Having rivers throughout the property of course means extra precautions need to be taken to prevent effluent getting into the waterways. While spreading, this would mean Geoff was having to be extra vigilant in not getting too close to the rivers, and timing the spreading when wind was minimal to prevent drifting. This was time consuming, and also meant the pasture was not always getting nutrients when it needed it. Some areas closer to the river were unable to be fertilised at all. On top of this, Geoff’s old system was too slow, and simply couldn’t handle the volume of effluent produced.
Fed up, Geoff figured there must be a better way of doing things. He had seen videos of the Nevada RainWave™ Drag Hose System in action online, and decided to give Nevada a call to find out more about it.
‘I was after a good quality, cost effective option. Something that’s easy for staff to operate and get large quantities spread quickly, evenly and I didn’t want heavy equipment on the paddocks.’
Geoff O’Connor – Dairy Farmer, Blackball Greymouth
With 3 ponds over the property, the drag hose system is quick and easy to move from pond to pond, and it allows Geoff to spread large volumes of effluent quickly. Along with the 3 point linkage RainWave™ applicator and Rovatti TL3-80 pump, Geoff went with 600 metres of hose – enough to cover a circle right around the ponds – a huge advantage. However one of the biggest advantages of the RainWave™ is having better control when spreading.
‘With the new system we’re making better use of the nutrients. There’s more control, so we’re able to spread when and where we want without worrying about it getting into the rivers. We’re spreading larger quantities, further, faster and more evenly, which means we only have to go over the paddock once to get all the nutrients down. It’s saving us a lot of time, and allows us to spread in much larger windows of weather.’
