Scott Charmley
Dannevirke, New Zealand
This story was filmed in 2022 and reflects one farmer’s own experience with their Tow and Fert. Every farm is different, so please treat it as a story rather than a forecast for your place.
One machine, one pass, whatever the season calls for
Scott Charmley farms 214 cows on 78 hectares near Dannevirke, in an equity partnership with his wife and his parents. It’s a System 3 dairy operation, and depending on the season, Scott runs foliar urea, Gib, magnesium products and potassium chloride through the Tow and Fert.
He and his family saw the machine at the Central Districts field days, talked to Tim and Mike, and didn’t wait long to buy one.
One pass instead of two
The old routine was two trips: granular urea out first, then a separate pass following the cows with Gib, by tractor and boom, at six metres and around 8km/h. The Tow and Fert let Scott collapse that into one pass, urea and Gib together, spread over ten metres at 15 to 16km/h.
We initially purchased it so we could put on our urea, bring our amount of our urea usage down and put on Gib at the same time. One pass.
Feeding the plant every round
On Mike’s suggestion, Scott moved to a little-and-often approach with potassium chloride, applying 20kg/ha every round rather than one large hit.
The idea is we’re feeding the plant every round, so it’s not one big application that’s got the potential to leach. I’m already seeing more clover through putting on the potassium in the sward than I have seen in years gone by.
A brew for every season
Through the colder months Scott runs UAN, which he says performs once ground temperature drops below 12 degrees. This season he’s added Ammo 31 for sulphur, running Gib, UAN, Ammo 31 and potassium chloride together in one tank.
In the past we used to use 100 kilos of Ammo 31 to the hectare. Currently we’re putting on 30 kilos to the hectare, so we’re using 30% of what we used to use.
He tracks the same shift across his overall nitrogen use for the season.
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In the past we’ve been sitting at 140 units of N for the season. With this at the moment, we’ll be sitting around the 70, so well under the 190.
A tighter lactation
Applying straight behind the cows every two days let Scott push his lactation further into the season.
We reckon we did another 1500 kilos of milk solids at $7.50 odd last season. We worked out it’s paid for the bulk of our machine already. It’s early days yet, we’re only up 3%, but up is up.
A tricky spring for magnesium
A global magnesium oxide shortage this season, stuck at the port, meant Scott had to adapt his mineral programme on the fly.
We started using Mag sulfate because we didn’t have enough Mag oxide, and we were getting a few down cows at the start till we got our ratio right. Once we got the right amount of sulfate going, and we still had oxide going in as well, and we had lime flour as well, once they were calved down, our down cows just dried up overnight.
Built to last, and flexible with it
You’re never going to break this, it’s easy to tow. It’s got the big wheels on it, 100mm x 100mm box section for the frame. Not a lot to go wrong, very simple.
For Scott, the appeal isn’t just what it does to nitrogen. It’s everything else that goes through the same tank.
It gives you so many options with that, being able to put on your animal health products, your Mag oxide, your Lime Flour, putting on your Urea, anything. We’ve sprayed glyphosate through it, sprayed out one paddock and regrassed it earlier on in the spring. You got nothing to lose.
