The Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) has awarded a silver medal to Kverneland for the Exacta TL GEOspread in its 2014 Technical Innovation Award scheme.
The Kverneland TL GEOspread was praised for its ability to deliver new levels of spreading accuracy while delivering considerable cost savings for customers. It achieves this level of accuracy using a series of advanced application controls that enable automatic section control, auto stop/start at headlands and spread pattern management to virtually eliminate overlaps.
With satellite guidance, the spreader automatically changes the point at which fertiliser is presented to the spreading vanes to avoid overlaps. The spread pattern can be adjusted while maintaining disc speed, to ensure an accurate pattern regardless of changes in spreading width.
When the spreading width is altered by the GEOspread’s section control, the application rate is also adjusted to suit the revised working width. This eliminates overlaps and reduces fertiliser usage while delivering a uniform application rate that can also lead to a reduction in crop lodging.
“With GEOspread, the Exacta TL is the most advanced, GPS-managed spreading system on the market,” explains Graham Owen, Kverneland product manager. “With this level of automated machine control, over-lapping when fertiliser spreading is now a thing of the past.”
An example of the increased accuracy GEOspread can provide has been borne out by Sandy Norrie, farm manager at AJ Duncan’s Muirden Farm, Turriff, who uses a Kverneland Exacta TL GEOspread to apply fertiliser on 2,428ha of cereal crops.
“We’ve spread 4,600 tonnes of fertiliser covering almost 20,000 acres in our first season, and I’m very impressed with the spreader’s accuracy,” he says.
“The spreader makes a top job of applying virtually any fertiliser quality at 24m. And with auto stop/start and section control, we can handle any size and shape field too.”
“I am very confident of the GEOspread’s capabilities,” he says. “We’ve had no overlaps or double dosing and our crops have looked fantastic since benefitting from this higher level of application accuracy.”
“GEOspread has given us a very accurate and very impressive spreader.”
Kverneland’s Exacta TL GEOspread is available in hopper capacities from 1,500 to 3,900 litres and is fully Isobus compatible. The RHASS silver medal will be presented at the Royal Highland Show on Saturday 21st June.
