The Sanford family of Beulah Victoria are owners of a HARDI RUBICON 9000 with 54M HARDI PARAGON Aluminum boom and H-Select Technology.
After an estimated 800 hours of spraying, the Sanford family have used the big self-propelled sprayer through a full cropping cycle.
“It’s an extra 3,000 litres compared to the CASE Patriot we used to have,” says Tim Sanford, who does most of the spraying on the farm, “…the machine’s just 50% bigger all around.”
So despite have some 13,000 acres (5,260 ha) of their Victorian Mallee farm in wheat, barley and lentils last season, Tim found he didn’t need to put in any massive spraying sessions on the RUBICON.
Keeping ahead of the seeders did mean some 12 hour days while they were sowing, but even then Tim was able to get over 2,000 acres sprayed with breaks to do other jobs on the farm.
“It’s nice and quick to fill up,” he smiles, “so it gets round the paddocks quickly.”
While the RUBICON’s capacity was a big advantage, the sprayer’s boom set-up also made all the difference. Its 54m coverage delivered a 150% productivity increase over the 36m boom, and Tim found it just as easy to handle.
“The HARDI boom ride is just fantastic,” he reports.
The computerised and air-activated H-SELECT manages up to four nozzles per nozzle body, to deliver consistent spray dosage and droplet size regardless of speed variations.
“With H-SELECT we’re able to change our nozzles during spraying to better suit the wind conditions.”
Tim Sanford, Beulah, VICTORIA
With H-SELECT compensating for turns automatically, the Sanfords have been free to focus on the day and the water rate.
“You always have those corners you wish weren’t getting quite so much chemical,” says Tim, “and the outside of the corners you wish got a bit more.”
The way H-SELECT works also means they could adjust the droplet size from the cab, on the move.
"Drift is a major concern with chemical use now," Tim points out. "With H-SELECT we’re able to change our nozzles during spraying to better suit the wind conditions."
“If you’re just going along and you can see it’s picking up a bit breezier, we can coarsen up those droplet sizes and it seems to help with our results there.”
“I’d recommend H-SELECT to other farmers just because it does offer a lot more versatility,” Tim Sanford says. “You can speed up, slow down, and your droplet size remains the same.”
In all, Tim reckons the HARDI RUBICON’s combination of capacity, boom size and H-SELECT technology is a real winner.
“It really comes down to capacity and being able to go that bit further, that bit longer each day,” he concludes.
“The capacity is great. You can get the spraying done and the H-SELECT helps with that immensely.”