Solution for rowdy cattle
Having walked away with a Fieldays Innovation Award and a useful cheque back in June, Springarm Products has recently signed a sole marketing agreement with Dannevirkebased Metalform.
Two and Fert does this by applying soluble or insoluble fertilisers either as a spray or fine particle blend rather than in a coarse particle form when applied as a solid.
Neither process is easy to do with a conventional sprayer and tends to fall into the 'too hard' basket, the company says.
The Tow and Fert has a mixing tank that uses a powerful agitation system which accommodates water and fine particle fertiliser in a 1:3 ratio. The boom assembly has a unique re-circulation system that operates continuously irrespective of whether or not application is taking place.
The system can deal with blends of, say, fertiliser and trace elements, resulting in fewer passes during the growing season, saving time, money and ground compaction.
The set-up handles water soluble products, insoluble materials mixed to a slurry, liquid fertilisers and biologically active products such as compost teas.
A range of linkage mounted or trailed machines from 1200 to 4000L capacity combine with booms 8-24m; coverage per load ranges from 8-40ha depending on application rates.
Options include hydraulic or petrol engines, specialised wheel equipment, hydraulic lifting cranes and task specific nozzles.
Half the cost of a chopper
Hopkins Farming Group, Manawatu, has used a Tow and Fert system to cover 1000ha over six separate units.
Applications costs have been calculated at around $15/ha for applying a mix of urea and ProGib in one pass versus previous helicopter applications, which can only apply one product at a time at $30/ha.
The resultant bottom line saving of $15,000 over the 1000ha will mean the Tow and Fert machine will achieve a 100% payback against capital cost ($30,000) in no more than six months, then go on saving money.
The Hopkins set-up uses modular components to create a front and rear mounted layout with tanks holding 2500L; it can cover 100ha/day or more, with combinations of product applied to save tractor hours and reduce running costs.
For information visit www.towandfarm.com
