A new self-propelled sprayer from manufacturer Agrifac promises to take precision spray technology to the next level, allowing the unit to work with new optical spray technology slashing herbicide use on fallow paddocks.
Agrifac national sales manager Mark Bastien said the new Agrifac Condor Endurance II self propelled sprayer was showcased to a crowd of farmers attending a recent field day at Beefwood, Moree NSW.
"This is the latest of the Endurance range which has had a lot of success in Australia," he said.
"The new machine has a number of farmer driven modifications and improvements that we think will go well in the Australian market.
"We have increased the horsepower, moving from a 320 to 405hp (240 to 300 kilowatt) engine, which was driven by customers in Western Australia who needed a bit more power for deeper sand hills and ripped country.
"And we have also increased the fuel capacity of the machine as some customers wanted to get some extra days driving out of it, so we have gone from a 390 to a 700 litre tank."
Mr Bastien said another change was the move to the J2 boom.
"We have made some minor changes to our boom, we've made some modifications in terms of ride and performance that we are quite excited about," he said.
"Also the interface with the cab has had a major upgrade, we run the Claas cabs on these machines and now we have incorporated a lot more of our own Agrifac technology, including the Ecotronic II screen, which has a much bigger screen as well as a new armrest and joystick to make the machine much more user friendly."
Mr Bastien said a big feature of the Endurance II was that it was highly compatible with the companies new optical spray technology.
"We've had the AICPlus in the field for research and development, however now we have commercially available cameras," he said.
"To use the technology you need Strict Spray Plus, which is a pulse width modulation system, while some competitors run PWM at 10 to 30 hertz, our system runs at 100 hertz, which allows the cameras to activate the nozzle instantly."