New Zealand farmer “certainly recommends Hustler for anyone who’s looking at a new sprayer”

Sam Von Dadelszen is farming over 1,400 hectares in New Zealand. More than a decade ago, he decided to purchase his own spraying gear in order to gain autonomy and to be able to spray as soon as he wants (and the weather allows it). Last year, he upgraded his sprayer to a brand-new Hustler Applic8r mounted boom sprayer with a hydraulic-folding boom. Watch the video to see how Sam improved his spraying programme!

Sam is based in Central Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. The region is renowned for its horticulture, with large orchards and vineyards on the plains. In the hilly parts of the region sheep and cattle farming predominates, with forestry blocks in the roughest areas.

The farm consists of 1,400 hectares of sheep and beef cattle (and a few dairy cattle).

About 13 or 14 years ago, Sam chose to bring all the spraying work in-house instead of hiring a contractor. The main reason is that working with a contractor offered them limited flexibility and the weather window at this time of the year is small while the Hawke’s Bay region is very windy. “It’s been a lot more convenient and our crops are a lot better than what they used to be,” Sam told.

Sam sprays around 300 hectares of pastures and/or crops a year.

“Having our own gear we just get in and do it when the weather’s right”

Last year, Sam looked at replacing his old sprayer. It has severed the farm well, but the unit “had a very heavy large boom on it, you’d get a bit of cracking especially when we’re doing a lot of our hill country and rougher work. So we were having to do quite a lot of continual repairs and maintenance on it,” Sam explained.

Sam decided to invest in a Hustler Applic8r mounted boom sprayer.

“We haven’t had any issues, it’s been very reliable”

For Sam, it was easy to put his trust in Hustler as he already owns Hustler products. “I’m certainly aware of the Hustler brand we’ve got two Hustler bale feeders,” he said. “When I was making some inquiries about a sprayer, a friend of mine bought a Hustler a number of years earlier and had a great run with it.”

“One of the things that really impressed me about the Hustler was the boom, and it seemed to be the strength-testing of it.”

Sam chose Hustler for “a number of reasons”:

• a lighter yet stronger boom “which we found a lot easier because we’re doing a lot of hill country work. So it’s taken a bit of pressure off the tractor especially getting uphill. Yeah just made life a little bit easier.”
• a bigger capacity with three model sizes to choose from.
• lower to the ground for easier filling with careful tank/chassis integration keeping it compact and ultra-low.
• unique agitation system (Hustler MixMax™) that “allows us to fill up the tank of water especially when using foamier products and then put the products in. Just turn on the agitation system we know it’s been well mixed up, without a whole lot of product coming out of the top of the tank”
• A generous sump size is all part of the design so that you can spray on steep terrain without sucking air and leaving missed patches and empty’s the entire tank even when operating on the steepest of terrain.

“When you’re spraying there’s certainly no product left in the tank not a single drop left it’s all gone, due to the shape of that tank”

So far, Sam is thrilled with his Hustler boom sprayer. “We’ve done around 300 hectares with it, year to date. We haven’t had any issues, it’s been very reliable. I’d certainly recommend Hustler for anyone who’s looking at a new sprayer, or upgrading a sprayer,” Sam concluded.

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