New Claas Disco 1100 rear mount mower launched at Grassland

Designed without a conditioner and using conical swathing augers, it is aimed at high‑output grass and wholecrop work where swath shape and wilting control matter, and needs about 220hp on the front.

Claas Disco 1100 Direct Swather offers up to 10.7m working width with flexible swath merging for maximum versatility (Image: web)

Following on from the Disco 9300 direct swather launched in 2024, the new machine can be paired with a four‑rotor rake such as the Liner 4800 to pull together up to 21m of crop into one swath ahead of a self‑propelled forager.

Claas offers four swath‑placement options: full‑width spreading for fast wilting; an integrated centre swath; a '21m on 13m' combined swath/wide‑spread pattern; and one‑sided swathing for clearing along field edges, so operators can tailor the setup from heavy rye crops to lighter grass cuts.

Overhead augers can swivel in and out while working, and their conical design with conveyor pockets increases how much crop they can move (Image: web)

In the '21 on 13' mode, 21m of mowing from two passes is laid into a 13m band, which Claas says can cut rake and forager travel by about 32km per 100ha, saving roughly three hours across the harvest chain.

With around 65% more material in the swath, the forager feeds more evenly at lower forward speeds, improving chop quality, cutting fuel use and easing soil pressure. Operators can swap between wide spreading, half‑width or full centre swathing on the move via hydraulically swivelling augers, controlled through ISOBUS either singly or in pairs.

At the heart of the machine is the conical cross‑conveyor auger setup, scaled up from the 9300. The augers run close and parallel to the mower discs and widen towards the centre to handle the increasing crop flow.

Telescopic booms offer stepless 9.7–10.7m working widths while keeping transport height under 4m (Image: web)

A conical auger housing with rear conveyor pockets helps the crop move smoothly, while shear bars and outlet blades are there to prevent blockages, and swathing plates plus adjustable curtains keep material under the frame when working on one side only.

The mower uses the familiar Max Cut bar, a torsion‑resistant, bolted steel beam pressed from a single piece and sealed for life. Its low‑speed drive allows 850rpm PTO operation, with independent tests on Disco mowers suggesting fuel savings of up to 20% while still giving a clean cut.

Wear‑resistant rivets, tungsten‑carbide knife supports and the Safety Link overload module are designed to extend service life, and the bar can pivot both back and upwards if it hits an obstacle, lifting clear instead of tripping back.

High-tech knives from Bad Saulgau with colour?coded blades and wear protection for long life and quick, easy changes (Image: web)

Claas’s Active Float hydropneumatic suspension, adjusted from the cab, lets the operator fine‑tune ground pressure to protect the sward, limit soil contamination and save fuel. An optional automatic slope function alters pressure automatically on hills, reducing side pull and keeping the offset between front and rear units on banks, while an automatic boom‑lift reacts to a drop in rotor speed, raising the mower before blockages or clutch overload become an issue at higher speeds.

Based on the Disco 1100 C/RC Business, the new direct swather uses telescopic booms to give stepless working‑width adjustment from 9.7m to 10.7m, with independent or linked arm control to maintain overlap on tight headlands or slopes. Spring‑loaded sliding elements automatically set the boom position to reduce wear and despite the width and 3.8m Max Cut bars, the mower folds to under 4.0m for transport.

Control comes via Business‑spec load‑sensing hydraulics and full ISOBUS, so ground pressure, working width, auger position and lifting can all be managed through the tractor terminal - Cebis or Cemis 700/1200. Operators can map function keys for individual arm lift, telescoping or Active Float adjustment, and tie these into headland management using Claas’s P2 Access for smoother turns.

For professional grass and silage contractors chasing high daily outputs, the mix of wide working width, flexible swath placement and efficient low‑speed drive puts the Disco 1100 Direct Swather firmly at the top end of the triple‑mower league.