When it comes to putting together Knight sprayers and JCB Fastracs, arable farmer Peter Beers is something of an expert.

He bought his first JCB Fastrac 1115 and 2,000-litre Knight demount sprayer back in 1996 and kept it for 10 years.

Then, in 2006, he chucked it in for a Fastrac 2140 and newer Knight sprayer.

© David Cousins

Two more JCB 2170s were fitted to that sprayer before he jumped at the chance to put together the new 4000-series tractor and Knight’s latest 3,000-litre set-up.

As well as getting the benefits of the latest Fastrac, he also liked the look of the rear-mounted V-fold booms (rather than the gullwing over-the-cab format).

See also: JCB Fastrac 4000 tractor gets first test

This stopped the problem of liquid fertiliser covering the machine when folded.

On top of that, he got a pull-out rinsing hopper plus space for gloves and clean water/handwash facilities at the back of the machine.

Big acres

The sprayer has a fair acreage to cover.

Peter, his brother William and father Gerald have some 1,000ha to spray each year, and the three farms are 25 miles apart, so there’s a lot of road-work involved.

No surprise that the 60kph sprayer is kept busy both in the field and on the road.

A choice of all-singing-and-dancing Muller units was on offer but Mr Beers opted for a relatively simple RDS Delta 34 controller capable of applying variable rates.

“We’re not really into complicated set-ups,” he says.

“We figure that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Though the booms fold cleverly in four stages to allow the 24m to fit neatly on the back of the Fastrac, the user can fold them once to 8m to go through a wide gateway or simply scoot from field to field.

Taking off and putting on the 3,000-litre Knight sprayer takes about half an hour, though Mr Beers has only had to do that twice.

It involves undoing two bolts, removing two safety pins and dropping the air-bag type suspension unit before lowering the legs.

Weight on this model is equally distributed across the two axles.

On previous models the pump was situated at the back to take the drive via a pto shaft, but the 300 litres/minute hydraulic pump is now up high on the left-hand side and is so speedy it can fill with water before you have got the chemical in place, says Mr Beers.

© David Cousins

Cab

The JCB 4000’s cab is a much more modern affair than on previous versions, says Mr Beers. It ticks over nicely, he says, and is quiet and smooth even on undulating roads.

Michelin 600 tyres are used for most of the year, with a set of Mitas 380s going on in April for rowcrop work.

© David Cousins

Any downsides?

Not many, says Mr Beers. The sight gauge didn’t work first time (the float didn’t have enough weight), but otherwise very little has gone wrong.

“A £150,000 bill sounds steep, but a £62,000 trade-in of the previous JCB/Knight combination eased things. “We do 800 hours/year, so it gets a lot of use,” says Mr Beers.

Summary

“Someone has definitely put a lot of thought into this machine. It may be quite expensive but we plan to keep this for 10 years,” he says.

“We spray at 12kph/hour and apply liquid fertiliser at up to 16kph, both very accurately, so the only need for a fert spreader is for putting on phosphate or potash.

“We’re careful about buying kit and are happy to buy second-hand.

“We tend to go for the lower spec of a range rather than top spec. We really don’t need things like leather steering wheels.”