A recent upgrade has one WA farmer singing the praises of the Miller Nitro 7000 series
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Reece Stratford with McIntosh & Son Wongan Hills sales manager David Trindall with the Miller Nitro 7380 sprayer
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Miller Nitro front-mounted sprayers have long been the preferred option of Reece Stratford’s family, which operate a wheat and barley farm in Minnivale, in Western Australia’s northern wheatbelt.
The family upgraded last year from a 4365 model to a 7380 machine to tackle annual ryegrass, wild radish and capeweed on their property – the third Nitro model that the family has bought.
Using the sprayer with a 36m mono-boom, Reece says he has seen the value of the upgrade almost straight away, with no issues after its first 600-hour service.
“The hours on the older model were getting up there and it sucked a fair bit of fuel. If we did a full day of spraying, we would be coming back to fill up during the day,’’ he says.
“With the new motor, we can spray for two days easily. The fuel efficiency is huge – and the money saved in fuel.’’
The Miller Nitro 7380 has an IVECO power plant delivering 383 peak horsepower with 1459NM of torque – with drive performance improved by a hydrostatic Danfoss pump system with electronically-controlled variable displacement piston drive motors.
The drive motors supply greater torque at all speeds, while the weight distribution has been carefully designed to ensure it remains within 4 per cent of 50:50 balance during spraying.
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The Stratfords also transferred a granular mixing tank with their machine over to their mobile chemical trailer to prevent it from blocking vision, including of the centre nozzles on the boom.
Automated filling and rinsing controls are also a standard inclusion with the Miller Nitro 7000 Series, ensuring maximum filling efficiency.
“The drive is really nice and super quiet. It appears to have plenty of power. If you go through something like a boggy patch, it will put more torque through the hubs if needed,’’ Reece says.
“We also have the wheels set at the widest width of about 4 metres for good stability and you can notice the difference.’’
He said the new cab was spacious, well set-out and very comfortable, with big windows and two monitoring screens carefully placed for easy use.
“You also have the same screen underneath the sprayer at the fuel point,” Reece says.
“You can control everything at that point without having to climb the ladder. You can open and shut the valves or rev it up or down.”
“Even the chair in the cab has also got air-ride suspension, so it’s very smooth going across the paddock,” he says.