For ten years, Foresteel machines have been leaving our workshop in Tartu for parks, municipalities and estates across Europe, the USA, Australia and even South Korea. On 16 October 2026, one of them made a much shorter trip. We handed over an FT-600 leaf trailer with a MIDvac G2 debris loader to Tartu Vocational College (VOCO), a few kilometres from where it was built.
It is a small delivery by volume. For us, it is one of the most meaningful ones yet.
From rakes to one pass
Autumn at VOCO used to mean manual leaf collection across the college grounds. It is slow work, and on windy days the piles you just raked blow straight back across the lawn.
Looking for a better way, VOCO’s grounds team searched online and found a manufacturer in their own city. They got in touch with us directly.
We started with what the college already had: a Hustler zero-turn mower. Instead of selling a new tow vehicle, we matched it with an FT-600 leaf trailer and a MIDvac G2, connected straight to the mower’s cutting deck.
A demo that settled it
We run demo units through every autumn season, so we brought one to VOCO and let the team test it on their own grounds. According to the college, it was the most effective solution they had seen. The order followed soon after.
What changes on the ground
The mower now cuts, vacuums and collects in a single pass. Leaves go through the Hardox shredder blade, which reduces their volume up to 10 times, and land compacted in the trailer body. One operator does the whole job, and the wind no longer undoes it.
There is a second benefit the team spotted right away. The same setup collects grass clippings when they mow the football pitch, clippings that used to be left on the field. The result is a cleaner, better playing surface.
VOCO expects the machine to save significant time and free its staff for other maintenance work.
Why this one matters to us
Few things say more about where a field is heading than a school choosing machinery over manual labour. We see the same shift across Europe: grounds teams are moving from rakes and blowers to faster, more manageable and more cost-efficient collection, mostly because there are fewer people to do the work.
“After ten years of product development and international sales, we are proud that a Foresteel leaf trailer is finally at work in our own hometown. It is especially good that a local school found us on its own, and that we could offer a solution built around its needs.”
Alar Annuk, Foresteel
Built around the machine you already run
The VOCO project shows how we prefer to work. We first look at the customer’s needs and existing equipment, then add what turns it into a better tool. Here, a mower the college already owned became an efficient leaf collector.
“Our goal is not just to sell machines, but to provide solutions that help people work faster, more comfortably and more efficiently. Often the smartest move is to use the customer’s existing machinery and add the right equipment to it.”
Alar Annuk, Foresteel
We also stay in touch after handover. What operators tell us in real use goes straight back into product development.
Made in Tartu
In 2018, Tartu Postimees wrote about a Foresteel leaf collector that did the work of several people in minutes. Since then our range, production capacity and reach have grown considerably. Foresteel machines now work in around 25 Estonian municipalities, several of them with more than one unit, and all production takes place at Vahi industrial park just outside Tartu.
Sometimes the right equipment does not have to come from far away. It can be designed and built right here at home.
Thinking about how to handle next autumn? See the FT-600 leaf trailer and MIDvac G2, or contact us to book a demo on your own grounds.
Compact, efficient professional equipment