David Jameson farms a couple of hundred acres outside Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. 

Mixed farming alongside his parents, David explained they “grow a lot of cereals for the dairy herd as well as 100ac of spuds down in Ballycastle, so that keeps us busy”. 

David said they are spreading 27% CAN at just over 125kg to the acre with a new Amazone ZA-V 2000 purchased from McMullan Agri this spring.

“That’s a 2t spreader, we’re never working that far from home and just to keep weight down for ground compaction, we don’t really need anything bigger," he said.

"We had looked at different spreaders, or a 3t spreader but didn’t feel the need for our job. 

"Ground conditions are pretty good for the time of year but as you can see down there, there is places you don’t need to be in carrying 2t and 3t with you.” 

David spoke about what he was looking for in a new spreader.

“I’ve been thinking about changing my old spreader for a few years now and didn’t actually get round to it, but this year we bit the bullet and went for the machine with the section control and the weigh cells, just for more accuracy," he explained.

“My old spreader didn’t have that - just a basic manual spreader - and sowing different types of fertiliser, different products, it was very hard getting settings to do it accurately, so we went for the full weigh cell, section control machine this time, and with the Amazone app, it definitely leaves it easy to get the machine set accurately.” 

The Profis weighing system shows any changes from what you planned to spread and what you are actually spreading in real time. 

The weigh cells on the spreader measure the weight changes 200 times per second and automatically adjust the shutter positions every 25kg.

The biggest advantage of the weighing system is that is has online calibration, so the optimum application rate is maintained all the time, even when side, border, water course or wedge-shaped spreading. 

It also tells you exactly how much fertiliser is in the hopper so you can take a break and know how exactly how much is left when you come back. 

“You’ve got the mySpreader app on your phone," David said.

"So today we’re sowing 21m; it gave me the vein positions, border spreading positions and shut-off times so I enter that from my phone onto the tractor’s display, check the vein settings and away you go.” 

The Amazone mySpreader app conveniently bundles all the app functions for Amazone fertiliser spreaders in one place.

The Fertiliser Service section provides precise adjustment recommendations for any product in the field, by fertiliser type and application, spreader model and working width. 

Fertiliser samples are continuously tested to ensure the information stays up-to-date. 

The second element of the mySpreader App is the EasyCheck test.

Plastic mats are placed across the field at defined intervals, spread over and photographed through the app. EasyCheck then calculates the degree of coverage at each mat and suggests improved settings to optimise accuracy.  

EasyMatch 

EasyMatch takes the guess work out of identifying what fertiliser you have.

Simply line up whatever fertiliser is in the hopper with the Amazone EasyMatch cutout and it will scan the shape, size, and colour of each granule and tell you what fertiliser you have. 

EasyMatch is fully integrated into the mySpreader App and is free for all farmers to use.  

“You can go out and set the machine at a rate and put that on all across the board,” David said.

With section control, the part-width sections are activated completely automatically in relation to the GPS position. 

Once a field has been created, the part-width sections are switched automatically in wedge-shaped fields and on headlands.  

“Whenever the machine is set up, I’d be confident that it’s doing everything it should be and putting product where it’s meant to be," David continued.

“The spreader could go on any of my tractors; mostly I go in this one with the 900 tyres.” he said.

“I have the extended monitor from John Deere, so I’m running the Amazone screen on it and then I can run the GPS through the tractor screen. 

"We’re running full auto steer on the 155R here, just recently set up my own RTK base station.

"I was using it through a dealer network before, but now I’ve got my own base station up and running so that’s everything down to 2cm accuracy for the sowing and the spreader will be using that for the section control as well.”

The Co. Antrim farmer also spoke about the ease of maintaining the Amazone spreader.

“The machine as far as I know comes as standard with the hooking off wheels; very easy to put down, very easy hooked on and off," David explained.

He added that the machines are "just really well finished, with a roll-over cover and very little maintenance too.” 

"The one-piece hardware makes it very easy washed, so hopefully that will keep the paintwork good for a long number of years.”

David added that Steven from McMullans "came out and helped me set up first day and do the mat test”. 

Steven said: “Most of the machines would be set up the same. 

"The first thing we’ll be asking, we’d be finding out what the spreading width is and what fertiliser the man is for sowing.

"What we do then is we’ll do a mat test. We lay out a row of plastic mats here and we’re checking the accuracy throughout the spreading width of the sower.

"If the customer for example is working with 21m tram lines, the sower theoretically is throwing that actually 42m wide. What the sower does is a double pass and that’s getting 100% accuracy then through the two passes."

The ZA-V mounted spreader is available in hopper capacities from 1,400-4,200L and is characterised by its high working speeds of up to 30km/h.

Exceptionally high work rates are achieved thanks to its high spreading capacity of up to 390kg/min and working widths of up to 36m. 

ISOBUS communication, weighing system, the hydraulic or electric Limiter V or V⁺ border spreading systems, plus the many other optional extras, make the ZA-V one of the most modern fertiliser spreaders in its class. 

For more information on the ZA-V fertiliser spreader, call Val on +353 87 244 0893.