Dolan industries has chosen, from the bewildering array of digital systems on offer, a package of machines and software options that is leading the way in showing what can now be done with the latest technology.

While machinery manufacturers might believe that its digital product will sell directly to farmers, there is an alternative view which suggests that a growing proportion of this technology will arrive on the farm via contractors.

Complexity requires specialism

There is nothing startling in this, it’s a well established trend, however what is new is the farmer may become far more reliant on contractors to select and make work the data-based systems upon which the management of a farm may be based.

Dolan Industries of Co Mayo — L-R , John Dolan, Danny Dolan and Mathew Macken

One company that is busy exploring the possibilities is Dolan Industries of Ballyglass, Co. Mayo. Within its portfolio of goods and services it provides is fertiliser sales and application.

While manufacturers will boast of the accuracy of their machines and many farmers will take great care in setting them up, the spreading of this expensive resource has always been something of a hit and miss affair.

Accurate field mapping

In looking to correct this, John Dolan and his technical manager, Mathew Macken, has developed a service which extends far beyond just turning up at a farm with spreader and lorry-load of big bags.

The starting point is the mapping of the fields to be treated.

There are many GPS systems on the market and a good number of them rely on Google maps to provide a plan of the farm.

Starfire 3000 dolan industries — The Starfire 3000 receiver is mounted to the Gator’s roof for mapping.

Yet, while there is a general belief that such images are correct, they found that no account was taken of elevation or gradient, and so spreading based on their use was never going to give the accuracy desired.

This led to the use of a John Deere Gator fitted with a JD Starfire 3000 receiver to map the fields with the preciseness which they required.

There are two objectives to the mapping: The first is the more obvious survey of the field’s shape and area, this is referred to as its external borders.

The second purpose is to locate and delineate any features or areas within the field that may require a different, or zero, rate of application. Such areas include alongside water courses or other sensitive regions and are referred to as the internal borders.

Testing the soil

These maps may then be complimented by soil analysis showing the nutrient status of the fields which will influence the amount of fertiliser required.

Soil analysis is an expensive pastime but with the government’s pilot Soil Sampling Programme coming on-stream this year, it is expected a good deal of data will become available which wouldn’t otherwise have been collected.

Software Dolan industries — The collected data is consolidated into a prescription map on the office PC

Putting these three sets of data together produces a well defined map of the area to be treated, along with the variables within it which can then be used as a basis to calculate a prescription for that field.

Solving the software puzzle

There are two software packages performing the task of collating the information. The first is John Deere’s operation centre, an online app which collects and acts as a repository for all the data generated by the tractors.

The second is Agrian Prescription Creator which is known to work well with the John Deere software although it is not part of John Deere itself.

This part of the operation is done in the office and will take account of any other factors which the farmer may wish to be considered, fertilser availability and price being two.

What might be noted here is that should a field require different rates of Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) in different areas then they may be applied as straights over the course of a season to correct the index levels.

Dolan industries spread with a Bredal

Having created the map it can then be transferred to the spreading unit, which in this case is a John Deere 6130M coupled to a Bredal 7t trailed spreader.

The tractor is fitted with the more advanced Starfire 6000 receiver, while the spreader comes with its own suite of software that enables variable rate spreading, and a certain degree of section control.

Bredal spreader john deere tractor — The spreader has a seven tonne capacity.

The tractor’s software will look after the steering and operation while Bredal’s system adjusts the application rate as the unit progresses across the field. Communication is via ISOBUS.

The spreader is equipped with weigh cells and a self calibration system thus it can adjust itself to the material flow rate in real time.

Not all fertilisers are equal

When spreading to the accuracy that is achievable the variation in the material’s characteristics very soon become apparent. Even fertilisers from the same source differ markedly as the season progresses.

Dolan Industries Ltd spreader — The spreader can cope with lime or fertiliser thanks to interchangeable discs

To ensure the accuracy of spread the two machines, with two different control systems relying on the one prescription map, which itself was created using two further, separate items of software, seems complicated.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster should any part of it go wrong, and indeed, it has not been all plain sailing in getting it working together, hence John’s assertion that this sort of technology is going to arrive on farms via specialist contractors.

However, he has particular praise for the dealers concerned, especially Trevor Richardson of Atkins Farm Machinery and Joe Butler of Templetuohy Farm Machinery, who both put a great deal of effort into making sure it all came together.

Gaining experience in the field

Presently, this is a unique set up in Ireland and it has been a learning curve for all concerned, yet the results so far are impressive with a spreading accuracy of plus or minus 1% being achieved.

Bredal spreader john deere — Weigh cells monitor the rate of application during work

In addition to the efficient use of the material a full record of application is created which can be called upon to show just what has been applied and where, should there be a farm inspection or payments be dependent on proper use.

Dolan industries have realised in the flesh some of the claims for digital technology made by the manufacturers. But it has not been a simple task, so while we might be bedazzled by all the marketing hype in the showroom, actually making it work at ground level can often be a challenge.

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