Today’s high-clearance farm sprayers come equipped with boom widths of 100 feet or more, which makes getting them into sharp corners or tight places pretty difficult. And with some precision ag data collection systems now able to pinpoint small problem weed areas in a field, spraying them with very wide booms may mean wasting product.
Greg Setter, owner of Setter Manufacturing, thinks his company has the answer to those problems with its UTV (side-by-side) mounted small-scale sprayer system. Although with options of up to 26 or 30 feet of single-pass coverage, small may not be exactly the right definition. These systems offer reasonable coverage widths along with the speed and maneuverability of UTVs.
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“We’ve always had some type of sprayers for ATVs and side-by-sides,” said Setter, while standing beside a UTV-mounted system at his company’s display during Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon. “But this is the first year we’re really looking seriously to give the consumer that owns a side-by-side an advantage and to be able to do more with it.
“Today we’re showing two different styles, and both of them have the capability to spray 30 feet, just with boom-less nozzles, or with controlled nozzles on a 26 foot boom. We’ll be introducing a 30 foot boom next year.
“With a side-by-side you could do grasshopper control along the edge of your field, before they get into your field. A unit like this can do nice touch up, keeping those corners clean. If you see a noxious weed coming into your field you can control it with this so it doesn’t spread to all of your fields.”
Outfitting a UTV with a sprayer system doesn’t necessarily mean breaking the bank, especially if you opt for a basic, manual system.
“We can start at $2,400 for a manual system,” added Setter. “Or we could take it up to $4,000. That would still be manual but we would have a controlled boom on it. With electric controls around $6,000. Adding in an auto rate controller would take it around the $8,000 to $9,000 range.
The company also offers UTV-mounted systems with a pretty high level of sophistication, which can rival anything on a typical, high-end self-propelled sprayer.
“We could add in GPS for auto guidance and sectional control and we’re in the range of $18,000 to $19,000,” he continues. “If we want to go chemical injection, auto steer, pinpoint accuracy, meaning the nozzles would increase and decrease, like Hawkeye, on the boom, we could get it up around as high as $42,000.
“It (can be) computerized to the extent we can go,” he continued. “For environmental and tracking reasons we’re moving on in the industry. It allows every farmer to be accountable.
If farmers already own a UTV, adding a sprayer system to it will extend its usefulness, and it doesn’t necessarily mean making a large investment.”
If you don’t already own a UTV but want to get one to take advantage of their potential as spot sprayers, Setter said you don’t need anything too high end. Most “workhorse” style models will be able to handle a Setter system.
“You need something that’s going to be able to handle a minimum of 60 gallons,” he said. “So that’s 600 pounds of water alone plus the weight of the unit, which wouldn’t be more than 250 pounds. Most of them will do that. The deciding factor is, ‘what do you like?’ The (sprayer) units are all driven with Honda motors on centrifugal, plastic pumps.”
However, if you want to be sure you or your operator stays well protected from any spray mist, selecting a model with a cab on it that could be equipped with a carbon filter would be an advantage.
Setter products are sold through a dealer network, but the company will deal directly with a customer to design a system that meets their needs. They can then purchase it locally from a dealer.
For more information visit settermfg.com.
