Hoppers aim to improve
Kuhn importer CB Norwood Distributors Ltd's recently announced 3500L and 6500L trailed seed or fertiliser hoppers are aimed at improving the logistics of drilling and/or fertiliser application.
“It has always been our goal to find a more environmentally responsible and economic solution to farm fertiliser; liquidising nitrogen has helped us do this,” he says.
The Cootes milk 750 cows at Mooroopna in the Goulburn Valley, on the banks of the Goulburn River opposite Shepparton, with their son, Hayden and his wife Heidi.
They have been on the property (546ha including a run-off block) for seven years and the place needed a lot of refurbishment when they started. “The irrigation, the laneways, the fencing, it’s been massive and it’s not yet finished by any means.”
The machine is manufactured and marketed by New Zealand company Metalform Tow and Farm and about the time Tow and Farm were expanding into Australia they ran a demonstration at the farm next door to the Cootes. Both neighbours each bought a unit in August last year.
The Multi 1000 has a 1000L tank and a 20m boom, using a patented recirculation system and vigorous agitation to dissolve granular urea into a solution to use less nitrogen per hectare and get the same response.
Tow and Farm designed and built its own 3inch stainless steel trash pump and the unit is powered by a Kohler 7hp 4-stroke 208cc engine. Because it does not require a PTO it can be easily towed by a small tractor or a ute.
The application nozzles are located at each end of the boom and the direction of the spray can be adjusted to suit the wind conditions. The published application rate varies from 50L/ha at 25km/h with TF15 nozzles to 650L/ha at 5km/h with TF50 nozzles.
Coote says they are spraying mainly urea and a carbon source, usually lime flour.
“What attracted us was that we could liquidise the urea, use half the normal rate and get ‘bang for our buck’. And that has proved correct,” he explained when we visited in mid-November. “We couldn’t find anything on the market that was specifically designed to turn urea into liquid and then spray it out.”
They liquidise 350kg of urea with 750L of water. The time taken for the mixture to dissolve depends on the ambient temperature, usually 10-20 minutes, and they add additives to it as needed. The 1000L tank covers 8ha per application.
“It is a relatively expensive machine, so you have to know that it’s going to do what you want. It’s well made and has good back-up service. We haven’t had much call for that. We’re very pleased with the results.”
Hayden is the main operator of the machine and says it is simple and easy to use. “It does more than one job; we incorporate it in our farm fire plan in summer by keeping it on standby full of water as it is well equipped for firefighting.
“We can suck from the dam and it pumps out the water like a wash-down yard hose. It has already been used twice with good results.”
They spray the paddocks “following the herd”. It works out as a rotation of 35-40 days in winter and 18 days in the spring. “It’s a job for every second day.”
During our visit in mid-November the machine was hooked up behind their Massey Ferguson 7614, but they also use the ute and a smaller tractor to tow it. The Cootes also have a 90hp Valtra, a 60hp Case IH tractor tractor and a 130hp telehandler.
Coote says they are using water from the adjoining sewerage treatment facility. “We have a pipe and riser system covering 210ha fed from the effluent and the channel in a closed farm system. The primary pump runs virtually 24/7.
“We have just planted 50ha of fescue watered by a pivot irrigator with a 989m radius, which we are told is the largest in Australia. It can cover 120ha and is powered by two 55kW units. By growing more grass and fodder the Tow and Fert helps maximise effectiveness of these huge irrigation upgrades.”
The Cootes employ three full-time workers and Coote says it’s a good team and they all work hard. “The Tow and Fert helps us all by saving the most precious commodity – time.”
