Landscape construction and maintenance contractor The Landscape Group has bought a fleet of eight new John Deere 1570 Terraincut front rotary mowers.

The mowers were bought as a direct replacement for the extremely reliable workhorse that was the John Deere 1445 outfront rotary model and will be used to maintain verges, housing estates and open spaces in Wiltshire and other locations.

Angus Lindsay, The Landscape Group's head of assets and fleet, said: ‘It's our weapon of choice where 60in outfront rotaries are concerned.

‘The preference is the result of a long-term review of the front mowers we use, in which the John Deere models consistently came out as the best and most reliable machines.

‘They were also the most favoured by our drivers, which is crucial – if an operator feels at home on a machine there is a definite increase in productivity, which we monitor daily on all our equipment. Analysis shows that 18 out of the top 25 machines are John Deere, and four of these are the new 1570 Terraincut mowers. This shows us that when the operators are happy, they make the machines work.

‘BS Mowers was chosen as the provider for a specific reason – where possible, with all our machinery manufacturers, we use the local dealer so our managers have support close by. John Deere is not the lowest cost make, but buying on price is not the driver. The dealer and manufacturer back-up is key, and BS Mowers and John Deere are very proactive.'

The mowers were bought outright using John Deere finance from John Deere dealer BS Mowers of Bristol.