The Crimp family in WA are saving up to 15 per cent in fertiliser costs while achieving accuracy and complete coverage using a Vicon RO-EDW Geospread.
Tim and Elizabeth Crimp, with their son Peter and daughter Kathleen farm 500ha at Rosa Glen, 18 km east of Margaret River in Western Australia. They milk a 350-head mixed herd and have 400ha under pasture.
In May 2013, the family invested in a Vicon RO-EDW Geospread fertiliser spreader from Cowaramup Tractors.
The Crimps had previously used a contractor for fertiliser spreading but after seeing different spreaders in action at a local field day, Tim Crimp saw big advantages in buying a spreader and knowing the exact weight of fertiliser put out with each load.
“We use a lot of blended and compound fertilisers,” Crimp says.
“They are expensive and difficult to spread because of the different particle sizes but with the Vicon Geospread, you can put on exactly the right amount. With margins so tight, that kind of precision is all-important,” he says.
Crimp uses the Geospread with a 127hp Deutz-Fahr K610 Profiline tractor fitted with GPS.
He travels at 10.3 km/ph, spreading from 60kg/ha of urea up to 250kg/ha of hay fertiliser.
The Geospread’s advanced control systems allow crimp to alter the spread width progressively when approaching headlands at an angle, and he can stop and start at the right place.
The Vicon Rotaflow spreading system provides smooth acceleration without fragmenting the fertiliser granules, and delivers horizontal flow and precise overlap.
Load cells in combination with the Vicon’s reference sensor provide automatic calibrating and weighing, automatic correction on slopes, automatic correction for shocks and rough terrain and automatic speed-related dosing.
When driving in an irregular shaped paddock, Geospread decreases the working width step by step using section control software.
As the spreading rate is adjusted, the application rate is also automatically adjusted to match the changed spreading width.
Crimp says he usually spreads at 24 metres.
“With the Geospread, we get consistently good coverage,” he says.
“We don’t have the problem of six metres of good coverage with the rest varying from poor to nothing. It also spreads accurately on undulating ground.
Crimp adds the family has some odd shaped paddocks because of fenced-off creeks.
“I noticed we’ve always had some areas that grew well and others that didn’t grow at all,” he says.
“With a conventional spreader, some ground got no fertiliser while other areas got two or three times too much because you can’t shut them off.
The Geospread shuts off in two-metre segments and the fertiliser only goes where you want it to go.
“We’re getting very even growth on all the paddocks even though it’s been a difficult year,” Crimp says.
Crimp chose a three-point linkage spreader instead of a trailing spreader to avoid wheel ruts in wet paddocks.
“With the Vicon Geospread, we haven’t had to pull out of any paddocks and I’ve got into areas the contractor couldn’t get into, which means we’re growing more grass.
“We’ve done about four whole farm applications and I think we’re saving between 10 and 15 per cent in fertiliser costs.
“But it’s far more important that we’ve got the accuracy and complete coverage. It’s amazing, what this spreader can do,” he says.
For more details, visit www.vicon-machinery.com.au
Find spreaders for sale on TradeFarmMachinery.com.au