Slurry Tanker: Gavin’s Workers Love the New 14,700L

‘I wanted to be able to spread over more of the farm. I also grow maize, and effluent is great under a maize paddock.’
Gavin Iles – Dairy Farmer, Galatea, Bay of Plenty

Gavin’s son-in-law, Wayne, has a contracting business with a Nevada 14,700L slurry tanker, so he would borrow the slurry tanker when he could for spreading further than the pumping system allowed. The slurry tanker worked so well, Gavin decided he wanted his own to be able to use when and where he wanted. As a bonus, it also worked well to suck up the thicker feedpad effluent that didn’t always make it into the pond.

‘The slurry tanker just made it so easy. I can pull right up to the feedpad after the cows leave and suck everything up. It keeps everything much cleaner, and I can spread to the maize crops and parts of the farm that weren’t getting irrigated before.’

Originally Gavin had been planning on an 8,000 or 10,000L slurry tanker, but after using Wayne’s 14,700L and seeing how easy it was to manoeuvre, he decided a 14,700L would be more efficient for his operations.

‘The ability to spread over the entire farm was the big incentive to get the slurry tanker. The 14,700L was so easy to use, and with the new 160 horsepower tractor it made sense to get the bigger size to spread further with less loads.’

Gavin still uses his stirrer and pump for the nearby paddocks, but the slurry tanker has proven its value in not just making use of the nutrients over the entire farm, but easily handling those thicker slurries from the feedpad.

‘The workers love it, they’re happy to do it all day long. It doesn’t damage the paddocks, is easy to tow, and hasn’t given us any trouble.’