Doug has recently purchased a new Allett Buffalo 34 to add to his collection of Buffalo's. “My obsession with Allett started back when I was a Greenkeeper at Tarland Golf Club around 1996 where we bought a Shaver 24 for mowing the tees. We also used it on the greens early and late in the growing season when a triplex mower would be too heavy in wetter conditions and cause wheel marks.
One day the Head Greenkeeper and I, had a problem with the setting of the cutting cylinder on the Shaver and we, being good Scotsmen, complained to the dealer who sold the machine to the club. The dealer got too much grief from us and they passed the problem on to Allett, the manufacturer, directly. Allett sent an engineer by the name of Roy Allett to investigate. He phoned beforehand to make sure we would be there and asked if we wanted to have 9 holes of golf too while he was here after he had sorted our problem? I met Roy a couple of times after that at the annual Scots-Turf exhibition and still have his business card in a card wallet to this day. How sad is that!!!
Fast forward about 15 years and a few different roles at various Golf Clubs, I decided to pack in Greenkeeping and work for myself, tending lawns in the local area. I started out with a Honda rear roller and a Mountfield wheeled mower. As I got more work and built my round, I was in the position to be able to pick and choose the client base and decided to base my business plan on acquiring more customers who wanted, and were prepared to pay for, more formal mowing. At this stage I already had two Allett Buffalo 24” ex-council mowers, and on the larger lawns I used a National 68. My Buffalo 27” was added three seasons ago to cut larger formal lawns where it saved time over the 24” giving greater productivity and a broader and more impressive stripe. “I have a client who has a really old Buffalo 34”, and I have given his mower a little TLC over the last couple of winters because I am so familiar with these machines now.
I was looking to get rid of the National 68” due to it having wheels in front of the cutting units which spoil the stripes my customers have grown to love, and it just made sense to get a Buffalo 34” of my own to improve the quality of presentation on large areas and keep the 27” on the formal lawns. I have been looking for an ex-demonstrator or a lightly used, well-looked-after second-hand mower when Austin at Allett dangled the carrot of a deal on a brand-new Buffalo 34”. This was too tempting and the deal was done on my first brand new Buffalo.
A Buffalo gives a very good finish to a formal lawn without cutting too short and on a weekly rotation I find it gives value-for-money to the customer who wants a good lawn but not two or three cuts a week. They are also built to last which is what you need throughout a cutting season with little or no down-time which is lost revenue to me. I do all of my own maintenance and mechanical repairs apart from cylinder and bottom blade grinding. Over the years of stripping down and rebuilding various Allett mowers I have a good insight into build quality and what makes these machines so reliable to keep my business working and delivering consistent results. My experience means that I know what to look for during my winter maintenance schedule to make good for the next seasons mowing .