QUADS BETTERBY HALF
QUADS BETTERBY HALF
Make that quad bike earn its keep with a spreader or sprayer, suggests Peter Hill.
ON its own, the quad bike is a handy vehicle for inspecting crops, collecting soil samples and general running about. But add a couple of implements and the machine really starts to earn its keep.
Slug pellet application is the most common task; the quads ultra-low ground pressure getting the job done with no damage to soils in a wet autumn. And quickly, too, given the quads speed and the 24m spreading capability of suitable broadcasters.
There is quite a choice of applicator now that companies like Lindsay Spraytech, Wessex Farm Machinery, ATV Direct and Lempro (with the C-Dax equipment) offer alternatives to the established Evans & Pearce Electrobroadcaster (from Logic and Martin Lishman) and Stocks Super Fan Jet.
Key considerations include the carrying capacity of the quads rack and electric power requirement of the spinner motor.
The Lindsay model is unusual in being mounted low down at the back of the quad; all the others are attached to the ATVs rear carrier. This should lower the centre of gravity sufficiently to improve stability, though spreading width with slug pellets is limited to around 12m.
Not that slug pellets is the sole material that can be handled by these devices – granular herbicides and seed are also candidates.
For fertiliser, a trailed spreader is probably a better bet for decent capacity. These have land wheel-driven spinners to maintain an accurate application rate and can often be adapted (mostly by fitting a spread width limiter) to suit game feed distribution or for salting ice-covered lanes in winter.
For low ground pressure autumn work, Logics System 40 engine/chassis outfit can carry a 500kg pto-driven broadcaster; Port Agrics new ground-drive spinner broadcaster has the same capacity.
The lack of wheelings also makes the quad bike a prime candidate for spraying operations in a wet autumn. Again, a trailed outfit is the way to go for decent field spraying capacity, although a 12m boom and 600-litre tank will come nowhere near the output potential of tractor-based sprayers. And with most growers having moved to 18m, 20m or 24m tramlines, operators will not have the same guidance for accurately matching bouts.
Logic and Team Sprayers produce the biggest trailed ATV units and build in big sprayer features such as adjustable boom height and boom break-away.
Smaller scale trailed and mounted sprayers, with either small booms or hand lance (or both) would be suitable for patch spraying, cleaning up sterile strips around field margins and spraying off unwanted greenery around the farmyard, beet storage areas and so on.
Included in Lempros comprehensive C-Dax sprayer range are low volume controlled droplet application (CDA) booms for use in conjunction with wrap-around tanks that can be used singly front or rear or dualled – front and rear.
The wrap-around design – also produced by Silvan – gives a lower centre of gravity and less sloshing weight transfer than either square or cylindrical tanks.
Broadcasters
Spinner broadcasters for slug pellets, granular herbicides and/or seed and fertilisers.
ATV Direct (0113 277 8663): Cycle Country 45kg spinner with electric motor drive and manual gate operation. £295.
Lempro (01953 605151): C-Dax Slug Master 75-litre spinner spreads to 24m (slug pellets) with electric shut-off, £465 or £528 with Quick Smart attachment kit. C-DIT 60-litre mounted and 130-litre, trailed electric drive fertiliser spinners, £515 and £851. GD300 trailed ground-drive spinner spreader; 300-litre £955.
Lindsay Spraytech (01566 772208): Econospread broadcaster; 34kg hopper, low-level mounting, up to 12m (slug pellets), manual shut-off; £299.
Lishman (01778 426600): Evans & Pearce 100-litre Electrobroadcaster. With manual slide operation £465; electric £580. Optional fitting kit £30.
Logic (01434 606661): Ground drive 250kg fertiliser spreader £1,225; engine-powered Vicon waggle spout spreader on single axle chassis – 250kg £2,395, 500kg £3,045 (tandem axle £3,345). Chassis/engine available without spreaders. 300-litre Universal spreader (pheasant feed etc) £poa. Evans & Pearce electric drive spinner for ATV mounting, 100-litre capacity – manual shut-off £465, electric £580, mounting frame £32.
Port Agric (01892 783424): Port Spreada trailed fertiliser spinner (up to 12m) on lgp tyres – £1,200. Optional spread limiter (for game feed etc) and hopper cover.
