Rob and two other speakers explain John Deere's precision spraying technology, which uses section control and nozzle innovations to apply chemicals exactly where needed. The system cuts chemical costs and improves efficiency on farms.
We crop about a thousand hectares each year. Believe it or not, I've got a lot of triangle blocks. There is a chance of double spraying, but I am doing current research into adapting this next stage of our little operation.
Yeah, one thing we're actively pursuing is the exact apply because we're not in square paddocks. So we can see a fit for technology like that coming into spraying.
It just comes back to if you can make $5 a hectare more and you're putting so many hectares in, it's profit for you in the end.
Right now, Rob, we've come down to the spray here from the shed and this is an R4045. The main sensor we use for spraying is this flow meter. So what happens is, as you speed up in a John Deere, that spray pump speeds up and the big advantage of that is just being more responsive. So, Rob, we'll talk about the boom now. It's 36 metres wide. We do also do a 40 metre version of it. The main advantage of carbon fibre is weight, so we get the same strength as a steel boom, but at reduced weight. The other thing on here is our exact applied nozzles. Each of These pulse at 15 Hz. If we pulse them together, we get a 30 Hz system, which is the fastest in the industry. The other thing you'll notice is an LED for night spraying. It also does some diagnostic. So if it's flashing, we know that there's an issue with that nozzle body. We'll jump up in the sprayer and go for a. Just do a lap around that tree and you'll see that section control working individually.
We're in very rolling country at our home farm, so to be able to see the rate control and the inner and outer sections of the boom was quite fascinating.
The purple line is the boundary of the paddock.
Yeah.
The yellow line is the edge of the headlamp. So if you have section control on, it won't spray inside that headland just as if it's been sprayed. So this is showing us the duty cycle that it's pulsing at. But as you speed up or slop now, it changes that duty cycle or the pulsing rate of each of the nozzles.
Section control is a fantastic idea. And if you're doing the hectares, the savings would be huge.
So they say that this individual nozzle control gives you about another 2 to 5% savings in spraying costs on top of normal section control. With 11 sections having all them features of section control saving chemical, especially these days with the price of would save dollars for me big time. There's a little remote fob in the glove box there, so you can go out and turn the nozzles on remotely.
Even to be able to do that in a section with the older style.
Do it either individually or in sections.
Yeah, this is a pretty sweet rig, isn't it?
I did notice this machine's got this little weather station on top of it, and that's fantastic. You can just dial it in, touch it on the screen, and it was all there for you. The easier the whole operation is if you buy one thing. It's better if it's all compatible. Everything talks to each other. It's so much simpler.
The productivity is already there with the boom sprays. It's just chasing the little 1 and 2 percenters at the end, trying to get the best job done on your property with your application of your chemicals and know that it's going to suit exactly what you want it to do.
