In July New Holland held a media event at its Pennsylvania headquarters to unveil some new machines. Company product reps also used that opportunity to talk up the advantages of some of the blue brand’s existing models. Standing beside a front-boom sprayer parked on the company’s R&D test track behind the corporate head office, Bob Schnell, an NH sprayer specialist, did exactly that.
“Why do I want a front-mount boom sprayer?” he asked a group of farm journalists. “Because I can see every nozzle body from the cab of that machine. And that’s important, because when the boom is behind you, you can’t always tell if a nozzle is plugged or not. On here you can always see it.”
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It’s that improved visibility angle that Schnell said he believes makes the front-boom concept superior to that of a rear-boom model. And it makes control in tight quarters simpler, too.
“When I get to the end of a field with a front-boom sprayer, if I want to spray right into the corner, I drive in, get right to the edge, back up, turn and I’m gone,” he said.
And Schnell doesn’t share the concern some may have about driving through just-applied chemicals. The sprayer has smooth under-body panels that can easily be hosed off, he explains. And, he points out, in reality there is actually very little machine contamination because of the very high under-body clearance, so the problem is minimal at worst.
In about 20 minutes the boom can be removed and replaced with different attachments, such as a nitrogen applicator for row-crop corn or even a swather header, giving the machine a broader range of uses.
When NH originally began selling their line of front boom sprayers, they were sourcing them from Miller, an independent manufacturer in St. Nazianz, Minnesota. Miller had been retailing them under its own brand name for several years prior to that. However, last year NH purchased Miller, bringing the line of sprayers completely under the NH umbrella. So far, NH hasn’t shared distribution of these machines with sister brand Case IH.
