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Results from recent trials of a spot sprayer developed by Colin Taylor, a young Scottish engineer, show chemical savings of 77% and savings of £46.50/ha, compared with a conventional treatment across the whole area.

The idea to first develop the spot sprayer came from a discussion with a neighbour about the high cost and waste involved in spraying dock weeds in grassland. Indeed, his recent trials showed the weeds accounted for just 19% of the ground cover.

As well as reducing chemical use and costs, spot spraying also increases grass yields, because it is not sprayed and does not have the weeds to compete against it. Moreover, any clover, which is particularly sensitive to the herbicides, is not killed and therefore doesn’t need to be reseeded.

Colin developed the system in his own time using personal savings, without any outside investment. Called the RUMEX system, it employs a combination of computer vision cameras, artificial intelligence software and individual nozzle control.

His computer vision system takes up to 30 pictures every second, which are analysed by the AI software – basically this checks whether it is seeing a weed or not a weed. “We needed the software to be able to recognise docks; and this involved training it using 20,000 different images of docks and grass.

His prototype is fitted to a Hardi 12m wide, 600 litre sprayer, for which he has developed his own electronic control system for the solenoid-operated, individual nozzle control. He fits Hypro E80-30 nozzles because with the 80° fan angle these do not require an overlap to apply a full dose.

With the current 30 frames/sec vision system it allows the sprayer to work comfortably at about6-8km/h, spotting and treating the docks in the field.

“I appreciate that is about half the speed of a conventional sprayer, but it’s producing enormous savings. A normal treatment of 2 litres/active/ha will cost about £70/ha. But if you look a grass field the docks will account for just a percentage of ground cover,” he explains.

Trials show 77% savings

Trials, carried out by Colin this spring on a dairy farm near Lanark in Scotland, confirm is original projections, producing a chemical saving of 77%, compared with a conventional treatment:

Spot treatment application data
Area treated	44.6ha
Chemical used	20.2 litres
Equivalent conventional rate	0.45 litre/ha
Spot treatment chemical saving	77%
Average weed cover	19%

Chemical cost savings

As well as the considerable saving in costs from using less chemical, Colin adds there will be a financial benefit from not killing the clover or stunting the grass growth with the selective herbicide. There is also a huge environmental benefit from simply reducing the amount of chemical being applied.

Spot treatment chemical savings (Forefront T @ £30/litre)
Chemical/Application rate: 2 litres active/200 litres water
	Application rate	Cost/litre	Cost/ha
Conventional application	2 litre/ha	£30/litre	£60/ha
Spot treatment	0.45 litre/ha	£30/litre	£13.50/ha
Savings	1.55 litres/ha	£30/litre	£46.50/ha (77%)

A 14,000-hour working classic is helping to keep a lid on depreciation for a Shropshire grower, who favours a 25-year old Fendt tool carrier and Knight Laser sprayer to carry out all applications. Geoff Ashcroft reports.

When Rob Kennerley invested in the very latest Knight sprayer technology in 1995, little did he know it would still be serving him well more than 25 years later.

The mounted 24m, 1,100 litre Laser sprayer was then paired with a 1000-litre front tank, and for the first half of its working life, was used on a Ford 7810. At the time, the sprayer was considered cutting edge, being equipped with an AirJet system integrated into its triplet nozzle bodies.

Created by TeeJet, the AirJet system was referred to as a ‘twin fluid’ nozzle, engineered to offer low volume spraying at a time when 200 litres/ha was the norm. Its use was said to enable operators to halve the water volume to 100 litres/ha, delivering a revolutionary step forward in productivity a quarter of a Century ago.

While Knight still offers the AirJet system on request, advances in nozzle technology have since largely overtaken the need for this innovative system.

More spray days

“AirJet really appealed to me as a system that could extend spraying windows through air-filled droplets,” says Rob. “With any application, it’s important to do the best you can, to get the best impact from all applications.”

Rob carries out all spray and liquid fertiliser applications at the family-run 160ha Oaklands Farm at Bagley, Shropshire, where he farms with sons Oliver and Rory. Crops grown include hybrid rye, maize, energy beet and cover crop mixes – the latter ensuring the farm maintains soil biology, keeping a cover on soils at all times.

“I guess that with an average of 10-12 applications/year, the Knight sprayer has done over 100,000 acres so far. And it’s likely to be in use for many years to come. After all, in its simplest form, a sprayer is only a tank, pump and boom,” he adds.

While the sprayer is still in regular use, the Ford tractor was moved onto gentler duties about ten years ago, though its replacement wasn’t just another conventional tractor. The farm wanted more output from its applications, and rather than re-invest in another sprayer at considerable cost, the family explored the option of using a tool carrier.

Choosing a tool carrier would give a generous load-carrying platform on the front of the chassis, providing room for a large front tank. It was a thought process that eventually resulted in the purchase of a Fendt 395GT.

It was a decision influenced by son Oliver’s time spent working at Farmers Weekly’s once venerable Easton Lodge Farm, where he experienced the practicalities of a Fendt tool carrier.

