Rammingen near Ulm, 28/07/2008
Small but nice. In order to be able to afford professional turf maintenance machines like the big clubs, small sports associations have joined together to form user associations. A example from the Palatinate region of Germany shows how well this is working.
The problem of the sports associations in Weilerbach, Siegelbach, Reichenbach, Rodenbach and Erzenhausen/Schwedelbach/ Pörrbach has to be typical. Training and playing demanded more of the turf than it could give. "We were busy all the time keeping up the maintenance," explained Herbert Faul of the Siegelbach Sports Club. "We often lacked the funds to pay landscaping companies to do the work. Does it work to used borrowed equipment? Will enough volunteers come to help?" In the neighbouring town, the same situation. "In the end both trainers and players were dissatisfied," Peter Degen of the Rodenbach Sports Association remembers.
So, these five associations that are close both geographically and in terms of friendship made a trend-setting decision. Together they would acquire a fleet of professional equipment to handle all the maintenance tasks for their outdoor grounds. Time allotments for usage would be simplified by verbal agreements. "Ultimately no association needs all the equipment all the time," according to Faul. Fortunately, the Weilerbach municipality already had a Kubota compact tractor. So "only" the appropriate attachments had to be found for the ST-V32. The search lead quickly to Wiedenmann. The Swabian manufacturer maintains 380 service locations across Germany. Faul and his colleagues decided on five machines or functions: aerification, deep loosening, overseeding, raking and sanding.
Grant from the Sports Confederation
The centrepiece of their solution is the multifunctional TERRA COMBI. The name says it all. It can handle up to nine maintenance tasks. Just attach the appropriate maintenance implement to the universal frame according to the need. The associations chose the loosening rotor with blades that slit the ground to loosen and aerate it. This helps to remove compactions up to a depth of 20 cm. If finer work is required, just attach the cast-iron disc unit to the frame. Then only the upper eight centimetres of the ground will be relieved of compaction levels (with hollow tines, with cutting blades also up to 13 cm). To fill the tine holes, Faul and his colleagues go over the turf with the sanding unit. The solution from Wiedenmann with an even spreading width of 100 cm and an exact trail end pattern is economical. The light TERRA RAKE is used to remove fine thatch. The device is also attached to the Kubota three point linkage mounting, but like everything from Wiedenmann, it fits other makes. Oscillating verticutting tines pull the compacted thatch forcefully out of the turf. Finally, for overseeding and raking the TERRA COMBI is used with its rear attachments.
"In practice this solution has been worthwhile from an organisational standpoint as well as technically," was the unanimous expression of the associations. A financial injection of EUR 4,600 from the Palatinate Sports Confederation to support the action also contributed to the already high spirits. Now the associations do not have to depend on outside service providers, they have the advantage of excellently maintained grounds, and together they save a lot of money.
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