Tested in practice: the Rabbit RD2345 scarifier from Schouten Machines

ARTICLE

GARDEN AND PARK TECHNOLOGY

MARKET & CURRENT AFFAIRS

Heleen Kommers, Tuesday 9 September 2025

122 sec

Evers: 'The scarifier is aggressive, robust, and considerably heavier than the type we used before'

Do the scarifiers from Schouten Machines really deliver on their promises? We asked André Evers, senior maintenance mechanic at the workshop of Onderhoud Enschede, the maintenance branch of the municipality of Enschede.

This article was previously published on 5 September 2025 on the website
of Fieldmanager.

The Rabbit RD2345

But first: what should we know about these scarifiers? We are talking about the Rabbit RD1545 and the Rabbit RD2345. Mike van den Hardenberg, responsible for marketing at Schouten Machines, explains that Enschede has been using them for the second season. 'The RD1545 has a working width of 150 cm and requires 30 hp. The RD2345 has a working width of 230 cm and requires 70 hp. You can easily set the working depth using a front roller, which has a scale for choosing the correct depth. Both machines can work up to 5 cm deep. At the rear there is a hydraulically adjustable spreading flap. This allows you to control where the loosened material is blown, for instance to keep paths or advertising boards clean.'

less fuel and little maintenance

How economical and maintenance-friendly are the machines? Van den Hardenberg: 'The blades are made of hard metal. They are positioned so that one blade leaves the ground before the next one cuts in. This prevents damage to the turf. They rotate in the direction of travel, which means less power is needed and the machine uses less fuel. The frame is robustly built and has a V-belt drive on both sides, which requires little maintenance. Furthermore, the support legs are located under the machine, so you can safely park it after use without damaging the blades. Maintenance is simple: only the bearings and PTO shaft need greasing, and these are easy to access.'

'The machine is aggressive, robust, and more heavily built; this allows you to work faster'

scarifying sixty football pitches

That sounds promising, but is it really? Evers is enthusiastic. In addition to integrated maintenance, Onderhoud Enschede also carries out construction and redevelopment projects in public green spaces, as well as small-scale maintenance of paving, sewers, playgrounds, and street furniture. And since Sportaal — which promotes, facilitates, and organizes sports and physical activity — was added earlier this year, Onderhoud Enschede is also responsible for sports field maintenance. With the Rabbit RD2345 you do not just tackle a small patch of grass somewhere, but up to sixty natural grass football pitches. Maintenance of the 22 artificial turf pitches consists of different tasks, such as refilling cork and brushing. Evers: 'The scarifier is aggressive, robust, and considerably heavier than the type we used before. This also allows you to work faster.' And that is a welcome benefit now that they have started the major maintenance of the sports fields.

'All in all, it is an excellent machine. It does very well what it is designed to do'

disc option

'First, we scarify all the fields,' continues Evers. 'This helps to reduce weed pressure. You can easily cut through entire root systems. After that we mow the grass short with the Panda mower-loader combination from Schouten Machines. That takes us two to three days.' Evers also explains that they opted for the additional cutting disc option for the scarifiers. 'We also bought an extra axle, which makes changing them even easier. Otherwise, we would have to loosen all the discs individually with a wrench, and they are only about 3 cm apart. In our experience, the machine works best under moist conditions. All in all, it is an excellent machine. It does very well what it is designed to do.'

'With the extra axle, changing the discs is even easier'

Schouten Machines B.V

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