“We wanted more output, and it just made financial sense to find a way to go bigger with the front tank, rather than start again and buy a new sprayer,” explains Oliver. “So we took our time and located the tool carrier. Then all we had to do was find a larger capacity tank to put on the front chassis.”

Tool carrier tractor

In the early 1990s, Fendt’s tool carrier was to prove a radical departure from conventional tractor designs – but a concept rarely been seen this side of the English Channel. Popular in Germany, its seven-model range was headed up by the 395GT, in a line-up that spanned 45hp-115hp.

Engines and transmissions are located beneath the cab, requiring the cab to be tilted for maintenance. This creates a low centre of gravity, and for the 395GT, a weight distribution of 70% rear, 30% front.

This 1995-model 395GT bought by the Kennerleys about ten years ago, has now clocked over 14,000 hours, and has required only a clutch during the family’s ownership, delivering on depreciation and running costs. Some would consider the Fendt tool carrier to be an appreciating classic.

System tractor sprayer

The Fendt is used exclusively for sprays and fertiliser applications at Oaklands Farm, and is considered as productive as a small self-propelled, but at a fraction of the cost. With help from Central Crop Sprayers at Whitchurch, they found a GEM 2,100-litre front tank, which boosts capacity by a further 1,100 litres, up to a total of 3,200 litres. “This means we can now cover 32ha on a fill, working at 100 litres/ha. With liquid fertiliser, our rates vary from 150-350 litres, depending on the crop, though we’ve had to give the fuel pump a tweak to help on slopes with the extra weight,” says Rob.

Installing the front tank has seen the farm run through a few in-field developments, to get the combination to work more efficiently.

“The front tank agitation wasn’t very good so, with the help of Central Crop Sprayers’ Andy Parry, we’ve also run a pipe up over the top of the tank to install a second agitation outlet. A flow restrictor was needed at the first outlet, to push liquid up to the top of the tank. And it works extremely well,” he explains.

Further improvements

Other improvements include a change of drive for the front tank’s transfer pump. Previously a hydraulically driven unit, the system now operates from the front PTO, and has been installed on a plate using Land Rover engine mounts to reduce vibration.

“This 395GT has only three spools, and two are on a joystick which I use for boom height and boom levelling, with the third used for boom folding. I had to stop and divert hydraulic flow, to transfer liquid, which was an inconvenience,” he explains.

Rob now has the ability to move liquid on demand, using the front PTO. “It’s handy if you’re using two separate mixes through the rear induction hopper, or if you just want to adjust the balance of the tractor on slopes. It’s also helpful having all that weight on the front axle. Traction is incredible,” he says.

Easier operation

To make operation more convenient, Rob has mounted a rear-view camera on the top of the boom’s mast that connects to the TeeJet Matrix screen. He has also mounted support brackets onto the cab roof, to carry the boom when folded, to take the weight off both sides, when travelling on the road.

The tractor’s low ground pressure boots are 600/55 R26.5 up front, and 28.1 R26 on the rear. A set of row crops do get fitted, but are spaced to create a track width of around 2.3m, allowing the tractor to straddle four 750mm rows in beet and maize.

Rob’s nozzle choices are straight-forward, and are spun on their holders to suit. In addition to the AirJet nozzle, he carries a 200 litre/ha nozzle and a fertiliser nozzle. Spraying speeds are 11.5km/h, and in a nod to modern technology, the sprayer has been upgraded with an RDS Delta 34i rate controller and a TeeJet Matrix Pro for steering guidance when applying on cover crops or stubbles.

“It might seem to many like a very basic and straightforward system compared with today’s high-tech solutions, but it still applies accurately to the rates on our recommendation sheets, and it passes its NSTS test,” he says. “I can’t see the benefit in spending a six-figure sum on a spraying outfit, when this provides all the output, accuracy and spray quality that I require.”

Bridging the gap between office and sprayer, one Cambridgeshire operator has fully embraced top technology and telemetry to make the most of paperless operations as well as measure and maximise machine utilisation. Geoff Ashcroft reports.

In management terms, it has long been accepted that if you can measure it, you can manage it.

For Tim Clifton, assistant manager and sprayer operator at the Sentry-managed Chivers Farms, Hardwick, Cambridgeshire, using cloud-based MyJohnDeere (MJD) to host machine telemetry data harnessed through JDLink, has put a whole new level of utilisation at his fingertips.

“The information we get back from our tractor and sprayer, for application maps and operating data is staggering,” says Tim. “From machine location, fuel use, idling times, and start and stop times in every field for example, it really does provide a layer of automated traceability that brings benefits to the business.”

Every four months, local dealer Ben Burgess provides utilisation reports, which highlight running costs, including a monetary value for fuel wasted by idling engines.

“In 18 months, the sprayer has clocked up 1,100 hours, applying 1.8 million litres of liquid to 11,000ha,” he says. “Tractor idling time is an eye-opener too, and is something that we would hope could be addressed with start-stop technology.”

Being able to measure every aspect of tractor and sprayer data is helping to improve efficiency across the 950ha Northfield Farm operation, which stretches out over a 10-mile radius and straddles the A14 and M11 motorway.

