After attending a spreader evening at Battlefield Machinery, Harvey Moseley saw an opportunity to increase application accuracy at Sydney Farms, by switching to a spreader equipped with GEOSPREAD technology with automatic section control.
“We were impressed with the way that GEOSPREAD could adjust the spreader’s working width through 1m sections to reduce overlaps without compromising on application rate,” says Harvey, pictured. “Seeing how this technology could put fertiliser exactly where it was needed made it an easy decision to upgrade to the Kubota DSX-W GEOSPREAD twin disc machine.”
That was four years ago, and the Kynnersley, Shropshire-based farm continues to enjoy high-accuracy spreading with the DSX-W spreader.
“It is useful technology that puts fertiliser exactly where it is needed,” says Harvey. “We were operating on 24m tramlines, but a recent change of drill – from 4m to 6m – has enabled us to spread on 30m tramlines without changing anything more than the working width in the control box.”
An all-combinable operation, the 1,250-acre farm grows winter wheat, winter and spring barley, oilseed rape, winter beans and winter-sown oats. Field sizes range from 25-130 acres, and the wider working width now means fewer tramlines and more plants in the ground.
Before switching to GEOSPREAD, Harvey says the farm would buy extra fertiliser at the end of the season.
“With this spreader, that additional cost has been eliminated, and our crops now look level and even,” he says. “There’s no lodging at all, and we’re also travelling faster, at 16-18kph instead of 12kph, so our output has improved too. The accuracy is insane.”
Used through a Tellus GO terminal and ISOBUS connectivity, Harvey says spreader settings are easy to use, thanks to a shaker box and online spreading charts.
“Few machines are this easy to use, or this accurate,” he says.