A new addition to the tractor-mounted mulcher range supplied throughout the UK and Ireland by Spaldings, can produce a fine and firm tilth ready for woodland re-planting or sowing to other crops as part of a land regeneration project.

The TMC Cancela MPK-225 has a working width of 2.25m, operates on the rear three-point linkage of a 220-300hp tractor and has 58 rigidly-mounted hammers arranged in a helix pattern.

Each hammer has a single carbide tip that shreds residue against six rows of replaceable counter knives and incorporates the resulting mulched material into finely tilled topsoil.

The MPK has a two-speed gearbox, providing a slower rotor speed for shredding and incorporation, and a faster speed for grinding away tree stumps up to 450mm diameter.

It also has a steel finishing roller equipped with six serrated traction rings and mounted on hydraulic cylinders to regulate the working depth and lift the roller out of work when not required.

This combination of features leaves a fine, level and consolidated surface largely free of trash ready for replanting trees or sowing to a different crop.

Hefin Evans, forestry equipment sales specialist at Spaldings, explained how this machine came about. “Potential customers were impressed with the structure and engineering quality of TMC Cancela’s mulchers,” he said.

“It’s a measure of TMC Cancela’s willingness to respond to different requirements that, after discussions with the company’s engineers, a prototype was built and extensively tested, which the contractor then purchased after it was stripped for inspection and rebuilt as new.”

Other features include heavy-duty power transmission to both ends of the 632mm diameter rotor by Gates’ fibre-reinforced positive-drive belts.

Like other models, strategic use of Swedish Steel’s Strenx high-strength plate for structural components and hard-wearing Hardox steel for components subject to wear provides a combination of durability, structural integrity and easily replaced soil-engaging parts such as the side skids.