jakescot Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 help required again please guys......................got a lot of spraying to do over the next couple of years, had planned to have some done this year but looks like it wont happen now however. Whether to buy or get a contractor in has been an issue Ive been considering for a while now.There are so few guys that do it round here,getting them when you need and or want them is getting very difficult and given our wet westerly airstream too the number of suitable weather windows is also quite low compounding the problem. I`d not be looking for anything too fancy necessarily,with only 530 acres of grass here you can see it wouldnt be needed for a huge amount of work, 1000 or 1200 litres with 12m perhaps 18m booms prob enough and couldnt jusitfy anything too expensive. I would want to be able to isolate and use either boom independantly and would be looking for it to lift probably high enough to clear our dykes(walls not ditches) so 5 to 6 feet.All this I`m told is pretty standard so I guess it would come down to price and parts availability. With only 530 acres here you can see it wouldnt be needed for a huge amount of work having looked around a bit I find one of our local dealers is selling a gambetti 1000l.........don`t know any other details as yet as I`m waiting on the guy phoning me back with info but I just wondered what you guys know of and thought of these machines compared to Allman , Hardi, Knight, Technoma, Berthoud etc . thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archbarch Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 Gambetti are a simple no frills sprayer, i know of a trailed machine its ok was very cheap and it does the job, personally i wouldnt choose any on that list but thats me. I would steer well away from Berthoud. You maybe should consider a large trailed and go down the liquid fert route, once youve had liquid fert you will never want to return to bags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 15, 2010 Author Share Posted September 15, 2010 Gambetti are a simple no frills sprayer, i know of a trailed machine its ok was very cheap and it does the job, personally i wouldnt choose any on that list but thats me. I would steer well away from Berthoud. You maybe should consider a large trailed and go down the liquid fert route, once youve had liquid fert you will never want to return to bags. thank you Simon......... .......liquid fert not really an option for me and with a very limited budget.............with much trepidation , I phoned my friend and asked about the sprayer I mentioned above . He knew nothing about it but told me he`d find out and could I call him back. i did this and have become the new owner of the said sprayer ...its older, a bit worn however it was reduced from the £1950 asking price to £1300.........end of season special. It has a 1000 litre tank , chemical mix tank ,tank wash facility,foam marker, 18 m gull wing booms and electronic controls. time will tell how i get on with it I suspect its a bit higher spec than I really need so whether I pass it on for a newer smaller 12m version will depend on how much it is going to take to put it through the test. I also have to now sit and pass my certification test............3 days at college,yikes.......Ive never spent one day there in my life before ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 What are you going to be spraying? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 16, 2010 Author Share Posted September 16, 2010 Just grassland weeds Ol...............docks, thistles, nettles and bracken on some of our rougher areas...probably do some re seeding so roundup burn offs too....... I don`t grow cereals. provided I`ve got all my paperwork I`ll can do a bit for anyone locally who might need some done too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted September 16, 2010 Share Posted September 16, 2010 Will you pop a bag of urea in the mixing tank when you clean up your grass land,to give the paddock a wee lift Jake? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 17, 2010 Author Share Posted September 17, 2010 not thinking of doing so Ol, as you perhaps read above Simon suggested similar.........it doesnt go on round here on the grass ............on reflection it actually might be something worth looking into.....would need to be affordable and readily available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Urea prills as you would spread with a broadcaster dissovle readly in water and most farm supply stores/companys have some in bags over here.So long as it don't upset the chemicals your useing it would save money on broadcasting some fert on.Some chemicals in fact work beter when you add a little nitrogen to the mix(my old boss in Sweden swore by it). Soil temp 10deg and above and a pasture cover of 10cm or so shows very good bang for your buck with Nitrogen. Keep me posted John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archbarch Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 adding N with herbicides actually strips the wax off the leaf making the product more effective. Are you doing your PA1+2 Jake? it may feel daunting but its all simple stuff. You mentioned sprayer test do as much yourself as possible, its a license to print money and try and get it tested independantly. I did all the work myself the machine passed everytime but the examiner failed it on a minor fault that didnt exist to show the powers that be that sprayers needed bringing upto scratch. One of the many reasons I no longer work in Agriculture the industry has no backbone anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 20, 2010 Author Share Posted September 20, 2010 I will keep you posted Ol..........might actually look into the liquid N now!!!!! Simon, yes PA 1 and PA 2 everyone has to do PA 1 or they wont let you do PA 2 or PA 6 , testing the sprayer I was gonna leave to the guys I bought it from but I hear what you say about doin as much myself.......I have as yet not received a replacement manual but once I get that I`ll have a proper look round it and see whats what first I think. I see a bit that needs welding on the gull wing support strut,a wee bit one the front frame could do with tidying up,it`s had a home repair weld already, a burst outer skin on the big liquid pipe,about half way along one boom and thats about it, other than that it looks very serviceable considering its older........ It came from J Brewster, Boclair farm near glasgow i reckon based on the name on the box the control unit and all the bits came in. the industry is very different from how it was when I started out...........too many govt controls and yes we all sit back and take it ! just wait til there are no wee family farms left , big big farming operations making mega bucks for their shareholders I see in the future. And remember , we will still all have to eat and with a planet population growing rapidly the demand for food will increase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted September 21, 2010 Share Posted September 21, 2010 It's the same over here.The sad thing is them big guys got there start on the small farms and got big buy buying small farms. I worked on a sheep farm (5000 ewes no replacments or finnished lambs) for a few years years ago and we used our sprayer with a hand held gun mounted on the sprayer to spray the sheep for flys in summer,worked realy well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 24, 2010 Author Share Posted September 24, 2010 been just told today not to bother too much with spraying the urea........yes the guy told me ( I ordered next springs fert today because the price is due to keep rising they tell me ) the urea will help the chemical but he said he knows of nobody round here using liquid fert.....very wet and he says it might tend to run off as often we spread when the ground is quite bare of vegetation............he also added I`d be better to get used to the sprayer first before trying to use it too much . do you know much about the aitchison drills Ol? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi6920 Posted September 24, 2010 Share Posted September 24, 2010 been just told today not to bother too much with spraying the urea........yes the guy told me ( I ordered next springs fert today because the price is due to keep rising they tell me ) the urea will help the chemical but he said he knows of nobody round here using liquid fert.....very wet and he says it might tend to run off as often we spread when the ground is quite bare of vegetation............he also added I`d be better to get used to the sprayer first before trying to use it too much . do you know much about the aitchison drills Ol? What do you want to know jake? i use a 19 run direct drill with press rings, just gave it a full rebuild , had done around 15,000 ha im told they are made in the towns each side of where i live, good farmers drill, not such a contractors drill So what did you want to know? http://www.reesegroup.co.nz/Aitchison/home.html should keep you out of trouble for a bit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 24, 2010 Author Share Posted September 24, 2010 well thanks Nick..very useful.....................................right its a kinda long story , if you are sitting comfortably I`ll begin................ he he potted version............................ok due to the type of land we have ie plenty of stones, much of our good land is prone to flooding, reseeding is a bit of a problem and ploughing much of the silage ground isnt an option .Some is also due to an archaeological site being present (old roman fort ) Various ways have been tried over the years. one of the best was when S A I in 1985 promoted the idea of using an aitchison type drill and putting fert in the little T or bulb shaped coulter track with the grass seed. we have used it a fair few times over the years but eventually bought einbock tined grass harrows and over seed that way... now it`s down to me , I`d like to get into a regular re seeding program and for me, the over seeding can be quite hit or miss much dependant on the weather. The drilling option is far more reliable and therefore i`m considering getting hold of a drill,with the aitchison at the moment being my first choice and was just wondering how durable and hard wearing , how expensive the parts were and was there any obvious design flaws in the aitchison drill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi6920 Posted September 24, 2010 Share Posted September 24, 2010 Well jake I cant comment on parts as they are just down the road.... and cant coment on back up for the same reason press rings arnt a fan of large stones, but what cast ring is?? they are durable thats for sure, quite hard wearing, most of the wearing parts are stock steel so you can make your own easy, (mainly the slide guides on the rear of the drill) There seed boxs have a habbit of sending the seed to the right side of the box for some reason ( left allways emptys 1st) no matter what way you are constanly turning, ihave run 3 diffrent drills and they all do it, realy odd to me all in all they are a good cheap drill if you are mechanicly/ engenering inclined like we are, it breaks we fix it... the most expensive part is the gear box, we havent broken ours but wanted a 2nd one for making a roller drill.. Our drill has a fert box and seed box, ill take some pics next week when im at the yard ours has a moore sytem sticker on it.... Hope that didnt bore you to much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Land Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 What do you want to know jake? i use a 19 run direct drill with press rings, just gave it a full rebuild , had done around 15,000 ha im told You could probley do with a 21 run drill,beter ground coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakescot Posted September 25, 2010 Author Share Posted September 25, 2010 thanks Nick no not boring at all, good stuff thank you very much finding the right machine at the right price is the biggest challenge I`d suggest . size wise would probably be more what was available rather than me choosing the size first off. Ol yes obviously the more rings the better for ground coverage BUT I`ve hills,some big hills at that and only 100hp so wouldnt be looking to go too big, as I say the availability of used machines here in the uk is bound to be limited. thanks again though guys , I really feel we have a lot to learn about managing our grasslands more efficiently and could definately learn a lot from NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi6920 Posted September 25, 2010 Share Posted September 25, 2010 Jake ol is right about the 21 run, we only have 19run so it fits inside the truck sides to travel to our other farm 150km away onece every 2 years we only use 70-100 hp on it and it runs aound hills fine All it comes down to is what you can find that best suits you What sort are you looking at? disc with press ring or coulter with tyne baker boot? Tyne and baker boot isnt very good in trash, its a giant anoying rake, Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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