rom investing in a state-of-the-art Nevada slurry tanker to adopting technologies that reduce environmental impact and improve farm productivity, John’s story is one of resilience, resourcefulness, and forward-thinking. Here’s how this multi-generational farm continues to grow and thrive while embracing modern agricultural advancements.
Located in the Waikato region just 10 minutes from Cambridge is John Charlton’s family farm of 105 years. What started as 40 hectares has grown to 112 hectares of thriving farmland. “My father has been very passionate about buying land as it has come up and we’ve been able to purchase little bits as we go,” John said.
John and his wife have leased their flat contour and sandy loam soil farm for 20 years from the family. With 340 cows split into two herds of Jersey and Fresian cows, the paddock rotation is made easier with the varying sizes of each section. “It works well with a two-herd system,” John remarked.
Being a System 3, the farm consists of shed feed and round bail silage with the cows on pasture all year round. When it comes to the effluent management system, John keeps it as simple as possible. The effluent system includes a 500,000 litre bladder tank for the bulk of storage along with a 30,000 litre underground tank that is gravity fed from the shed itself. The underground tank is pumped directly to a slurry tanker, and then spread throughout the farm regularly.
As technology has changed over the years, it has made it easier to spread effluent more efficiently and with less hassle. The family farm has never used an irrigator and has continually utilised slurry tankers since the 1950s. “Our previous systems were very similar using slurry wagons, but the advances in the Nevada ones make it a lot more efficient and easy for staff to use,” John noted.
When it came time to upgrade, John purchased a Nevada 10,000L Single Axle Slurry Tanker which provided the equipment to spread effluent at a low rate across a large portion of the farm. “The process for purchasing was very simple. It was very easy and the delivery was very simple as well even though we are not in the same district. And the follow up service has been good as well,” John said.
The flexibility of the Nevada single axle slurry tanker offered better navigation through narrow gateways, the ability to get near hedges, and space awareness to avoid troughs. With many lifestyle block owners nearby, John was concerned about lowering wind drift while still being able to reach the furthest corners for even growth across the paddocks. To go alongside the slurry tanker, John chose a RainWave™ attachment, which ensured effluent application closer to the ground with fewer particles going above the hedgeline. John immediately noticed the difference of less wind drift, enabling him to get closer to hedges and boundary fences without concern.
Over the last 10 years, John has tried other brands of slurry tankers with features that didn’t offer longevity or ease of use. Previous slurry tankers did more damage turning sharp corners and going through tight gateways on the farm. When researching what slurry tanker could offer all the features he was looking for, it was the double galvanisation that sealed the deal. “The internal galvanising, which is not always the same in all tankers in the ones we were quoted, were not internally galvanising, so that was a big attraction…and I’ve already seen evidence of the extra galvanising on the Nevada tankers doing its thing, it’s clearly a better long lasting product than what I’ve used in previous effluent tankers,” John said. Additional advantages of the features included easy maintenance, floatation tires, large side glass, and an auto-filling arm that saves staff from having to manually connect pipes. The system provided no challenges in setting up and continues to be a valuable asset on the family farm.
John has increased capacity and lowered the fertiliser bill by getting effluent onto 90% of the farm with a Nevada slurry tanker. “We find it works a lot better for our system to spread regularly and it just allows that instant use of fertiliser of the effluent onto the farm paddocks and the instant response we get from following the cows around on the pasture rotation,” John noted.
For farmers who are looking to get a slurry tanker, John said “it’s not as time consuming as you might think.” The efficiency of the technology and the design of the slurry tanker allows for greater capacity of loads in less time, making it easier for staff to get the job done. “I would recommend the Nevada tanker for the ease of use and the efficiencies of all the technology involved on it with the auto-fill arm and the RainWave™. And it’s very easy for myself and the staff to use. So yes, I would recommend it for sure.”