A new 8,000-litre sprayer, back-up bowser, spray store and filling area is helping a Norfolk-based business to increase capacity and protect its operators and the environment. Mick Roberts reports with pictures by Ken Topham.
In the past 18 months Albanwise Farming at Saxlingham, North Norfolk, has not only replaced its sprayer with a top of the range 36m, Horsch Leeb 8.300 PT, but also designed and built a state of the art undercover sprayer and spray store with integral filling area.
The 2,800ha estate comprises 1,500ha of owned land along with a further 1,300ha of rented or contract farmed land. The soil type across the farm is all mainly medium, sandy loams with some heavier patches. A wide rotation includes feed wheat, winter and spring barley for malting, oilseed rape, vining peas, sugar beet as well a maize for a local AD plant. On top of this is 250ha of countryside stewardship in different schemes.
Five full-time staff and one student handle the workload with the team led by farm manager, Jono Darby who is FACTS and BASIS qualified. The rest of the spray team include assistant farm manager, Dudley Connor, as well as Scott Dawson who is the main sprayer operator and Scott Childs, who manages the 8,500-litre Vegcraft bowser.
All are experienced operators and hold the necessary PA1, PA2 and PA8 certificates. Phil Jarvis, the Chair of the Voluntary Initiative is also part of the Albanwise team, as Chair of Farming and Environment.
Before the fairly recent changes were put in place and the new sprayer arrived, its predecessor used to fill up in the yard near the main workshop with separate spray store. While this was safe and compliant, it was not that convenient or efficient and it was obvious the farm needed to upgrade and follow best practice.
“Ryan Smith, our previous assistant manager, was fairly instrumental in the project,” says Jono Darby. “He worked with me, along with sprayer operator, Scott Dawson, to pull together the design of the facilities we have here today. It was a large investment and it’s quite difficult to justify to the board on a return-on-investment basis, but the board understands. It is important to follow best practice.”
We want look after our operators, the environment and to produce food as safely as possible,” adds Phil Jarvis. “It has brought some huge practical improvements too, increasing efficiency, which ensures products are applied at the right time, improving efficacy”.
Operator, Scott Dawson, adds he is pleased to have been involved in the initial planning and is happy with the result. “It makes a huge difference having everything all in one place and a clean, tidy and safe place to work. I fill up here in the morning, then Scott Childs pre-mixes the loads and brings them to me in the field.”
The new store, is fully insulated with roller shutter doors at each end, enabling the sprayer and bowser to drive straight in and out. Operators use electronic key-fobs to open the doors for easy access. Built onto the side of an existing building, the facility is large enough to comfortably hold the new Horsch Leeb sprayer, but also offers plenty of space either side.
Fully bunded, the floor slopes to the middle to a 2,000-litre collection tank with a float-switched controlled pump, which moves the contents to a biobed behind the building.
Made by the farm’s staff, it contains straw, soil and wood chips through which the liquid filters, enabling the clean water to be safely discharged further away.
Fresh water for spraying is held in three, 20,000 litre capacity tanks next to the store. Two of these hold harvested rainwater, while the third is fed from the mains.
All the mains water is conditioned before going into the store via an underground pipe.
“We have very hard water here and while the rainwater is naturally soft, we feel conditioning it all helps to improve not just glyphosate, but also the efficacy of all products,” explains Jono.
Entering through the front of the drive-though store, its mix and fill area is on the left-hand side – in line with the sprayer’s operator station and induction hopper. Here there’s plenty of space for Scott to work.
It has conveniently located chemical storage racks at one end and bulk IBCs near the exit door. Another long run of chemical storage racking, clearly labelled by product type, sits along the whole of the opposite wall.
Instead of using the sprayer’s induction hopper they use a stainless steel Vegcraft ProFill system. Operators empty the products straight into this and use its nozzles to rinse the containers and place them onto the integral draining rack. The ProFill’s pump loads the sprayer with chemical and water.
Both operators praise the Vegcraft system for its speed, ease of use, cleanliness and convenience. After draining, empty containers are moved to recycling bags, placed under the IBCs. Cardboard is stacked in an old IBC frame, alongside receptacles for washed lids and foils.
