Salford’s Application Specialist, Mark Magee recently sat down with David Brim, Branch of Manager White River Co-op in Mitchell IN to talk about his experience with his recent purchase of a Salford air boom. Here’s what David had to say about the machine and his Salford Group experience.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE SALFORD 550 AND 6700
We were all excited to see the machine when it arrived. We’ve been involved in the development of this machine, asking for an air machine on a trident chassis for a long time. And when Salford came along with a wider air boom at 70’ with the drop tube, we got really excited. We’ve all been pleased with the machine’s performance so far. The 70’ air boom is a much wider feature than we have been using and it has allowed us to apply higher fertilizer rates while covering more acres.
WHAT ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS SAYING ABOUT THE EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE IN THEIR FIELDS?
Our operators and customers really like the drop tubes and the ability to drop the applications down right into the corn canopy. We’re confident the placement is working really well and farmers are already farmers telling us they are aren’t seeing the burn on corn leaves they would have noticed using other application methods. We’ve had a lot of excitement around this machine, I’ve had growers request the Salford air boom be used on their acres instead of the spinner we were previously working with because they see the value in the drop tubes. And that was the idea behind trying the tubes, customer satisfaction is important, and we always felt like we had a little burn on the leaves. It’s clear that, even a well calibrated spinner just doesn’t have the accuracy these tubes can offer and our customers can see that.
DO YOU THINK THE ADDITION OF THE DROP TUBES WILL INCREASE YOUR ACRES OR GENERATE MORE GROWER OR CUSTOMER INTEREST?
I expect it will. I’m hoping we’ll be able to charge more of a premium for this job because it offers more precision and performance for our growers. It also takes more attention from the operator making the application. I expect this air boom will help us grow our business because we are the only people around who can offer the drop tubes.
HOW WILL THE ADDITION OF THE SALFORD AIR BOOM TO YOUR EQUIPMENT LINEUP CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS?
My plan is to see this new machine increase our ROI. Its versatility means I can run it through the spring when we do a lot of seeding, right through to the fall when we seed cover crops. I expect this machine will be able to run just about every acre we cover. I believe we will also be able to increase our efficiency and save some time. We’ve already been able to apply higher rates, the machine is operating smoothly and the wider boom means we can cover more acres. We chose this ai boom because the smaller bed allows us to side dress too. We feel like we are gaining versatility with this machine.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE CALIBRATING THE MACHINE?
The calibration process was smooth and much more thorough than what we were expecting. Salford representatives spent time with us, calibrating all the tubes and weighing out each product to make sure we had a good, even distribution. They spent the time we needed to explain the features of the drop tubes, how they worked and how they overlapped. I was really impressed by how much time and effort Salford put into the calibration, I’m not used to this level of service and we all appreciated it.
HOW DOES THIS MACHINE COMPARE TO WHAT YOU WERE USING?
In the past we’ve used a number of different machines for applications, including spinners and air spreaders. I already like the Salford unit a lot better than our previous equipment because it’s so much simpler and I expect it will be easier to maintain. In fact, that’s one of the reasons we chose this unit, our other equipment was very high in maintenance and we believe we can save time and money using this new machine.
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS MACHINE TO ANOTHER RETAILER?
Yes. I would tell them they need to seriously consider a Salford unit. I like the machine and the service has been great. Salford seems to really care and they want to make sure I’m satisfied with what I’m doing. They’ve been great when it comes to answering any questions or concerns. I really like the design, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years so that says a lot. I think the design of the bed especially is going to make it easier to work on, easier than any other machine we’ve had in the past. I feel like this is something I can do repairs on myself if we’re ever in a situation where we need to.
