FERTILISER spreader distributor Bredal Australia claims its new Bredal XE spreader breaks new ground for controlled traffic farming systems.
Earlier this month, the XE was independently tested by the Australian Fertiliser Standards Association in New South Wales, for spreading urea and achieved a spreading width of 50 metres - a barrier never before achieved.
According to Bredal Australia director Ben Nichols, the test was carried out in "six metres a second wind" equivalent to 20-22 kilometres an hour.
"It was not ideal testing out to be ideal for the XE," Mr Nichols said.
"It gives us confidence to advise customers they can spread urea to 48m widths."
According to Mr Nichols, a lot of development of the XE occurred in Western Australia.
"But now it will be a world-wide product for Bredal," he said.
"We see a big market in Australia, particularly WA, South Australia and Victoria, where there are a lot of 45 and 48m boomsprayers used in controlled traffic farming.
"It did seem that guys would be stuck with 36m forever, but now they can upgrade to wider widths to match the spreads the XE can achieve.
"This has never been done before (achieving 48m) with 42m being the best until now.
"There are plenty of people making claims about spreading widths, but nobody else is accredited beyond 42m."
Mr Nichols said the Danish parent company was delighted with the result.
"It may set a new standard in Europe too," he said.
WA dealers Burando Hill also will be involved in testing the XE spreading widths with local products for local conditions.
"Testing will be done before the Dowerin field days and we'll have the XE on display," Mr Nichols said.
The recent urea test was the result of farmer demand in WA.
"Bredal took notice and developed specific spinning discs to see what was possible," Mr Nichols said.
"We've already had a very positive response from customers."
The XE also comes with a 6m wing attachment.
According to Mr Nicholls, trials have shown the attachment can provide a 24m spread of lime sand and gypsum.
And the spreader will be available with section control, establishing 12 virtual sections in the spread pattern, via an ISOBUS-compatible display.
"The section control is available across our model range," Mr Nichols said.
"In 10,000 hectares of trials, the average overlap was 1.25 per cent."
