At Woodsieves, Shropshire, HK & SB Bennett has embraced technology to improve the accuracy of fertiliser spreading at its 450-acre, 240-cow mixed farm.
“We’re looking to make the most of every kilo we buy,” explains Gareth Bennett, who runs the CL GEOSPREAD linked to an IsoMatch Global receiver, IsoMatch Inline lightbar and Tellus GO terminal in the cab of his Kubota M7152 tractor.
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"I never thought we could be this accurate applying bagged fertilisers," Gareth Bennett, farmer |
He has high praise for the spreader’s automatic section control, which switches on and off, based on where the spreader has travelled, to cleverly manage overlaps in any shape field.
“The spreader is so clever that we can now apply fertilisers as accurately and efficiently on grassland without tramlines, as we can running through cereal crops with 24m tramlines,” he says.
Gareth says typical forward speeds of 18kph, and at up to 21kph on grassland, are what contribute to output and efficiency.
“It’s a truly remarkable piece of kit, and it has created the opportunity to carry out contract spreading for neighbouring farms, to help offset the cost of technology, and improve their fertiliser usage,” he adds.
Supplied by Battlefield Machinery, the spreader is equipped with three hopper extensions, and has created full traceability with field records and fertiliser applications.
“The only way we could apply fertilisers any more accurately, would be to apply everything as a liquid, through the sprayer,” he says. “And I don’t think we’d gain anything from doing that.”