Managing logistics

“Logistical challenges have become better managed, and all our sprays and fertiliser applications are now as seamless, accurate and as efficient as possible,” he says. “Data helps to improve the way we farm, and it has highlighted that our overlaps for example, are just 1%, for a 36m boom with 3m sections.”

All of which has been made more manageable through telemetry using JDLink, with data accessed through the web-based application MyJohnDeere (MJD), which carries all field data and boundary maps too.

“It has become easier to see where time is won or lost, and where we can make improvements,” he adds. “Having instant remote access to data means no more trips back to the office for USB sticks, or to create or analyse job reports.

“Jobs can be copied from Gatekeeper onto MJD, then sent direct to the tractor, or I can create them in the cab from recommendation sheets via email using my smart phone or tablet, and load them straight into the sprayer,” he says.

“It’s easy and immediate. And when I leave a field, all the application data is automatically put on the cloud for all the team to see. They can also be downloaded into Gatekeeper – I don’t have to remember to close the job, it does the lot for me.”

The route to enhanced efficiency came when the farm swapped a self-propelled John Deere 5430i for a trailed R962i and 6175R, in late 2019, to suit its 36m tramline system, which integrates into a 9m controlled traffic farming regime.

“We were looking for better utilisation and by changing to a trailed sprayer, we increased tank size by over 50% and gained a power unit that could be used for other work, when not spraying,” he adds. “In our first year with the tractor, we clocked up over 1,400hr – more than we would ever do with the self-propelled, which shows the versatility of having the tractor available for other work.”

Improved compatibility

The farm had already been trying out MJD with its self-propelled sprayer, but having a Trimble-equipped Quadtrac meant incompatibility issues were never far away.

“Moving field maps and boundaries between Greenstar and Trimble – through Gatekeeper – was complex, and we could frequently see boundaries move. And that’s not what you need when you’re trying to stick to a fixed CTF regime.

“It became simpler to re-run the sprayer around every headland to re-record the boundaries after cultivations and drilling, but since then, we’ve had a GreenStar-based steering system fitted to the Quadtrac. At least the boundaries don’t move around now,” Tim explains.

The 6175R tractor has had an almost accidental impact on future-proofing precision farming tasks at Chivers Farms.

“I really wanted the LED light package on the tractor, but as an add-on, the cost was considerable,” says Tim. “It was more cost-effective to choose the Ultimate Edition tractor to get the LED lights, as it also brought extra specification.”

Part of that extra spec was a full unlock of JD licence codes, eliminating the need to pay for extra access as equipment technology evolves. “We’ve future-proofed our precision farming technology buying the tractor this way, and every tractor we buy from now on, will be an Ultimate Edition,” he says. “And with variable rate fertiliser applications, and Twin Select nozzle control, we need access to licences.”

Ultimate specification

The cab of his 6175R Ultimate Edition carries a 4600 terminal on the Command Pro armrest, which he uses for the sprayer terminal; an extended monitor – a second 4600 terminal – used for field maps. Tim also carries a tablet, giving access to Gatekeeper.

“I’ve been pushing for the technology, because I can see how it can make my job much easier, and more efficient. Though it’s been a steep learning curve, and I’ve created some laminated in-cab crib sheets to make it easier to refresh and pick up knowledge,” he adds.

He also has high praise for the 6175R’s Command Pro joystick, which offers different user profiles to be saved, to suit individual preferences between himself and manager Alister Farr.

“This joystick makes the tractor as easy to operate as a self-propelled sprayer. We probably would not have bought a trailed sprayer if it wasn’t for the simplicity of Command Pro, and I really didn’t want two joysticks in the cab.

“With Remote Display Access, I can link into the terminal from my smart phone, should Alister be out spraying and need any help with advanced functionality,” he adds.

Sprayer-mounted receiver

When it comes to satellite technology, the spraying outfit runs with two Starfire 6000 receivers. In addition to the cab-roof mounted unit, a second receiver sits on the sprayer, directly above the axle.

“There’s no provision for entering a steering axle into the control box, so when we were turning back on ourselves from an angled headland, it was possible to miss a triangular area as the sprayer straightened up behind the tractor,” he says. “The receiver only really knew where the tractor was, and it had to make an assumption about sprayer position.”

“Adding a second receiver has cured this issue, because the GPS now knows exactly where the sprayer is, in relation to the tractor, which is particularly valuable when making a sharp turn off a headland tramline.

Mega draining rack

To help with the tedious process of can rinsing, Tim has built an industrial-sized can draining structure, which runs any washings back onto the bunded filling area, for safe dispersal.

“With a larger spray tank, there’s more cans to clean and drain, and that means you could easily run out of standing space for chemical containers. So I built one that’s 3m long,” he says.

The bunded filling area at Northfield Farm contains a sediment trap and pump, with any liquid contained and dispersed through a bio-bed.

With RTK guidance, the farm makes the most of its CTF regime, and means the tractor’s rear axle and sprayer axle ride on 650/85 R38 rear tyres. Tractor tyre pressures are 9psi up front, 12psi at the rear, with the sprayer running at just 14psi.