Richard Stocks (01945 64909): Stocks 65-litre mounted spinners – Super Fan Jet (fixed spinner speed) £530; Vario (adjustable electric drive motor) £640.
D W Tomlin (01205 870535): SP250 trailed ground-drive spreader for fertiliser and some seed types; 250-litre capacity, £810.
Wessex (01420 478111): Super Jet 300 trailed fertiliser/feed spreader; 270-litre, ground-drive spinner – £1,170. LGP tyres £55, spread limiter £260, hopper cover £65. Electric Broadcaster (slug pellets to 24m, fertiliser/seed/herbicides). 65-litre hopper with manual (£495) or electric (£595) shut-off. Quad mounting brackets £55.
Sprayers
Trailed and mounted sprayers for field, headland and spot spraying. The trailed units come with their own engine driven pumps, on-board models with electric motor pumps. Wrap-around on-board designs give extra capacity.
Anglia Sprayers (01353 666615): Silvan moulded plastic sprayers from 50-litre front-mounted to 200-litre rear-mounted tanks, £217 to £468. Rackpak wrap-around design, 100-litre, £397-£437. 1-4m booms £100 to £461.
Application Techniques (01273 495858): AT 70-litre mounted sprayer with pressure control, £339 plus pump and boom options – 2.5m boom £189.
ATV Direct (0113 277 8663): Cycle Country 53-litre (£169) and 95-litre (£599) rack mounted sprayers, latter with 4.8m/six-nozzle boom, return agitation, etc. Trailed models – 113-litre with electric motor driven pump (£649) and 208-litre with petrol engine (£1,295).
E P Barrus (01869 363636): Agri-Fab twin flood nozzle sprayer with 53-litre (£275) and 95-litre (£334) tanks.
Hardi (01455 233811): Front-mounted 30-litre (£poa) and 100-litre (£590) rear wrap-around sprayers; 1.5m boom £125.
Lempro (01953 605151): C-Dax Sprayrider sprayers. Quadmate 50-litre spot sprayer £199; Sprayrider wrap-around front and/or rear mounted tanks (45-, 60-, 100-litre capacity) with choice of pump, £342 to £563 plus single nozzle field margin nozzle (£134), 1m-2.5m rigid booms (£118-£162), 3m-6m folding booms (£338-£426), single or 3.6m to 7.2m multi-head CDA booms £750-£1489. Optional pressure control, pump speed and agitation kit accessories. Square tank 200- and 400-litre sprayers for load-deck ATVs, from £508 and £585; also trailed £1,053 and £1,470.
Lindsay Spraytech (01566 772208): Econospray 55- and 95-litre sprayers with flat-bottomed tanks. Basic £199 and £235; with agitation etc £241 and £268. Options from single offset nozzle (£16) to 3m boom at £200.
Logic (01434 606661): Mounted and trailed ATV sprayers with tank-mounted boom for one-piece attach/remove; boom height adjustment; Lurmark Eezifit bodies and nozzles; standard field-margin nozzle; boom break-back; boom offset on 1.5m to 2m sizes. Mounted – 60-litre £260-£470, 135-litre £430-£645 with choice of pump, agitation, pressure control. Trailed – 210-litre (including pressure control/agitation) £925. Plus 1.5m to 3.5m booms £140 to £295. Engine-powered pump trailed units – 400-litre/12m £3,995, 600-litre/12m £4,250 with optional hand wash (£73), water self-fill (£300), bout marker (£755).
Martin Lishman (01778 426600): Headland ATV-mounted sprayer with 70-litre flat-bottomed tank. With pressure control and agitation, £440; five-nozzle boom or hand lance £260.
Team Sprayers (01353 661211): Twin Tank mounted sprayer with three-nozzle boom offset and height adjustment, and two 25-litre tanks – £500. Advantage 90-litre oblong tank with hand lance and 6 litre/min diaphragm pump – £260 plus pressure regulating valve £73; three- or four-nozzle boom £105 and £140; 13-litre/min pump £46. Chariot 250-litre/6m trailed – £1,545; ATV 400- and 600- litre/12m trailed – £4,010 and £4,088 – all with petrol engine driven pump.