"We have over 800 hours on the clock, which has been a combination of paddock and road use, and only 25% tyre wear so far" said Shaun. "It was something we hadn't really considered, and probably took for granted, but I know of some contractors using self propelled sprayers in the same conditions and prematurely replacing full sets of tyres, which would surely hurt the hip pocket!"

With tyres costing upward of $2000 each prematurely replacing them can be a costly exercise. "When we were designing the new Crop Cruiser we placed a lot of effort into acheiving the correct ackermann angles which are critical for effective and efficient steering. The Crop Cruiser's steering is based upon motor car style engineering which avoids the need for tyres to slip sideways when turning. This allows us to acheive outstanding tyre wear in the field and make smooth headland turns without tearing up the paddock" says Goldacres Engineering Manager, Roger Richards. "We were very concious of maximising tyre performance in our design, and the low weight of the machine also helps".

"As season's change we are noticing huge changes in ground conditions and we've got to get across the ground when we can. We have been really impressed with the low running cost of the Crop Cruiser so far, and we should get over 3000 hours before we need to replace the tyres, which keeps more money in our pocket" says Shaun.

The Goldacres Crop Cruiser is available with tank sizes of 3500, 5200 and 3500+1200 Lt twin tank options. Designed and built at Goldacres head office in Ballarat Victoria, the Crop Cruiser uses premium quality components sourced from some of the world's biggest suppliers to produce an Australian built sprayer of world class standards.

In the second half of 2009 he took delivery of three new Goldacres Crop Cruisers sold through WJs in Moree, each fitted with a 36 metre boom. He has now owned seven Goldacres sprayers over the last few years. He bought his first two largely because of the capacity to switch between 2 m and 3 m tracks. As he no longer sprays cotton, that adjustment is no longer required but he sticks with Goldacres. Peter lists many reasons for his loyalty including excellent ride quality, an extremely stable boom, great fuel economy and the simple and strong engineering that copes well with Australian conditions. The suspension really irons out bumps. Apart from providing him and his drivers with a smoother, less tiring ride, it has also given him a competitive advantage. "We can work in conditions that are too rough for others and have picked up a lot of extra work that way," he said.

"It's incredibly smooth - we leave the lid up on the laptop and it never falls down."

Peter says his machines are highly spec'd with lots of technology options but underneath they are strong and robust. "Take the drive system. The chain drive drop boxes have been improved but we never had any trouble before, and we do lots of road work.

"The thing I really like is that it's a very basic system that is easily fixed if something does go wrong. I could buy most parts locally if I needed to," he explained. "You can't say that about hydrostatic drives - I've heard of them costing $70,000 to fix."

He believes the direct drive system is responsible for what he describes as 'brilliant fuel economy'. "It's a proven motor and gearbox driving directly to the wheels. We can do 400 ha on 150 litres of fuel and that includes filling and a bit of road travel."

That represents a figure of around 10 litres per hour. He says it's not uncommon to hear operators of imported machines talking about 30 litres per hour. With many of his clients' blocks surrounded by cotton, he also finds Goldacres Direct Chemical Injection system and twin boom lines a real advantage. "We can get better drift control by injecting each chemical into the separate lines at different pressures to create different sized droplets.

"We might put glyphosate through one line with a medium droplet and then 2,4D through the other at low pressure to give a coarse droplet. The water comes out of the one tank - it's the injection system that makes it possible," Peter said.

Summer also sees a lot of spot spraying using boom mounted Weed Seeker cameras with the dual lines coming in handy again. A broad acre application can be put through one while the spot spray goes through the other.

He uses Norac auto boom height control to maintain the stability required by the Weedseeker spot spray cameras. Another feature that Peter likes is the auto boom controller which gives an average 6% saving in chemical use by eliminating over spray. Peter trades in his Goldacres Crop Cruiser sprayers every two years after they have clocked up around 3000 to 3500 hours. "They don't give us any trouble during that period and still have excellent resale value," he said.

Andy and Leo crop 4500ha rotating canola, wheat, barley, lentils, beans and chickpeas. They normally try to keep 10% under fallow.

Their latest purchase, a Prairie Evolution 7536, was supplied by Emmetts at Rupanyup, where the Delahuntys traded in their old machine after it had covered an estimated 300,000 acres.

The first GoldAcres sprayer they owned was a 5000-litre model with a 31m boom. Their next was bigger at 6000 litres with a reach of 36m.

