TREE MOUNDING

Right inset: Topcon GPS shown to be accurate to 3cm.

Right: Colin chose a great aftermarket cab by Lochmann.

MOUND OVER MATTER

David Wylie visits Colin Forster of CGF Services and his new Deutz-Fahr 5115K crawler tractor fitted with the latest mounding attachment by Enviro-Mounder to help meet ambitious tree planting targets

IMAGES DAVID WYLIE

Colin Forster has been involved in the agriculture and forestry sectors since the 1990s. Starting his training at the Barony College and then holding various positions in the machinery services sector and main dealers as his career progressed. Over four years ago, Colin wanted to be his own boss again and started CGF Services a division of Agri Accessories Ltd. Colin and his Co-Director wife Kerry also run a successful custom tractor parts and accessories business from their base in Canonbie near Langholm in southern Scotland.

Colin and his skilled team of operators cover all of Scotland and are willing to travel anywhere in the UK. He started out with a pre-owned Volvo EC160

Right: Owner-operator of Canonbie-based CGF Services is Colin Forster.

Left: Measuring wheel triggers the release of hydraulic striker bars to drop the bucket spades.

“COLIN AND HIS SKILLED TEAM OF OPERATORS COVER ALL OF SCOTLAND AND ARE WILLING TO TRAVEL ANYWHERE IN THE UK”

excavator and then traded that in for a new 2017 Doosan DX140 excavator and various attachments, such as a RGL Thumb, and a tree shear that can shear trees up to 40cm in diameter and is used for willow harvesting and other forestry work.

As an aside, the RGL Thumb attachment is made by RGL Engineering based in Moffat. Graeme Little is the designer that Colin worked with to develop what

Above left: Rear three-point hitch can lift 3,170kg (the mounder weighs just 1,000kg).

Below: At Mainshill, FLS will plant over 70 hectares of trees and restore 20 hectares of woodland.

he required to help speed up the process, move more material and deal with tree stumps safely when working in restock mounding and brash raking duties.

In early 2020, Colin bought a Japanese imported Iseki TA100 crawler tractor and operated it for six months. As a grey import it came with some risks, as dealer back up was limited and when the main hydraulic pump failed parts were difficult – but not impossible – to obtain. With this in mind, Colin started looking for a new dealer supported crawler tractor and considered various options from the likes of New Holland, McCormick, dealer supported Iseki and Deutz-Fahr. The latter won the day, mainly due to a competitive package, good model specification, a long and low-ground-pressure undercarriage, and local dealer support by Cumbria-based DW Toppin Ltd.

A SPRINKLING OF ITALIAN FLAIR

To find out more about Colin’s new Deutz- Fahr 5115K crawler tractor and Enviro-Mounder, we met at a land reclamation project for Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) at a former surface coal mine known as Mainshill, just off the M74 near Douglas in South Lanarkshire. For more information on FLS site plans, see the information box on page 56.

Colin started off by explaining that the Italian manufactured Deutz-Fahr 5115K does not come with a factory fitted cab as standard. Given the Scottish weather, operating this machine without one was not an option, so Colin chose a great aftermarket cab from Italian based Lochmann. The Lochmann cab is an extremely good fit on the 5115K and has a high specification. The 5115K tractor was ordered with optional extras to connect the engine coolant to the heating and air conditioning system on the Lochmann cab.

Colin commented, “For large mounding projects, we started using an Iseki TA100 crawler tractor and Enviro-Mounder demonstrator to evaluate a crawler tractor and mounding attachment, and immediately saw the productivity and time saving benefits. Our total investment for the new Deutz tractor, mounder and the tractor cab has been around £85,000 and this has given us the opportunity to tender and deliver larger projects of restock mounding work and the subsequent follow-on aftercare maintenance packages, such as inter-row mowing with an ATV.

“Although it’s very early days with the Deutz crawler, I’m delighted with the level of comfort from the Lochmann cab, the power and performance,

Right: Plenty of traction on steep ground.

Below inset: Extended spade frame rams help spade contact.

WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION

“COLIN WAS USING A SMALL TOPCON GPS SYSTEM TO ACCURATELY PRODUCE ROW AFTER ROW OF TWIN MOUNDS”

and the ride quality from the mechanical suspended seat on the Deutz tractor,” Colin continued. “I feel the decision to buy a mounder from D J Services has been a good one, as I know we will enjoy good support and the unit itself is the best in the market, as it is well designed and strongly engineered. And last but not least, it consistently and quickly produces a very tidy mound over various ground conditions.”

At the heart of the 5115K beats a powerful, 113hp four-cylinder FARMotion diesel engine (compliant with Tier 3B emissions regulations) with EGR and DOC exhaust aftertreatment system. The engine is tuned to deliver constant torque right from the bottom of the rev range. Fuel consumption, emissions, vibrations, and the noise levels are extremely low. Colin reported using only 25 litres of fuel per day and the engine sweet spot is around 1,200rpm.

The 1,850mm axle spacing of the crawler track frame – running on six oil-lubricated bottom rollers, and up to 40 track segments of 450mm wide track pads provide 16,650 square centimetres of contact area for very low ground pressure and low soil compaction and a high degree of stability and traction. The 5115 weighs just 5,260kg or 6,140kg with maximum permitted ballast fitted. Colin has fitted 600kg of front ballast for an even 50/50 split weight distribution to cope with the 1-tonne mounder to give a total weight of just 6,860kg.

