Torque Talk - a treat for Sam

That's when he took delivery of a new Goldacres 6036 self-propelled boomsprayer from Staines Esperance.

The "to Sam, from Sam" present was quickly put into action soon after Christmas day for its summer spraying program.

Five spray programs and 400 hours later, Sam is rapt with the model.

It's his third Goldacres sprayer, having experienced the Praire Advance and Praire Evolution trailed models and sitting in the cab with him while he operated the affectionately known G6, it was evident he wasn't going back to trailed boomsprayers again.

"It's got everything I want, he said. "I'm averaging about 30km/h on runs and the ride is very smooth, even when I can get 50km/h in transport mode."

Providing a walk-around commentary on the G6, Sam admitted he liked Australian manufacturers.

"My local dealer Staines Esperance provides great back up," he said. "But it is also a comfort to know we can speak with somebody at the factory who really knows the machine should the need arise."

Sam also appreciates innovation such as the LED light strips on the boom below each nozzle.

"I initially thought it was a gimmick but it's not," he said. "During night spraying you can see the whole spray pattern and you get better visibility of the jets so it's just another thing that adds to ease of operation."

Another innovation is Goldacres' proprietary RapidFire system, which uses pneumatic nozzle control to eliminate the need for central boom valves and metres of excess spray lines.

The air-operated valves are located in the nozzle body and deliver instantaneous boom operation – doing away with the need to prime boom lines before spraying.

Pressure is already built-in the boom line and it's only a matter of switching nozzles on and off.

Goldacres has further expanded this technology with a three tier system (3TS) which expands the effective spraying speed range without exceeding the pressure range of the nozzles.

Likened to a gearbox, RapidFire 3TS minimises the nozzle pressure variation even as the sprayer speed changes.

On a single or dual-line boom system, the 3TS allows farmers to vary their application rate and spraying speed while maintaining the correct droplet size.

It is self-evident such control provides optimum targeting of weeds.

The boom also folds to 18 metres (60ft) as an option to cater for tight spots in paddocks such as spraying between tree clumps.

Sam also likes the simple layout of plumbing.

"It's very easy to operate and everything is there like the 60 litre drop-down Vortex hopper," he said. "They've also fitted a bigger pump which gives you 300 litres a minute."

The G6036 boasts a Cummins engine and Allison transmission combination coupled to a direct mechanical drive (no wheel motors), which Sam says works well with soft tracks that don't "chew" the soil.

The 6.7 litre QSB Cummins is tuned to produce 168kW (225hp) and provides plenty of power through the 2500 series Allison transmission.