It is a philosophy that has put him on a path to increased efficiency and higher accuracy with spraying at the 300ha Lincomb Farms, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire.
“I recently traded up to a Vicon iXtrack B36 trailed sprayer and included an IsoMatch Tellus dual screen display, and the increase in efficiency from using this technology has been tremendous,” he says.
Mr Symonds opted for the IsoMatch Tellus display to provide a true one-box solution for use with his weigh cell spreader. In the cab, the screen is joined by a switch box, which is needed to fold the sprayer’s 24m boom. As a result, it keeps in-cab clutter to a minimum.
“I really dislike lots of control boxes in cab, and the IsoMatch Tellus is the perfect solution for me,” he says.
“It integrates neatly into my Fendt 724’s cab and plugs in to the roof sockets. There are no wires trailing around either – it looks part of the tractor.”
In addition to plug and play technology, the high specification Vicon sprayer has brought iXclean Pro automatic boom and tank cleaning, plus auto stop/start with nine boom sections across the sprayer’s 24m working width.
“Auto stop/start is proving a huge benefit,” he says. “It has become very easy to see overlaps on the Tellus screen – it paints in progress as you spray, and makes it easy to see where overlaps could add up to a lot of area.”
“I haven’t calculated the savings yet, but it all leads towards an increase in efficiency and will reduce the volume of chemical we’ll need to buy in future.”
“And when it comes to cleaning the sprayer, iXclean Pro provides me with complete peace of mind when changing between chemicals for cereals and potatoes,” he says. “It has halved the time it takes to clean my sprayer – and it is all done from the tractor seat.”
“If you want the simplicity of isobus and Tellus to integrate with your tractor, then there’s no other implement manufacturer that can come close,” he says.
“I’m in no doubt that we’re pretty much future-proofed with tractor, sprayer and spreader developments. We couldn’t have it any better, or be any more efficient.”
Andrew Symonds says the technology within his iXtrack sprayer has led to greater efficiency.
6th July 2015