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Product Focus Case IH Patriot AIM Command

The Case IH Patriot’s latest Aim Command Flex technology is improving wastage for the Krieg family’s cropping operation

The Krieg family with their hardworking, special anniversary Patriot sprayer. Clockwise from top, Caitlin, Josh, Robin and Robyn, and Caitlin and Josh’s children Ellie and Noah
The Krieg family with their hardworking, special anniversary Patriot sprayer. Clockwise from top, Caitlin, Josh, Robin and Robyn, and Caitlin and Josh’s children Ellie and Noah

Robin and wife Robyn farm with son Josh and his wife, Caitlin, at Kangaroo Flat, about 40km north of Adelaide and produce a wide variety of crop types from wheat, barley, canola and oats to chick peas, lentils, hay and faba beans.

Onto their third Patriot sprayer in seven years, the Krieg family relies heavily upon the Patriot for their 3000-hectare farming operation as well as their contract spraying business.

Case IH says the new Aim Command Flex offers more advantages than its predecessor, the Aim Command Pro.

“It offers consistent, flexible and accurate application, regardless of speed and terrain,” the company says.

Robin Krieg says the new 25th anniversary Patriot sprayer is proving its worth, having already clocked more than 1000 hours.

“It’s an improvement on what we had last time in that the Flex is easier to operate,” Krieg says. “You can go from a fine spray to ultra-coarse with the press of a button.

“The individual nozzle control means you don’t waste any chemical and it works out to be very accurate – if you have 34 hectares to do, you’ve done 34 hectares – there’s no wastage of spray.”

Case IH high horsepower and sprayer product manager for Australia/New Zealand Alyx Selsmeyer says there are three levels of technology on the newest Patriot sprayer – Non- Aim Command, Aim Command Flex and Aim Command Flex S – with the three levels giving the customer increasing levels of spray control.

Standout features of the Flex technology include its more consistent rate control over a wider range of speeds; 36-section overlap control that minimises costly overspray and double applications that can not only stunt the growth of the crop but can also lead to lodging; and increased drift control by allowing the boom pressure to be adjusted independent of the target rate and sprayer speed. With the push of a button, operators can toggle between two fully customisable spray pressures.

Krieg says drift control is very important as a contract sprayer.

“We’ve got a whole range of things around us where we’ve got to be careful of spray drift,” he says. “The Flex makes it a lot easier to switch to an ultra-coarse spray and in a lot quicker time.”

Robin believes the Patriot is the best sprayer on the market – “I’ve done things with a Patriot that would put other things out for days and I haven’t had to stop” – and that the option of the Aim Command Flex completes the package.

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