SELF-PROPELLED sprayers can be a high-dollar investment for many no-tillers, but an equipment dealership has unveiled something that could add more value to the machines.
After a year of testing, Fennig Equipment is now selling a pressurized dry application system that fits on various brands of self-propelled sprayers, allowing growers to apply both cover crops and dry fertilizer across 120-foot boom widths.
Most dry application systems already on the market have Venturi-type technology that limit the distance covers or fertilizer can be applied, typically up to 90 feet, says Adam Fennig, sales representative at the Coldwater, Ohio, dealership. The pressurized tank allows growers to cover that additional width.
Fennig Equipment has been highly active in marketing vertical-tillage tools with Valmar seeders attached to them for applying cover crops.
More Versatility
This tool, which is compatible with New Holland, Deere, Case IH and Hagie self-propelled sprayers, gives no-tillers an option other than buying Valmar or Gandy boxes to install on farm equipment and being left to engineer the rest of the system themselves.
“We sell the Salford air cart, and this whole system is, in a roundabout way, a Salford air cart on top of a highboy,” Fennig says. “Y-Drops have become popular, and you could do sidedressing, go into late-season urea, switch right over to cover crops in mid-August through mid-September and have a year-round machine rather than just a spray rig,” he says.
VERSATILE TOOL. The new dry application system developed by Fennig Equipment for self-propelled sprayers includes a 3-ton poly tank and stainless steel metering system (inset) that can apply cover crops or late-season dry fertilizers, including chicken litter.
Typically, urea would be the choice for late-season nitrogen (N) applications with this new system, but he notes chicken litter can also be applied, possibly a new tool for organic no-tillers who can’t use synthetic N. He notes they’ve blown 500 pounds per acre of chicken litter through the machine.
The Fennig system could help no-tillers get covers seeded in August so they have enough time to germinate and provide soil conservation and nutrient benefits after harvest, Fennig says.
Sectional Control
The heart of the system is the 3-ton pressurized poly tank, which is connected to a fan and stainless steel meter made by Salford Machinery. The cover-crop seed or fertilizer is moved from the tank through the metering system to drop tubes that deposit the material.
The Fennig system is also set up with air cylinders that allow growers to hook in with their precision rate controllers, allowing them to use sectional control with the applications.
One of the most challenging tasks in developing the system, Fennig says, was creating a poly tank mold that could easily be dropped onto or removed from the frames of various brands of self-propelled sprayers as they swap out wet and dry tanks, keeping in mind the bolts, hydraulics and hoses involved for various brands.
The Fennig tank can be bolted onto the sprayer frame with the same bolts that hold on the wet tank, Fennig says. In addition to the tank, meter and fan, other parts included are the drop hoses, deflectors and boom hardware.
More Custom Work
Fennig says there’s a learning curve with installing the dry system on sprayers, so dealership personnel will typically travel to the farm to help growers the first time. On average, it takes about 1½ days to change from the wet to dry tank.
Fennig says no-tillers may find this system carries some major potential for picking up custom work for laying down cover crops, netting them possibly $10-15 an acre. “It’s another way to generate revenue for a high-dollar sprayer,” Fennig says.