“It’s been a great spreader, but my brother-in-law has been using a Kverneland GEOSPREAD version for years, and he’s raved about the section control and auto start-stop,” says Aled. “He made me curious despite the higher cost of the spreader. And initially, I couldn’t see how I could justify that investment.” Yet having made the switch to Kverneland’s advanced spreader technology last season with an Kverneland Exacta CL GEOSPREAD from Mona Tractors, Aled now accepts that he wouldn’t want to spread fertiliser without weigh cells and section control.
“It’s a game-changer,” he says. “The accuracy is unbelievable and our silage fields have never looked so even. “If I was controlling the spreader myself, I’d be switching on too early and off to late. And that would mean bigger overlaps and more waste.” With just 200 acres of maize and 70 acres of wheat for whole crop, the rest of the farm is grass for its 520-cow herd, where tramlines don’t apply. “Spreading on grassland is where the GEOSPREAD really starts to deliver. We’re saving fertiliser and also putting it on much more accurately than before,” says Aled. “Weigh cells also mean I don’t have to keep to a 14kph forward speed. If the field is smooth, I can push on, getting around in less time, improving our efficiency.”
He says that using an IsoMatch InLine lightbar for manual guidance at 24m in combination with section control meant any overlaps from driving were automatically managed by the GEOSPREAD system. This year, he’s upgraded again to use auto-steering guidance through the tractor terminal while keeping the spreader’s functions on an Isomatch Tellus GO terminal. “Talking to someone with experience of a GEOSPREAD has proved far more convincing than just listening to the dealer,” he says.
