This year, the farm replaced its tried and trusted 20-year old Vicon twin disc weigh-cell spreader with the very latest high-flow Exacta TLX GEOSPREAD model supplied from Clarke & Pulman, and raised the bar further.
“We’ve gone full section control with auto start/stop while gaining a huge amount of flow that can easily cope with our high application rates on potatoes,” explains Andrew Webster, pictured, of Hollin House Green Farm, Aughton near Ormskirk, Lancashire.
“There’s around 60% more flow from the TLX with no reduction in accuracy,” he says. “And where I was previously limited to 11kph, my forward speed is around 16kph, which means much more output and more capacity with lighter rates.”
Along with wife Margaret and sons Matt and Chris, the Websters farm around 600 acres, and in addition to potatoes, the rotation includes winter and spring wheat, winter and spring oats, fodder beet and grass.
Application rates can be as high as 1,200kg/ha, with Mr Webster taking a specific approach to dosing potato seedbeds.
“We’re close to the coast so onshore winds can be challenging,” he says. “So I split the rate and use two spread widths to ensure I get as even a level of coverage as possible.”
“The first pass can be up to 600kg at 24m, then the second pass is made at the 12m-mark, to fill in better. It works really well at headlands, leaving a very even dose.”
The spreader is used with an IsoMatch Tellus Go+ terminal, allowing it to be used on several of the farm’s Massey tractors without buying additional unlock codes for tractor terminals.
“The TLX is a future-proofed purchase, which has already led us onto variable rate spreading with combinable crops,” he says. “It’s a very accurate spreader, and other than it being a little awkward to clean thoroughly, I like it a lot.”
