# 12. Farming 1979/85

Another side of farming which went through big changes during this period was the equipment used for applying fertilizer and the chemicals that were used on crops.

Up until this time, the main machines used for applying fertilizer had changed little for 20 odd years.  The most commonly used one was the ‘Vicon’ Spreader, which had a hopper on top that held between 250 and 1,000kg of fertilizer.  The fertilizer was gravity fed onto a tubular arm which swung through an arc of about 100 degrees, operated by the Power Take Off (PTO) from whatever tractor it was mounted on. Adjustable holes at the bottom of the hopper and the forward speed of the tractor regulated the amount of fertilizer applied per acre.  The wind would often affect the spread pattern of the fertilizer, the less wind the better.  When applied with too much wind, it would leave a wheat crop with light and dark green stripes all over it.

On Sheriffs Court we replaced our Vicon Spreader to one with booms and a 12 metre spread.  The fertilizer was mechanically fed onto plastic tubes and blown along them by a PTO driven fan, each tube a different length to obtain an accurate spread.  This method allowed us to apply fertilizer in windy conditions.  Up until this time, fertilizer was always supplied to the farms in 50kg plastic bags.  Our new spreader held 1 tonne, which meant physically handling 20 bags for every load.  The introduction of fertilizer in bulk 1 tonne bags was the best thing that happened to fertilizer spreading.

Spraying on Sheriffs Court was always done by Bob Hood.  I soon became his ‘stand-in’ when he was on holiday or off sick.  Many farm workers did not want anything to do with spraying, either because of the chemicals used, or the responsibility of applying them.  Spraying is the most important side of farming, it has to be done properly and at the right time.  It is also the most expensive annual outlay on all farms.  I have always held the opinion that, if you do as the instructions on the packaging say, then there are no problems when applying chemicals.

The type of sprayers we had on Sheriffs Court were pretty basic.  1,000 to 1,200 litre tanks, 12 metre wide booms that needed to be manually opened and folded which suited Bob.  Spraying at 150 to 200 litres of water an acre.  It would take him over a week to do a round of wheat spraying.

The chemicals that were used then were changing, many being banned, either because they were outdated or doing more harm than good.  Two that changed farming in a big way, that came into use at the beginning of the 1970’s, were Cloremoquat, which restricted the growth of the stems of wheat.  The other was Glyphosate, a weed killer, which most know by its first trade name ‘Round-up’.

*Terry Marsh*

Originally published in the Monkton News (August 2025).