Customer report: The keepers of the Ellwanger Seenplatte

Hard to imagine today, but there were regularly devastating storms in the area around the upper Jagst in Baden-Württemberg in Germany until the 1950s. Every year, the river broke its banks several times and caused great damage. With the start of the construction of a century-long project in 1956, the turning point came and by 1982 a total of 15 reservoir and retention basins as well as embankments had been built, which today largely protect the area from flooding. The Wasserverband Oberer Jagst is responsible for the maintenance of the facilities. An important aid in the daily work of the association's dam keepers is a Schlegel ride-on mower AS 1040 YAK 4WD.

"Actually, we are just dam keepers," says Martin Schmid, foreman at the association's construction yard, modestly when asked about his job. But the tasks of a dam keeper are very extensive. They maintain and check all the facilities and thus ensure that they function in an emergency and that the protection against flooding is also guaranteed. Martin Schmid and his three colleagues from the construction yard are therefore - together with their colleagues in the office - administrators of the Ellwangen lake district. In total, the lakes and dams cover an area of 174 hectares and have a total storage capacity of eight million cubic meters.

Protecting healthy embankments

"In addition to the technical maintenance and the constant monitoring of the water levels, the mowing of the plants and the care of the trees are also part of our work," says the trained agricultural machinery mechanic. "The embankments are particularly important here, because they must not be damaged so that they can hold the water in an emergency. That is also the reason why we cut down the embankments almost completely every few years. The stumps must not exceed eight centimeters. Otherwise, the risk that the roots make the embankment unstable is too great," he explains. "Equally important, for the same reason, is a healthy lawn, the embankment must be well-grown. For if the lawn is torn up and loose, it is a dangerous surface to attack during heavy rain."

"In total, we have about 200 hectares to mow regularly. Until two years ago, we mowed the embankments and other smaller areas completely with a grass trimmer. It was not only time-consuming, but also exhausting." In their search for an alternative, the dam keepers' main wish was a lawn mower that no longer required them to run behind it. "When choosing the right machine, it was also important that it was suitable for use on slopes and that it had the right power," adds Schmid about the requirements for the new purchase.

Foreign objects and steep embankments - No problem with AS 1040 YAK 4WD

The decision was then made - after intensive market research - in the autumn two years ago for an AS 1040 YAK 4WD. "We got our YAK in December 2019. That means it spent the first few weeks well looked after and in peace on our construction yard," says Schmid with a smile. In the meantime, it has been in use during the second season and fully meets the requirements. "With the YAK, we have been able to significantly reduce the number of times we have to use the grass trimmer and thus also reduce the workload enormously. In addition, the area performance of our new fleet member is excellent. In addition, the flail mower is ideal for foreign objects lying in the high grass. For that is what we often have to deal with. When the lakes are dammed, wood or similar is washed up, which then remains in the grass when the lake is lowered again. The YAK makes a short grinding noise and that's it. Nothing breaks," says the dam keeper enthusiastically. The reason for this is that the flails, which are attached to the horizontal rotor in an oscillating manner, hit the foreign object, but can fold away and give way. The risk of damage to both the blades and the machine is thus significantly reduced. "Don't forget the YAK's excellent slope ability, which is of course essential for us," adds Schmid when talking about the advantages of the flail mower. "The low center of gravity benefits us especially when mowing the steep embankments."

Protection of valuable flora and fauna

In addition to flood protection, the basins, as the dam keepers correctly call them, have another task. "The highest priority is flood protection for the buildings along the Jagst. But we also use the basins to store water. We then release this into the Jagst during periods of low water levels and can thereby increase the river's self-cleaning ability. This protects, for example, fish, which would otherwise not be able to survive in the Jagst during dry summers," explains Schmid. Thus, nature conservation is a very welcome side effect of the construction of reservoir and retention basins.

Several nature reserves and FFH areas have also been created along the basins in this context. Especially there, ecologically oriented green space maintenance is of course indispensable. Topics such as the preservation of habitats and refuges, correct maintenance periods and frequencies or strip mowing are not foreign words to the dam keepers. "Depending on what needs to be protected, we plan our work. So we also use mowing schemes to determine when which area should be mowed. For example, we mow wet meadows early in the spring and then again late in the autumn. The reason for this is that the plants growing there must have withered before mowing and should already have died out to ensure their continued existence," says Schmid and gives an example of sensible mowing according to sustainable principles.

By boat to the island

Islands are also part of the dam keepers' areas of operation. "We also have two islands at the Stockmühle reservoir. We only mow these once a year. The goal is to keep these areas free of woody plants, as they are home to special species such as the ruff. They would no longer nest there if the island were overgrown with bushes. Here, of course, due to the mowing once a year and the then very high and partly woody grass, our YAK is the ideal machine. So far, we have done the work there with a grass trimmer. With a smile he adds: "But we already have some ideas and have thought about building a boat with which we can transport our ride-on mower to the island in the future."

Local recreation in beautiful surroundings

Far beyond the region, the entire area of the Wasserverband obere Jagst has not only become a real enrichment for the landscape and nature, but it has also contributed enormously to improving the recreational and leisure value. What has emerged is a popular local recreation area with opportunities for swimming, camping, hiking, fishing or even sailing. "Therefore, we must not forget to mention that the cutting pattern of our YAK is also very good and significantly better than with a rotary lawn mower. Even under extreme conditions, such as this very wet spring, we are very satisfied with it. Since we also partially mow sunbathing lawns, this is definitely an important issue for us, and the visual appearance plays an important role here," concludes Schmid.