Rupert Inkpen ‘Straight Talking’ – RB26 Crop Sprayer testimonial

Nestled on the outskirts of Knowle, a village in Solihull, Watery Lane Farm grows predominantly wheat, as well as spring barley, spring oats, and both forage and grain maize.

In addition, the business runs a herd of suckler cattle and carries out contract spraying for neighbouring farms. Rupert Inkpen runs the farm; we sat down with him to discuss his thoughts on Bateman.

What Bateman sprayer do you run? 
We run an RB26. It’s fitted with a 24-metre Contour Boom and has a 3,000-litre tank. We’ve got the GPS control boom and all the electronics we need.

What was behind your decision to purchase the RB26?
Our first Bateman was a second hand Hi Lo which we absolutely loved. We then moved into a new RB16, which was followed by another. When Bateman stopped making sprayers with 4-cylinder engines we weren’t sure we needed 6 cylinders. Over a few years, we tried a couple of other makes, neither of which could handle our workload. One in particular couldn’t back the product up. So, we came back to Bateman and I’m glad we did!

What do you like about the RB26?
In this area we’re not spraying big fields, we have a few tight access points and tricky headlands. The machine is nice and easy to manoeuvre. I like the way the booms fold down low, it’s an advantage for us, particularly when you’re turning into fields with overhanging trees or driving down roads with similar issues.

It’s nice to drive. The newest style of cab is very comfortable. I like that it’s a relatively simple machine to operate, very user-friendly. The RB26 is reliable, it does exactly what I need from a sprayer.

Has running an RB26 made your work more efficient?
Well, they don’t go wrong very often, so that makes you more efficient. We’ve run this one for five years, it’s serviced and MOT’d every year by Bateman. They’re just a reliable machine. As long as you keep them serviced, they just keep doing what they’re meant to do.

All our contract spraying is within a five-mile radius of our base. We don’t have to ring for permission, we just go and spray when we need to. We use our spray store for their chemicals, our water, we just get on with the job, the sprayer allows us to do this without a second thought.

How has the RB26 travelled when spraying in difficult ground conditions?
Just like the majority of farmers, last season was pretty awful for us, tram lines were full of water for much of the time. Having said that, at no point did the sprayer get stuck. Because everyone’s tram lines were so wide and full of water, we did the entire season on the wider tyres. The weight distribution on a Bateman means you’d have to be unlucky to get stuck, I’ve had to be towed out in other machines before, but never in a Bateman.

How would you rate the back up from Bateman?
I can’t fault it. We did have an issue recently; I was out spraying and lost all hydraulic power. I rang Bateman at three o’clock in the afternoon, they said, ‘we’ll get onto it as quickly as we can’. Six o’clock the next morning, I received a phone call from the fitter saying, I’m on my way, I’ll be with you by seven o’clock’. The part arrived by courier at 10 o’clock. By lunchtime I was up and running again!

I think this epitomises Bateman. They only make sprayers and know their machines inside out. When I described what was wrong over the phone, they knew exactly what to send. The fitter knew my machine and exactly what to look for. In today’s world, service like this is rare indeed.

Last autumn, we decided to replace the hinges on the boom. I’m sure we wouldn’t have needed to do so if we hadn’t had that bad season. These were the first parts I think we’ve ever had to order. They arrived next day and were very reasonably priced.

How would you rate the cost of ownership?
In the scheme of things, it’s not expensive. The service carried out by Bateman this year was the 3,000 hour one, which includes changing a few linkages and other parts. It’s quite a major one, yet the cost was not too bad at all.

I know people who are running 20-year-old Bateman’s and they’re still going strong. If you look after your Bateman, it will look after you, both throughout it’s time in the field and when you come to trade it in.

What 3 words would you use to sum Bateman up?
Friendly, Efficient, Reliable.

 

You can find complete information for the RB26 here ››