Against the wall, directly behind the filling area, is a stainless steel sink and draining board, which drains into the tank underneath the store. A really neat feature is a hot water supply with a contact-less tap, which enables it to be turned on and off without touching anything.
A first aid kit, eyewash, spill kit and other safety equipment are all found close by.
Bowser back-up
Scott Dawson usually fills the sprayer with the first load. After this Scott Childs takes over the mixing routine, filling the new 8,500 litre capacity, Vegcraft tandem-axle bowser. Previously they used a 12,000-litre water bowser that did not have any mixing facilities.
Using its own hydraulic pump for filling in the store, the Vegcraft bowser fills up to 8,500 litres of water or mixed chemical in about ten minutes. It also has a 1,500-litre clean water tank along with rinse nozzles for the main tank.
“We rinse the tank after every mixed load,” says Scott. “These tank washings are loaded into the sprayer as part of the tank load – so when filling the mixed load we deliberately underfill by the amount of clean water that is put in the clean tank. This makes efficient use of time and the tank washings to be disposed off across the field.”
Hauled by a 4220 Fastrac iCON, the new bowser set-up and transfer routine, along with the larger sprayer, has increased overall output by about 50%. “On a good day, from six until nine at night, we can do five loads, which is 400ha at 100 litres/ha,” says Scott Dawson.
Its 8,000-litre tank load keeps the sprayer working for between three to four hours, usually covering 80ha. When it’s getting close to needing a refill, operator Scott calls the other Scott to tell him where to meet with the next load.
There is nothing more frustrating than seeing the machine stood still, adds Jono.
“The sprayer is a costly asset and needs to be working to ensure products are applied at the right time. The bowser will be ready and waiting with the next load, and it takes just a few minutes to transfer the mixed load, without even folding the boom,” he says.
While Agrovista provides agronomy advice, this always goes through Jono, who checks them. “I decide if any changes are required according to our own insights and, of course, with regard to my bottom line,” he adds.
Once planned, both the sprayer and bowser operator receive the recommendations as jobs, via the Landmark Systems Geofolia App. This shows the fields, the mixes and the operators doing the job.
Once the job is complete, Scott fills out the weather and timing details and synchs with the office. Scott Dawson is more than happy with the performance of the new Horsch Leeb 8.300 PT.
He not only likes its enormous output, but he also appreciates the comfort, efficiency and ease of use. The 36m wide boom, with 15 sections, is equipped with the five-sensor, BoomControl Pro Plus system, which levels the boom and independently controls each of the five sections to follow ground contours.
Quad clusters hold 025 and 035, 80° BFS low drift Bubblejet nozzles, as well as 08 and 05 fertiliser jets, with AutoSelect maintaining the flowrate and droplet sizes by switching between nozzle combinations.
Up in his spotless, carpeted cab Scott uses two John Deere GreenStar terminals that, through ISObus, control the application and the machine functions. To keep food and drink fresh for long days, the Horsch has a fridge and drinks cooler, which Scott has supplemented with a 12V kettle and food warmer.
Meet the VI Chair
Phil Jarvis, the current Chair of the Voluntary Initiative has many years of experience operating a 3,000-litre Sands self-propelled sprayer.
He joined Albanwise as Chairman of its Farming and Environment in 2021. While not involved in the day-to-day operations, his role does involve working with the Albanwise Team on both farming, stewardship land management and working towards carbon neutrality and while pursuing more ‘regenerative’ farming operations.
The VI work allows our business to get up to date information, in front of our management team and operators, so hopefully we’re always one step ahead!” he explains. “This involves championing Integrated Pest Management, working to protect water and wildlife, encouraging best practice through training and knowledge transfer as well as setting and working towards Key Performance Indicators.
“I am working hard to ensure the NRoSO scheme delivers for our sprayer operators and the industry. I am very aware of the pressures on the industry and operators in particular. We are striving to promote best practice by ensuring members have access to the best training from a wide range of sources,” he adds.
