Northern Ireland’s hedge cutting season ends this week

Northern Ireland’s hedge cutting season ends on Saturday (February 28) with contractors pushing hard to fulfil all the work in hand before the deadline kicks in.

Under the Wildlife and Natural Environment (NI) Act 2011, it is an offence to disturb nesting birds, their chicks, nests, or eggs at any time of the year.

As a consequence, hedge, tree, or scrub cutting (including laying and coppicing) is prohibited between March 1 and August 31.

Farmers must comply with these dates to ensure that support payments from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) are protected.

Breaches can result in financial penalties.

According to DAERA “well-managed hedgerows provide a vital habitat and food resource for insects, birds and mammals”.

“A good hedge also provides shelter for livestock and helps with disease control.”

DAERA also stated that landowners should ensure that hedges and trees bordering roads, lanes or footpaths are maintained so that they do not obstruct the movement of vehicles and pedestrians or block the view of drivers.

Hedge cutting

The continuing rain and very poor ground conditions of late have been making any kind of field work an uphill challenge.

However, helping the cause of the Templepatrick-based contracting business, Russell Brothers, has been the recent acquisition of a Case Puma 240 CVX tractor on tracks.

Darren Russell explained: “The opportunity to make the purchase presented itself a few weeks ago.

“The tractor arrived two and a half weeks ago and we have been using it every working day since then to cut hedges. We are using it in tandem with a McConnell 6572T hedge cutter.

“The tracks make a tremendous difference. They minimise issues relating to land disturbance and compaction.

“We have been able to get into fields that would have been impassable for tractors with any form of tyre specification.”

Russell noted that this is the first time that they have used a tractor on tracks.

“The 240CVX can travel at up to 40km/hour. So it can also be used to trim road fronting hedges,” he said.

“The tractor was purchased with the specific intention of allowing us to cut the hedges of our farmer-clients, who support the business: year-in; year-out. We didn’t want to disappoint them.”

One the hedge cutting season ends, the attention of the Russell Brothers’ team will turn to slurry spreading.

And, here again, the 240 CVX may well have a role to play.

“Using the tractor will allow us to get slurry out that little bit earlier for clients,” Russell commented.

“And again it comes down to the fact that the tracks minimise soil compaction and field disturbance.”

The CVX has a 240hp rating and comes with auto steering.

Russell said: “We plan to use the tractor to sow fertiliser over the coming weeks and as part of a one-pass crop establishment system when it comes to planting winter cereals later in the autumn.”

.editor-styles-wrapper .wp-block-acf-related-stories-block {
max-width: 960px !important;
background-color: var(–color-gray-default);
padding-inline: 40px;
padding-top: 8px !important;
padding-bottom: 20px !important;
}

HEDGE CUTTING