AS temperatures rise, the focus of most landowners is on growing grass – the lifeblood of any livestock farm. With the challenge of winter and some recent wintry weather, grass is scarce – but help is out there!
Quad-X, based in County Antrim, has been involved in the design and manufacture of ATV equipment for almost 30 years. Its current range of quad sowers and spreaders can help boost grass growth even on wet land. They are a result of years of investment in R&D with continual honing and refining to ensure they offer the most reliable, robust and accurate sowers on the market.
The only way to carry out early sowing on many areas of pasture will be using an ATV. Once ground temperatures reach five degrees, urea can be sown to give the early bite needed for lambing season. At such a busy time of year for farmers it is important to get jobs done, but when the task is sowing fertiliser, it must be a job done well.
Sowing is pointless unless it is accurate. With fertiliser/urea costing about £300 a tonne, accuracy in application is essential. It is not just about getting the field sown, it should be about getting every blade of grass fertilised, and the Quad-X Pro Spreaders have been developed to be adjustable for a more precise application, tray tested for accurate spreading.
The dished spinner and specially designed spinner vanes have been developed to give a spread up to 50ft with an even application for maximum results and minimum wastage. If you spread 10 tonnes of fertiliser a year with a cheaper machine with reduced accuracy you could be wasting up to 30 per cent of your fertiliser. This will cost you £1,000 a year, so it is important to make the right investment when buying a spreader.
The Quad-X engineers are in tune with agriculture and have developed a range of sowers to be equipped for local conditions where they are often used in rough ground conditions, with high speed bikes and travel between outlying farms. Quad-X sowers offer the best investment with several models available.
With a frame developed to be up to 85 per cent stronger than all other competitors, and a triple bearing system on the axle, the Quad-X Pro Spreader range is the most robust and durable in its class. Although it may not be a product you use every day, it is the type of machine that has to work when you need it.
This commercial spec Pro Spreader has a strong steel frame and sturdy hopper which avoids any problem of cracks that can appear in plastic hoppers.
The Quad-X sowers have been designed for our local conditions, using stainless steel components and a seven-stage finishing process for resistance to wet weather conditions and the corrosive nature of fertiliser.
Its extra wide axle coupled with the low height of the hopper makes for a sower that is very stable. Flotation tyres make the Pro Spreader suitable for softer ground.
The Quad-X sower has a 465 litre capacity with optional extension sides to carry 680 litres. It is ground driven and has an unrivalled spreading width, which is easily adjusted by regulating the towing vehicles speed. The shutter plate is easily opened/closed from sitting on the ATV, with a handy lever to disengage the spinner for travel to outlying fields. A model suitable for use with a side-by-side utility vehicle is also available.
Quad-X also offers the Precision Spreader, a handy 320 litre capacity sower which supersedes the features of other lighter duty Italian imports, with features including knobby tyres and a wider wheel base to make it more suitable for rough terrain and wetter conditions.
The Precision Spreader boasts the same dished stainless steel spinner and vanes as the commercial spec Pro Spreader for excellent spread widths and durability. The heavier section galvanised steel frame ensures strength and long life.
If you are only spreading a few tonne of fertiliser, the Quad-X electro broadcaster is a 60L mounted spreader that fits on the rear rack of any ATV. It can be used to spread fertiliser, urea, grass seed, clover and slug pellets. A stainless steel spinner and a UV protected hopper provide durability. It can also be used in the winter months as a salt spreader.
n If you would like to find out more about the Quad-X range, request a brochure or DVD please call 028 2587 2800, or visit www.quad-x.com where you can browse the range and view video footage of the machines.
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