This latest machine is a 7500-litre tow-behind with 36m boom. Purchased in June, it has done nearly all the farm's in-crop spraying this season.

No comparison

Andy says there is no comparison between the new and the old ? the 7536, he says, is a great improvement again.

The brothers have been keen on direct chemical injection ? their previous sprayer carried three DCI units, two of 160 litres and one at 120 litres.

The 7536 has two DCI units, a 160 and a 600.

Farm employee Brian Storey, who does a lot of the spraying work, says the 600-litre unit is a real boon.

"With the big unit, you can fill it up the night before and have enough chemical to last all day," Brian says.

"We used to find with the 160-litre unit that if you were spraying two litres per hectare of Roundup, for example, you didn't have enough on board to cover the tank.

"The 600 has plenty of capacity. Even the 160-litre unit is now much better because it will automatically draw directly from a 110-litre Enviro drum using high/low switches.

"We could get two or three Enviro drums on the platform if we needed to."

Brian says DCI use tends to be seasonal: before sowing, they keep the smaller unit constantly full of Roundup while using the 600 unit for the herbicideTreflan, so they can knock down and apply Treflan at the same time.

Brian says if he gets too far ahead of the seeder, he can turn off the Treflan and come back and do it later.

The farm hasn't adopted controlled traffic, but the Delahuntys are keen to match up machines to make cropping easier and reduce wheel track indentations.

Apart from their header, this is their first 3m purchase.

"Just sat there "

Both Andy and Brian are enthusiastic about the boom suspension.

The 7536 has hydraulic yaw control, while the previous machine used springs. They say this makes for a big improvement in boom stability.

"We used to break a few yaw springs previously, but with the hydraulics that problem has gone," Andy says.

"The centre section is now a lot stronger. I think the wider booms just outgrew the old centre section design." Brian was putting out fungicide recently at 78 litres per hectare, travelling at 25-26km/h, and he said the boom 'just sat there'.

The higher speed is only used when applying fungicide - normal spray speed is 18-20km/h.

Higher application rates

The boom is fitted with dual lines and Andy says agronomists are constantly asking for higher application rates of water to ensure better coverage.

With the bigger tank, he says, they can carry more water and, with the dual lines, apply it at a higher rate. Occasionally, they use application rates of 90-100 litres, especially on beans or when the crop canopy is exceptionally heavy.

Andy still remembers one of their early rigs, which consisted of a 2500-litre tank and 19m boom mounted on an Isuzu truck.

"We were only putting out 35 to 40 litres per hectare," he says. "When you think about it now, the coverage was pretty poor."

The Delahuntys' sprayer is fitted with hydraulic brakes to handle the increased weight.

Another feature is hydraulic tilt, hailed by Brian for its usefulness when clearing fences on a turn.

"It's also great on uneven ground, where you can just lift up one side with the touch of a finger," he says.

A Goldacres compact sprayer, with road pack fitted, is now part of the equipment available to staff in the City of Greater Bendigo's turf maintenance team.

The 1000-litre sprayer, supplied by Grogan's Machinery at Epsom, uses an 8m boom, foam markers and an engine-driven pump.

The council's team leader, sports fields, Roger Barbetti, says the unit has been put to work on the necessary spring and summer weed control programs. "We have been working on broadleaf weed control and selective herbicide use with the aims of managing warm-season grass species and spraying out winter grasses and ryegrasses," Roger says.

"We manage 60 sports fields, mostly in the greater urban area, and those are each generally less than two hectares.

"With the 1000-litre tank, we can usually do two or three fields without refilling and a gun jet with adjustable nozzle makes for easy work when hand-spraying is required." "And it uses a braked trailer because it's registered for road use.

"The sprayer has done plenty of work for us so far, but from here on it should only be in infrequent use until spring." Matt Grogan, from Grogan's Machinery, says features of the $23,759 unit include low-drift air induction nozzles to minimise drift, a 6hp Honda petrol engine, a pump capable of 85 litres a minute and a 6:1 reduction gearbox.

"It also has a single, heavy-duty axle, LED road lights, 45-litre wash tank, double-sided foam markers and a 40-litre chemical induction hopper," Matt says.

"It rides on 7.50 x 16 Land Cruiser tyres and has been popular with people wanting to spray roadsides or tackle blackberries."

Other equipment in the Bendigo council team's armoury includes mowers, scarifiers, vacuums, aerovators, spreaders and three tractors.