor with a 10m butterfly set will weigh in at around 15t, almost double the weight of the Cutaro and with a metre less cutting width.
Power is provided by a 7.7L Mercedes engine of 350hp, 100hp less than the Big M but with a massive saving in weight.
This lightweight combined with a vehicle width of 3.24m gives it greater stability on slopes, where it is most probably intended to be used given its Alpine heritage.
Cutaro development phase
Fleigl, which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, is reported to have purchased the rights to the machine and will most likely be operating a small number of prototypes in the field next season.
The Cutaro will be produced at the company’s Kirchdorf factory in the Austrian state of Tyrol, which is the site for the assembly of the Cargoes range of self loading forage wagons, the rights of which were bought from Claas.
As it happens, the mower beds on the original Cutaro are also sourced from Claas, although it is not clear whether these will be retained.
The transport width presently stands at 3.4m and altering the mowing bed arrangement will be needed to reduce this.
It will likely be two to three years before the Cutaro comes to market and there will probably be a good few changes to the original concept machine before it appears.
As yet, there have been no details given of the transmission and images of the mower suggest it is two-wheel drive only. These are important details and will influence its appeal, especially in demanding Irish conditions.
