GRASSIFICATION tests new mowing head

One of the main technical hurdles for the use of grass clippings in different applications is their high sand content, as sand is abrasive and causes damages to equipment. Therefore, one of the goals of the GRASSIFICATION project was to develop a new mowing head that would yield grass clippings of better quality, focusing mainly in the reduction of their sand content.

The new mowing head was developed in collaboration with the company Vandaele and was tested in a demo mowing in the municipality of Maldegem in June, 2019. The main difference implement by the company was to impose a limit in the mowing height to a minimum of 10 cm from the soil, reducing therefore the dirt uptake. The sand content of the clippings obtained with the new equipment was measured to be around 2%, which is the maximum sand content tolerated by the end-users.

Since June, Vandaele has been making some small adaptations in their mowing head to try to lower even more the uptake of dirt in order to guarantee that the limit of 2% will be met in all circumstances. A new test with their mowing head was carried out in the municipality of Roeselare in October, 2019, and the sand content of the freshly obtained grass clippings is currently being measured.