Brewer Farms is a 460-ha property near the coast in South Taranaki. A family partnership between brothers Richard and William Brewer, the operation involves sheep, beef finishing, dairy, and maize silage production.
Richard Brewer said: “We operate the farm to be as self-sufficient as possible. We grow maize silage and turnips to supplement the diet of our 230 dairy cows and chicory is used to finish the lambs during the summer/autumn. The sprayer compliments our no-tillage cropping system. This means spraying is keen to protect our crops from any threats such as pest insects and weeds.”
“There are a lot of great contractors in the area, but they get busy so by having the tools to do things ourselves we can carry out jobs such as spraying at the right time and not have to wait. Our destiny is in our own hands, so to speak.”
The Brewers bought a 1000 Litre BA Linkage Sprayer with a 10 Metre boom in 2005, as recommended by their Tractor Dealer, TransAg. Richard said: “We trusted the team at TransAg to guide us to the best sprayer for our needs and we weren’t disappointed.”
Being based on the wild west coast the Brewers need equipment that is strong enough to handle the terrain and the harsh conditions. “The galvanised boom is a great advantage as it can withstand the tough environment it’s exposed to, as proven with our last BA sprayer and boom lasting almost 20 years,” Richard continued.
“In fact, the sprayer could have gone on for a few more years but we upgraded our tractor which could handle larger implements enabling us to increase our efficiencies in many areas including spraying.”
The Brewers now have an LS 1300 Litre tank with 12 Metre semi-hydraulic boom. “The benefits of upgrading our sprayer were we could increase capacity and improve efficiency. The larger tank and boom mean we can now spray further for longer with fewer fill-ups which saves us heaps of time.”
“We use a GPS system with five section control so we can control where we spray and avoid overlapping, which saves chemical and ensures we don’t damage the soil or crop by over spraying.”
Being a New Zealand-based company was also a key benefit of BA. “Not only are the products strong and well-designed but they also have great service and back-up from the dealer, TransAg, through to their own Territory Manager, Louis Melchers. They are great to deal with and always there to assist if we need it, you don’t get that kind of service from many others.”
When looking for their next sprayer there was no doubt it was going to be from BA. “We had seen other products but our experience with the previous sprayer and the service we had from the BA team over the years meant we didn’t need to look elsewhere.”
