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CUSTOM SERVICE by sprayer/spreader firm Silvan is helping a Waikato/Bay of Plenty spraying contractor to pioneer a new way of fertiliser delivery.
Gareth Copsey owns Copsey Contracting, an agricultural spraying business which four years ago began diluting and spraying urea – the first in his region to do this and one of the first in the country.
“It was pretty slow at the start; it took a lot of convincing people to see the benefits but it has taken off in the last year.”
When spraying suspended fertilisers he uses a purpose built truck along with a crane trailer; this eliminates the need to use the farmer’s tractor to lift the bags which is inconvenient to the farmer. Urea or other solid fertiliser is loaded straight into the tank by the crane trailer while filling with water. The solution is mixed by the time the driver gets to the paddock to be sprayed. Machines are washed out at the end of every job.
Copsey now runs an Isuzu with a 1200L tank for general herbicide and pesticide spraying and a Mitsubishi Canter with a 2000L tank.
With his engineering background, Copsey converted the Isuzu truck into a spray unit himself. Silvan supplied nearly all of the spray equipment, he says. “Most other companies want you to deal with resellers, but Silvan does everything.” The result is faster answers and better customer service, says Copsey. For example, when in 2010 he bought one of only two Arag Bravo 400 GPS units in New Zealand, and struck a problem with it, “Hayden Mills came to fix it at 8pm on a Sunday; you can’t get better service than that.”
Copsey says the unit is first-rate and allows for smart spraying, saving money for operator and farmer. “It will show you if you’re going over an area you’ve gone over before and will switch the sprayer on and off if [you do], to ensure everything is covered but not done more than once.”
This is of extra benefit to customer with liquefying fertilisers already saving farmers money. “If you normally put on urea at 60-80kg/ha then you only need 25-30kg/ha to get the same or a better result.”
Copsey says it is also possible to mix in other fertilisers or minerals to the mixture.
The firm covers as far as the Coromandel with its suspended fertiliser operation and business is going so well that he is pricing a 4000L kit from Silvan which will be placed on a new Mercedes.
Tel: 0508 745 826
www.silvan.co.nz
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