The 5115K has two separate hydraulic pumps, with a dedicated pump for the steering system and a main 50L/min pump feeding up to five utilities at

FORESTRY AND LAND SCOTLAND

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has been working with a number of partners since 2016 to restore vacant and derelict land sites to a state fit for woodland creation. The two latest sites – Mainshill and Blairhouse – are both formerly Scottish Coal sites and are being restored by FLS in partnership with the Scottish Mines Restoration Trust and the associated local planning authorities.

Robin Waddell for FLS said, “These ambitious projects will contribute towards new woodland creation targets, lock up carbon, improve the environment and create greenspace for communities blighted by the legacy of opencast mining. At both of these sites, the landforms and soils have been restored by Scottish Mines Restoration Trust working to our specification. Now that that work has been completed and we have taken ownership of the sites, we will start planting about 300,000 trees over the winter and into the spring of 2021 [depending on Covid-19 restrictions].

“As well as the new woodland, which will attract a wide range of wildlife, we’ll also be putting in place extensive walking and bridleway routes which will help to make both sites a valued recreation resource for local communities,” Robin added.

BIG PLANS

The approved Land Management Plans for the sites includes a mix of new woodland with additional work to restore existing woodland. At Mainshill, which the Scottish Mines Restoration Trust and South Lanarkshire Council have spent around £5.7m to restore, FLS will plant around 76 hectares of trees and restore 20 hectares of existing woodland. The planting will mainly be productive conifers with an intimate mix of broadleaves but there will also areas of mixed and native broadleaves. Public access routes to various viewpoints are also to be incorporated.

Elements of these new woodlands will be registered to the Woodland Carbon Code, to independently verify the carbon captured by the trees as they grow. During 2021 and beyond, FLS will look to work with partners seeking to invest in the carbon capture and broader social and environmental benefits of innovative woodland creation projects.

Under the hood is a 113hp 4-cylinder FARMotion diesel.

the rear of the tractor and one at the front. The rear three-point hitch can lift 3,170 kg and it also comes with a mechanical PTO drive.

Colin’s 5115K tractor is one of the last machines brought into the UK with a Tier 3B engine, and we understand Deutz-Fahr is busy working on a replacement Stage 5 motor to slot into this narrow frame crawler tractor. Deutz-Fahr makes the 5115K with two mechanical transmission variants: a 12- or 16-speed gearbox. Colin chose the 16-speed transmission with overdrive. This covers a range of ground speeds from 1.32kph to 14.2kph.

During our visit, Colin was able to trundle along at 5kph and was using a small Topcon GPS system to accurately produce row after row of twin mounds 1.9m apart. Booms with chains set at 1.9m distance drop to the ground which help to visually reposition the tractor on to the next row. In this application, Colin had set the mounder to 1.9m spacing to give a 1.9x1.9m square mounding pattern. However, for broadleaf trees, one leg of the mounder can be locked up to deliver 3m spacing.

Colin also used the Topcon GPS to record ground conditions, which is useful data for land managers to analyse going forward. For other applications, Colin has a 3m wide Spearhead 300 multi-cut topper (rotary mower) unit for cutting back tough grasses and other heavy vegetation prior to tree planting and mounding.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

With FLS pledging to plant five new trees for every person living in Scotland by 2022 – that’s 25 million new trees helping to create forests for the future and also contribute to Scotland’s climate change targets – Colin and his Deutz crawler tractor and Enviro-Mounder combination is an extremely effective and fast way to carry out restock mounding. And with over 300 hectares currently on his order book, Colin is confident that as the forestry sector expands with ambitious plans to plant millions of trees, more areas will be developed, with restock mounding and aftercare work following in years to come to keep him busy.

400mm wide Hardox steel spades with bolt-on teeth.

ENVIROMOUNDER

The Enviro-Mounder was the brainchild of Brian Keen who is the owner of a Galashiels-based forestry contracting business. Brian designed the first EnviroMounder five years ago and they’ve gone on to produce over five million mounds since. The original machine is still working today and through constant development has increased its performance and reliability. The equipment is manufactured and sold by Derek Cowens, owner of St Boswell-based, D J Services Borders Ltd.

The Enviro-Mounder provides a mounding machine that accurately mounds for tree planting and is aimed at forestry contractors and farmers alike. It is designed to leave intermittent furrows, as it scoops out the mound with its Hardox steel bucket/spades and deposits it on top of the mounded area. Depending on the spacing chosen, it will determine the distance between the mounds, too.

The mounder has a set width of 1.9m centres across the rows but has adjustable options on the machine, with two different size measuring wheels and an electric/hydraulic timing system to perform 1.5m, 1.7m, 1.9m, or 2.5m spacings depending on how many trees per hectare are required. Follow-up treatment of the mounded area can then be provided via quad bike, either by spraying, mowing, or through a fertilisation system. This helps to control tall weeds and keeps Vole damage to a minimum.

Over 20 Enviro-Mounders have been supplied to date and D J Services Borders Ltd offers a try before you buy option.