Vermeer trailed disc mower hydraulic question

[lews]

I have a TM700 Vermeer which has two cylinders - right and left - for raising the mower. The left side isn't raising completely so I dismantled the cylinder worried that the nut on the rod might have come loose. It's fine though. But there's a scraper/seal? at the top that has a break in it (see photo). Not knowing much about hydraulics, I'm not sure if this is a scraper of some sort that is supposed to be split, or it's broken causing internal leakage. Could someone take a look?

Thanks, Lewis

Edit: I see that there's a special section for hydraulics, so I'll post there.