April 2023: AccuSpread

We were blessed with good weather for this year’s Oyster Harbour Accuspread field days, with local farmer's spreaders being tested over 2 Days 13th and 14th of March.  The Healthy Estuaries program sponsored Accuspread trainer Russell Nichol to calibrate spreaders and demonstrate the effect of spread pattern accuracy and efficiency of fertilizer spreaders.  On the first day at Howie’s (Manypeaks) 3 different Marshall spreaders were tested before and after upgrades/modifications.  This included fitting and testing the new ‘widespread kit’ available from Marshall.

On the second day, a range of Marshall spreaders old and new, as well as a Kubota 3PL spreader, were tested at the Wrights property (Mt Barker) – with the wind towers giving a good indication of wind direction!  The Kubota 3PL spreader performed well spreading Urea and could be adjusted by changing the drop point of fertilizer.  Another ‘widespread kit’ was fitted to a Marshall spreader with an improvement in spreading Urea at 30+ meters.  It should be noted testing would be recommended when fitting these kits and adjustments could be required to achieve an acceptable spread pattern at the desired bout width.

Another interesting aspect was comparing different fertilizers and suppliers using grader boxes to assess the particle size.  Too much fine particles show as a lot of dust blowing and results in too much material being deposited directly behind the machine.  If greater than 5% fine particles are shown in the grader box, then the bout width may need to be reduced to account for the fertilizer not being thrown as far.

Thanks to Russell Nichol for sharing his knowledge (and frustrations!), host farmers, farmers who brought spreaders, and DPIRD for helping empty and weigh the trays.