Kirk Simpson and Mary-Anne Murphy farm 205ha and lease another 30ha, growing maize and winter grazing on contract while running a contracting business. The contracting business ranges from Raglan district, where they now live, to the western bays of Taupo. They used to live in Te Kuiti, hence much of their client base is still in that region.
They have taken a steady-as-she-goes approach to growing the contracting business and have grown as the work, and finances, have allowed. The business was originally focused on cultivation work and the spreading work complements that nicely.
“We were looking to add a shoulder to our business,” says Kirk.
“Working with a consultant, we crunched the numbers on the spreader and decided it would reduce down time across the business.”
He says with the spreading work, he and the driver he employs now have enough work in front of them to work constantly, and keep the tractors rolling.
After shopping around, he bought a Giltrap 5001 spreader from Roger Gill Agriculture in Huntly and put it to work in early October 2012. At the time of writing he had covered 1305ha with it, spreading 1900 tonne – mostly lime, but also fertiliser, chicken manure, even a bit of dairy effluent solids.
They run two and a half tractors: two John Deeres of their own plus a lease tractor run during the spring peak. The John Deere 6930 Premium has been performance tuned, taking the power rating at the PTO from the standard 160-180hp up to 205hp by remapping the CPU. They also own an air-seed drill, offset discs, a power harrow and rota-tiller.
A trailed spreader rather than a truck spreader made the most sense for the business, allowing Kirk to fully utilise the tractors he has already paid for. It has clocked up 900 hours since October with no problems, and has easily paid for itself.
“We had originally calculated the return we needed based on only half the hours we’ve actually ended up doing, so we’re well ahead.”
The Giltrap 5001 was more expensive than some brands he considered, but it was well built and offered some features he was after: “I wanted the accuracy of hydraulic drive rather than ground drive. The drive system used on the spreader is very similar to the one on our air seeder, which is very accurate.”
He also liked the 850mm wide belt, which he says offers a more consistent spread.
He has also had a reverse spin kit fitted, which has been ideal for spreading heavier material.
As planned, the 5001 has rounded out the contracting business. “We can now offer clients a start-to-finish job, which counts for something at the busier times of years as farmers don’t need to wait around for trucks to turn up.”
