Three Easy Steps to Spraying Compliance

Anthony Carroll is a spring calving Dairy Farmer from Burncourt outside Cahir, Co. Tipperary, where he farms together with his wife Mags and their two children Kaitlynn and Cian. Like most farmers, keeping on top of animal remedies, calf registrations, and movements was challenging enough and then the new spraying compliance legislation was added to the pile. But now Anthony has it all under control. He did his sprayer training and testing with FRS Training and uses the Herdwatch app to help him eliminate his compliance paperwork.

 

1) Sprayer Training

Like most Dairy and Beef Farmers, Anthony only sprayed occasionally and thought he had been spraying correctly, but he learned that was not the case. Speaking about the spraying course, he said “I learned an awful lot on the course. Nozzles for one, and the different types and mixing ratios. When it came to mixing ratios I was always going under it. The tutor told me to do exactly what it says on the container.”

2) Sprayer Testing

After hearing that all sprayers must be tested by November 26^th 2016, Anthony turned to FRS again. He said “I wasn’t really surprised when the legislation for training and then for sprayer testing were introduced. I would recommend FRS Training, they were in and got the job done, no beating around the bush. Simple and efficient.”

To find out more about Boom Sprayer Training and Testing visit www.frstraining.com or call the FRS Training team on 1890 20 1000.

3) Eliminating the Paperwork

Training and testing is only half of the compliance requirements, like animal remedies and calf registrations, spraying must also be recorded. This is where the Herdwatch app comes in. Anthony said “I record my spraying on the phone as I am filling the sprayer. I now have the ability to record things there and then which saves a lot of time. There is no more worrying about losing bits of paper or transferring them into a book. I went from registering calves by post to registering them through Herdwatch, it was like going from a Mini to a Merc.”

For most farmers keeping on top of Animal remedies and pesticides can be time consuming because of all the double recording. Anthony said “I just record everything there and then on Herdwatch with my phone. I can record every area of compliance for the farm in my hand – simple as that.