Buyers of Claas’s big Disco 1100 plain butterfly disc mowers can now spec a Direct Swather system on the back.

It comprises a pair of augers that grab crop straight from the cutterbar, unlike a belt-type setup that relies on an intermediate conditioner to facilitate the transfer.

See also: Driver’s view: Thompson Brothers’ Claas Disco 8500C Contour

These carry corkscrew-style flights with a conical profile that sees the diameter increase towards the centre as the crop volume rises.

Integrated cover “pockets” provide further space for material, and a combination of shear bars and blades discourage it from building up and clogging at the outlets.

As the two augers can be independently controlled, operators can set them up in several different ways.

This includes swivelling both out of work to lay the crop across the full mowing width for further wilting, running them inwards to leave a central swath, or in the same direction to create a row away from the field edge.

© Claas

There’s also a “half swath” mode, where one auger is raised and the other is left in play. Completing two adjacent passes in this fashion sees 21m of crop consolidated into a 13m bout.

This can then be flung into a single row by a four-rotor rake, reducing the in-field travel distance of it and the forager by a claimed 32km over 100ha.

According to Claas, the Disco 1100 is the widest mounted swath merging mower on the market, with its telescoping booms offering an adjustable working width of 9.7-10.7m.

Despite the potential output, the absence of crop conditioners means operators should manage with a 220hp tractor on the front – or 180hp in the case of the smaller Disco 9300 Direct Swather unveiled in 2024.