With spiralling fuel costs, Kverneland reports many farmers and contractors are looking at switching away from rapid-wilt mower-conditioners to straightforward plain disc machines.

Often tedders are employed as a matter of course, and with high-output mowing rigs more and more common, wilting times are no longer the issue they might have been in the past.

While a plain 9m triple set-up might only need a tractor of 150hp, the equivalent conditioner-equipped unit will require a minimum of 250hp and it is likely to burn 30% more fuel.

And then there’s the cost of buying the mower. A set of 9m Kverneland butterfly mo-cos will set you back £47,500, while the plain version is nearly £10,000 cheaper and potentially capable of significantly higher workrates.

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