Where hedges need a good trim but access is more than a bit tight, French machinery manufacturer Kirogn could have the answer.

The team at Chichester Farm Machinery in West Sussex certainly think so having signed up as importer of the company’s tracked self-propelled mini trimmers.

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James Brett said: “From the demonstrations we’ve done and the conversations I’ve had, the main users will be contractors who do lots of hedging, large estates, companies who look after canal paths, railways, and so on.

“The main benefit is accessibility; they can be transported on a standard trailer and easily fit through a 1m gateway, so you can use a powerful machine with excellent reach within a space that could otherwise only be accessed by long reach hand-held hedge trimmers and ladders.”

Hydrostatic drive

All variants are built on a stout chassis with hydrostatic drive to the rubber traction-belt running gear; track spacing is adjustable – pulled right in for compactness and pushed out for stability.

While the THA 250 is a walk-behind model, all others have a platform for the user to stand on, together with a two-section arm that can be telescopic for maximum reach.

A 23hp Honda petrol engine provides motive power for the THA 270 and THA 360, the former operating a three-disc cutter to a vertical reach of 5m and a horizontal reach of up to 4m.

The THA 360, meanwhile, deploys a four-disc head, trimming a vertical face up to 5.5m, topping out at 5.8m with an angled trim, and 3.4m horizontally.

There are two further versions, including the THA 700 with features such as parallel arm movement for easier cutter control.

Kirogn’s Minilem cutting gear come with swinging-blade discs or 500mm diameter overlapping saw blades, belt driven from a hydraulic motor in both cases and mounted on a body built from light stainless alloy with a soft edge to guard against impact damage.