Slasher Teck is a tractor-mounted grass slasher that trims around roadside posts without the need for hand mowing or manual trimming around the thousands of poles lining the country’s roads.

It was patented by Bega’s Nathan Boyle and his father Norm, with Slasher Teck now moving into production phase at Hunter Valley engineering firm TW Woods.

Nathan and his father Norm were presented with the  Best Environmental Product Award at the Civenex Expo at the Hawkesbury Showgrounds in north-west Sydney by the Federal Member for Macquarie, Louise Markus.

It follows on from Slasher Teck’s Best Innovation award at the 2015 Civenex expo.

Norm said the award was “a fantastic result”, presented for the innovation’s ability “to provide a mechanical solution to a chemical problem, allowing for huge reductions in the use of chemical spray for the control of roadside vegetation”.

While current contractors tend to hook a slasher to the back of a tractor, Slasher Teck’s bright-orange prototype – looking somewhat like a large Pac-Man on its side – will be front mounted to a tractor tasked with roadside vegetation management or similar jobs.

Then, once on the job, instead of taking wide berths around roadside markers and street sign poles with a rear-mounted slasher, a tractor operator using the Slasher Teck creation can drive right up to the pole and engage the revolving frame to cut completely around it.

It will also be able to cut grass under guard rails.

IPWEA NSW CEO  John Roydhouse told the crowd at the presentation that Nathan holds the international patent for the Slasher Teck  mower, which is attached to a tractor by a reach arm and can easily mow around the thousands of poles along roadways in Australia.

“This eliminates the need for hand mowing after a mower has been cutting grass along a roadside," Mr Roydhouse said.

“This also reduces the use of herbicides to  prevent weed growth and reduce fire hazards.”

Civenex is Australia's largest infrastructure exhibition and has been run annually by the Institute of Public Works Engineering (NSW) for 61 years. 

The myriad companies that supply Australian local government and the federal, state and territory public works departments and their affiliated bureaucracies, along with major contractors, attended Civenex on May 18-19, where millions of dollars in  business was transacted again this year.

More than 2500 people attended CIVENEX to meet and talk with representatives from more than 200 displaying companies.

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