Milk Tank Go Between Spray Cart

Milk tank go between spray cart SPRAYING Miscellaneous 14-4-7 "It's the world's finest `go-between' spray cart," says Russ Day, Grimes, Iowa, who built his high-capacity spray cart by mounting a 2,000 gal. high grade stain-less steel milk tank removed from an old milk truck on a Brent grain cart axle equipped with 24.5 by 32 10-ply tractor tires. Day pulls the cart between his Versatile 976 4-WD 360 hp tractor and a tandem finishing disk which is equipped with a pair of spray booms, one mounted in front of each gang. "I built it because I got tired of dealing with the problems I had using commercial spray carts," says Day. "Most of them are built cheap with leaky plastic tanks that break down from ultraviolet light, small 15-in. dia. tires, booms that fall apart, cheap frames, and plastic pumps with plastic impellers. My spray can is built to last a long time. The frame is built from 4 by 8-in. steel tubing, 5/16-in. thick. The axle is built from 8-in. H-beam and is rated at 20 tons. The tractor tires have large 5-in. dia. wheel bearings and are wide for flotation and tall for riding over bumps without shaking everything apart. The 2-in. Memphis Pump sprayer pump is built from cast iron steel and the plumbing is all 2-in. The tank is equipped with a Micro-Trak MT-3000 spray con-troller." The spray booms on the disk let Day spray in front of the front gang only, in front of the rear gang only, or in front of both gangs at once. Which one he uses depends on the herbicide, soil type, moisture, and field conditions. "I use a disk because it'll handle very heavy trash and still incorporate Treflan which is the cheapest grass herbicide for soybeans," says Day. "Treflan normally has to be incorporated twice, but rather than incorporate twice, I spray twice and do a job equal to 1-1/2 passes. Herbicide sprayed in front of the rear disk gang contacts freshly turned soil thathasn'tbeen sprayed yet resulting in more thorough incorporation. This system probably would work with a Soil Finisher, but probably not with a field cultivator because of clearance problems with the rear spray boom. I can use the system in chisel plowed ground to apply herbicides that require shallow incorporation by spraying in front of the rear gang only. The front disk gang smooths out the ridges. In a level field that was disked the previous fall, I can spray herbicide and nitrogen at the same time in front of the front gang only to burn down growing weeds." The 2,000-gal. tank weighs 22,000 lbs. when full and lets Day spray up to 100 acres at a time. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Russ Day, RR 2, Grimes, Iowa 50111 (ph 515 270-8188).

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