Bought two years ago, the high-spec sprayer has enabled a shift to liquid fertiliser applications too, saving time and boosting application accuracy with automatic section control and automatic stops/start at headlands.
“We are so much more accurate with spraying and liquid fertiliser,” he says. “There are no more overlaps, which is a useful cost-saving. And more importantly, no lodging on headlands.”
Mr Paterson’s 3,800-litre, 24m iKarus S replaced a 2,000-litre, 21m trailed sprayer, giving a healthy boost to logistics with its larger tank and wider boom. With 260ha of cereal crops within a five mile radius of Brickhall Farm, the increased output makes applications much more timely.
While he accepts that the new sprayer was a big jump forward – in productivity terms and also financially – he says it is where he needed to go to become much more efficient.
“It is a much bigger sprayer than I need, but having some capacity in reserve is very useful,” he says. “I can pick and choose spray days and still be much more timely, more effective, with every application I make.”
“My largest fields are 30ha, so I can now spray these in just one visit, rather than having to make two trips,” he says.
He says that boom stability is impressive, as is the sprayer’s compact dimensions and neat boom folding. But particular praise is saved for the iXclean Pro automated washing and rinsing system.
“iXclean Pro gives me so much more confidence when it comes to cleaning out and swapping between chemicals,” he says. “It is very fast, very effective and totally automatic. I wouldn’t buy a sprayer with iXclean Pro.”
“And with iM Tellus, the sprayer is very simple to operate – it’s a very operator-friendly system.”
Kenny Paterson says iXclean Pro gives renewed confidence when switching from herbicides to fungicides.
January 2015