Farm Progress

A flow divider and section controls give the BBI Sniper the ability to consistently throw an even pattern across a selected range, up to 120 feet.

Brad Robb, Staff Writer

August 29, 2018

3 Min Read

The next advancement in dry fertilizer precision spreading equipment was recently introduced by the Salford Group – the BBI Sniper. The nine-ton capacity, pull-type machine with a dual spinner system allows it to put out a 120-foot wide dry fertilizer spread pattern that can be split into 12 sections.

The single-axel machine can be adjusted to multiple widths up to 152 inches which will cover a 38-inch row pattern. “It has an enclosed hydraulic system run by pulse width modulating valves and plugs into a tractor easily,” explains Brian Hobson, product support specialist, Salford Group, who was showcasing the Sniper recently in the Mississippi Delta. “The ISOBUS rate controller is also compatible with most ISOBUS screen monitors on the market today.”

As farming input costs continue to rise, maximizing the use of any input is priority one with growers. “When technologies like RTK and GPS can be used to prevent overlapping of fertilizer during application, it’s a win for both farmers and the environment,” says Corey Bryant, Extension associate, Mississippi State University Delta Research and Extension Center. “Fertilizer runoff has been shown to be a contributor to hypoxia.”

A dynamic metering system, which is a scale system tied into the rate controller, allows on-the-go product feed corrections. “The scale system is constantly taking weight samples which are automatically compared to the speed of travel and acreage covered in relation to how many pounds per-acre the farmer has chosen to put out,” explains Hobson. “The on-board scale system gives the controller runtime information to correct any variables caused by input or product inconsistencies.”

The Sniper’s flow divider and section controls give it the ability to consistently throw an even pattern across the selected range, up to 120 feet. It has two separate bed chains that operate independently to pull product from the single-bin hopper. It also has two independently-controlled spinners and flow dividers that work to control application width and the point where fertilizer drops onto the spinners.

Hobson worked with a farmer customer earlier this year who put the Sniper through its paces to see the benefit of being able to trim the field on the turn row and work inside the field without overlapping swaths. During the trial, they incurred a less than two-percent rate calculation error. They later discovered the error was caused by a miscalculation in the fertilizer order, not in the application rate of the machine. “That’s where the gap occurred, and he liked the machine so much, he wants to go back and add the dynamic weigh-in to make that type of correction automatically, so he can stay calculated across the entire field, even if he changes product,” says Hobson.

The precision aspect of the Sniper comes through in its ability to apply fertilizer with variable control and target fertilizer application with its 12-section swath. Each side will spread fertilizer out to a maximum of 60 feet, but when a point row is approached, it takes the swath down in increments from 60 to 40 feet, from 40 to 30 feet and so on, to maximize fertilizer use and not over-apply past the crop. “We make all of our precision application equipment with the ‘Four R Nutrient Stewardship Program’ in mind,” says Hobson, referring to “Right source; right rate, right time, and right place.”

For more information about the Sniper or any other of the Salford Group products, click on www.salfordgroup.com.

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