Jon Wheeler ‘Straight Talking’ – RB25 Crop Sprayer testimonial

Jon Wheeler is Working Farm Manager for Osberton Grange Farm, an arable and horticultural business situated in Nottinghamshire.

Can you describe the nature of your work? 
We farm in the region of 850 acres, which is divided between 435 acres of wheat, 200 acres of maize and the remainder rented out for carrots, potatoes and red beet. We also have a horticultural business here on the farm growing rhododendrons and azaleas.

What spraying challenges do you face? 
Like everyone else, the weather is a constant challenge. The soil here is sandy, so we don’t have any blackgrass issues. However, we do suffer from manganese deficiency, so we’re putting extra manganese on the cereals. If you’re not careful you soon become prone to cleavers, weeds, poppies and the like, but we keep on top of them.

What do you look for in a sprayer to meet your needs?
It’s got to be reliable, uncomplicated, and maneuverable. It’s a bit tight on the nursery work, so we need a machine that we can get in and out of confined spaces easily.

What Bateman sprayer do you run? 
We’re running an RB 25, which we’ve had from new. It’s a 2004 model, 24-meter contour boom and 3000-litre tank.

Which options are fitted and what difference do they make to your work? 
Back in 2004 we were still growing potatoes, so we decided to go with the air sleeve for blight spraying. Although we moved away from potatoes, we kept the sleeve on for a number of years. However, when nozzle technology improved, we found that the nozzles were doing better drift control than the air sleeve. The sprayer was lighter and the boom worked better.

Why did you choose Bateman? 
We’d had a few issues with our previous sprayer, mainly down to weight distribution and the transmission. I can remember going to the old Sprays and Sprayers event at Duxford, we looked at a Bateman sprayer and soon after ordered one. The slightly longer wheel base of the Bateman improved the ride considerably and the lower centre of gravity meant that it handled better.

How do you find the cost of ownership? 
I would say the cost of ownership is very good. Bateman carry out a service every 500 hours, this keeps the sprayer running true. All we have to look after is the bits and pieces like pump wear parts and diaphragms. In 21 years, we’ve never had any major concerns.

How would you rate the back up from Bateman? 
Second to none. There are Bateman service guys on the road, if you need a visit an engineer is here the next day. Parts are never an issue, you pick the phone up, they know who I am and the parts arrive here the following day. When you consider the age of our sprayer, I know from experience that other people wouldn’t back a product up for quite so long.

Are you able to sum up what owning a Bateman means to you? 
Reliability, very easy to operate, nice to drive and backed up by people that care. I like the Bateman and treat it as if it’s my own, it looks and runs as good today as the day it arrived.

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