Trailed delivers high capacity at lower cost
Childerditch Farms in Essex is now on its third Horsch Leeb trailed sprayer, with the business favouring capacity, technology and the lower purchase price, compared with its past experience of a self-propelled machine.
When first looking at replacing a 10-year old Bateman self-propelled sprayer in 2018, the Essex-based family farm business sought the opportunity to boost tank capacity so it could also start to apply liquid fertiliser.
“We were looking for 6,000 litres, and when you looked at the cost of a replacement self-propelled, the trailed market was financially very appealing,” explains Ed Ford from the 610ha Heckapen Farm, Herongate, Essex.
That realisation, along with a few demonstrations, led the farm to buy a Horsch Leeb 6LT with 30m boom and 25cm nozzle spacing, making the most of technology.
“Choosing a high-tech trailed sprayer was one third of the cost of a replacement self-propelled. With ISObus, it offered plug-and-play compatibility with our Fendt tractors, and that also meant we had a far more comfortable cab to work in,” says Ed. “One of the deciding factors was the boom. With positive and negative contour following, plus 25cm nozzle spacings, it was far superior to anything I’d seen.”
That capability has kept the farm brand-loyal, and earlier in 2025 much sooner than planned, Childerditch Farms updated again and is now on its third 6LT. Here it’s used to look after applications on winter wheat, beans, spring beans and spring oats, although the latter is likely to be replaced by linseed in 2026, as Ed Ford looks for a break crop with a more favourable return.
“It was a deal I couldn’t refuse, and with it came the opportunity to change nozzle body configurations from our previous 4-1 format to 4-2, and also add curve compensation technology,” he says. “And this is where we’ve already seen huge differences in the effectiveness of our plant protection products.”
Ed says that the variation in boom tip speeds when following curved headland tramlines or working around poles, is where curve compensation comes into its own.
“The outside of the boom travels so fast. Even when you turn slowly, it makes very little difference at the boom tip, and that meant the outside of headland curves were suffering from under-dosing,” explains Ed.
“But it’s not just the outside of a curve – the insides of corners were getting far too much product. It became really noticeable with products like growth regulators.”
Curve compensation has been made possible by the development of AutoSelect Pro – the latest update to Horsch Leeb’s automatic nozzle selection system. An alternative to Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), AutoSelect Pro delivers advanced nozzle switching to adjust the liquid quantity needed, when cornering.
With a 4-2 nozzle body format, curve compensation is achieved by using combinations of nozzles in response to changes in boom speed, increasing the application rate on the outside of a curve, and reducing it on the inside.
This means its operational effectiveness increases when there is a wider range of nozzles to automatically choose from. Curve compensation also automatically adapts the working height of the boom in response to the nozzles being used.
Ed Ford says the farm is now typically applying an extra 50 litres of liquid thanks to the curve compensation, combined with the accuracy of individual nozzle control.
“You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. And with application rates being correctly delivered across the full boom width during turns, that alone has improved the efficacy of our application, and improved the crop canopy,” he says.
“Having a bigger spray tank does mean more weight, but I reasoned that we didn’t have to fill it, if conditions were tricky,” he says. “You wouldn’t pull a fully loaded 16t grain trailer across a field in winter, so the same mindset has to be applied when you approach spraying.”
Ed says the farm operates with water rates of 150 litres, the exception is pre-emergence products which are applied at water volumes of 200 litres/ha.
“We have the capacity and the output to apply using decent water rates. At 150 litres/ha, we’re covering 40ha/load, so we don’t need to stretch it. We can cover our 200ha of wheat in just two days,” he says.
Field sizes range from 3.5ha up to 35ha, and the 6,000-litre tank size means time spent in the cab with each load, can be up to three hours.
“Boom folding is much quicker than our previous self-propelled, and we’ve managed some of our gateways so we can move from field to field without having to fully fold the boom. With header-sized gaps, we can just raise the boom ends to full height, to pass through field boundaries,” he explains.
“And any fields less than 2ha have been put into stewardship schemes. Life is too short to scratch around in small spaces with 12m wide kit and a 30m boom,” he adds.
The farm has no need for a bowser, with all but an outlying 110ha some 20 miles away at Roxwell, everything else is largely ring-fenced. As the original farmstead diversified with commercial lettings, Heckapen farm was constructed on one of its fields during the past six years. As a result, new infrastructure and future-proofing became the order of the day when it came to buildings.
“We’ve invested in storage and workshop facilities, and built ourselves a modern, bunded, insulated spray store that can also house the sprayer,” he says. “Rainwater harvesting across the main building gives us 50,000 litres of water storage and we can fill under-cover using 3in pipework.
“But with the increasingly high cost of kit, we also have to be prepared to run tractors and machinery for much, much longer. Our Fendt 828 is now eight years old, and it’s not leaving here anytime soon,” Ed explains.
With that in mind, he says back-up and support is everything. “Crawfords’ backup for our Fendt tractors is superb, as is Horsch’s support with the sprayer and drill. We’ve also made a point of keeping a good selection of spare parts close at hand. We’ve also invested in a Horsch sprayer spares kit too,” he adds.
He says choosing the Horsch Leeb 6LT and making the most of its boom technology has created additional opportunities for more spray days.
“We have gained spray days with the Leeb, simply because we can get the boom lower to the ground and manage drift on those days where we wouldn’t be spraying at a conventional height, which gives us far better timeliness,” he explains.
With ISObus connectivity and full integration, Ed says there’s no need for a sprayer joystick.
“Everything runs through the Fendt One terminal and it means we can operate the with sprayer controls shown on the main terminal, and run the GPS on the display located behind the steering wheel. “It’s very clever, easy to use and is packed with convenience,” he says.
With Horsch Leeb’s pending introduction of a new 9LT model, would he be tempted to go larger?
“The 9LT is an interesting option and a great concept. But adding 50% more capacity on one axle might be a step too far on our heavy clay. 2024 saw us endure the worst spray days of my life, so the 6LT currently provides the best compromise for our acreage,” he comments.
