Todd and Brooke Orrock bought their first RoGator self-propelled sprayer after an accident that involved an insurance company and the need for a quick changeover.

There was a RoGator on a dealer’s lot, 40 km away and Todd was always keen on the brand, so the deal was done.

When the family bought their second RoGator, it was no accident. In February they bought a RoGator 1300C for their 2400-ha cropping farm near Murray Town, South Australia.

It is a family farm owned by Todd, his mum, Karen, and his wife, Brooke. Todd and Brooke’s children, Sophie and Mitchell, also work in the business.

They grow wheat, barley, canola, beans, export hay and some lentils. The last three years have been tough with drought and late season frost, but even so they have managed to get crops. This season is looking better.

Todd says the things he liked about the first RoGator are still there, but the new model had enough new technology that it was worth updating.

The Orrocks specified their RoGator 1300C with a 36m steel boom. Todd says he would have liked to go wider, but 36m fits with their tramlines, where the urea spreader is the limiting factor.

Along with looking after the family farm, Todd sprays for neighbouring farmers on contract. The contracting gives him an income, and it means he has newer gear for his own farm.

“We specialise in desiccation and fungicides in canola and beans.”

He can do that because he invested in crop dividers and sprays tall crops without damage.

There are many things he likes about RoGators.

I like the simplicity of the drive system and the stability of the booms. RoGators carry the boom really close to the axle, so they don’t get a waggle up.

Todd Orrock, Murray Town SA

Stability also matters for accuracy. The Orrocks farm is undulating country, and keeping the nozzles at the right height mitigates the risk of drift.

Stability also minimises stress on the machine and the operator. The boom wings go back and reset during cornering, controlled by a ram that works as a big shock absorber.

Todd has to work in small paddocks, and the ability to spray folded up at 60 ft is another advantage.

The boom is divided into 35 sections. Every four nozzles have their own section. The nozzles are 250 mm apart.

It has the ability to apply variable rates as prescribed by a map, but Todd does not use this feature.

Then there is the continuous boom recirculation.

I am in love with it and it should be standard on every boom sprayer, especially for contractors changing brews every day.

Todd Orrock

He used to either park in a corner and prime up the boom, or else he did laps.

“It took 300 litres of product to ensure it was primed. Now I can prime on my way to the paddock and start as soon as I am in the gate. It cuts down the boom sprayer’s hours.”

Another advantage of boom recirculation is that left-over product goes back into the tank. It keeps the boom clean with water, which minimises contamination and makes decontamination easy.

Todd describes the RoGator’s suspension as like driving a big bean bag.

“It has air suspension on the cab and boom. I have had major back surgery with discs removed. At the end of a day spraying, I get out and I am still walking. I couldn’t do that with our old trailed sprayer. Comfort is good.”

He usually drives at 25 kph and says it is smoother than going slower.

The RoGator 1300C has a 6300-litre tank. It does make for a heavy load, but Todd says for a self-propelled it is not overly weighty. He can carry less product if traction is an issue.

Its tank has automatic agitation. Agitation reduces as it empties to limit foaming.

The RoGator has a 60 kph road speed, which appeals to the contracting side of the business. Unfolding from transport mode is done with the push of one button.

Todd does not want to cart a trailer, so he uses the RoGator as its own batching plant and gets water where he is working.

He says his RoGator 1300C is more fuel-efficient than his previous one. Traction is also better with power to all four wheels.

“It has a smarter drive that doesn’t have to run at full revs all day. It matches the engine speed to the load.”

“We had a wet block this year and the old one would have spun a hole. This one moved the drive between wheels and drove through it.”

RoGators come with their own screen and controller, but they can also play nicely with others. Todd runs tests for a company that supplies GPS and control units, and he wanted their software in his sprayer.

Croplands worked with him and his GPS company to ensure it happened.

Easy operation is another benefit of the RoGator. Todd often sprays at night when the temperature has dropped, so this is a huge advantage.

“Maintenance is also easy. There are only two filters on the spraying side, so cleaning out is a breeze.”

Todd bought his RoGator 1300C directly from Croplands. He says they are good to deal with and he is lucky to have an agent just 40 km away.

It is working very well. Product recovery and boom recirculation are amazing features.

Todd Orrock

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Greg Younghusband has been purchasing sprayers through Croplands since 2009. In that time he has run 10 Croplands sprayers, primarily RoGators.

“I have had them for a fair while. The first one I had was a RoGator 1286 and then I got the 1300A.

“I usually try to get 8000 hours out of them, but now I think we will push them out past 10,000 hours or until they wear out.

“We just know how to run RoGators and they are a very strong machine.”

His latest acquisition is the RoGator 1100C with a 120-ft boom. It joins the other self-propelled sprayers in his shed, a RoGator 1300A, two RoGator 1300Bs and a Spra-Coupe 7660.

Based in Curban, in the Gilgandra region of central New South Wales, Greg has contracts to spray 42,000 hectares of crops farms in a 250km radius from his home base.

Depending on the season, he can spray crops five or six times a year, hence the need for so many strong and reliable machines.

Greg says while the RoGators are not perfect, they have proven to be very reliable.

“Croplands has made massive improvements with the C Series. I don’t expect to have problems with hoses and the under carriage is a big improvement.

“There are guys out there who would say other brands are comparable, but I doubt any of them would say their gear is better. You can find faults in them all, but in my experience Croplands has the most reliable gear.

The bit I am looking for is the strength in the design and the RoGator booms are very strong. We give them absolute punishment and they handle it.

Greg Younghusband, Curban NSW

Greg says he drove the new RoGator 1100C for 250 hours in one fortnight recently and he didn’t get tired.

With his fleet of sprayers, Greg has half a dozen different sized booms to meet the varied needs of his clients. The RoGator 1100C has a 36.5m boom.

“We started out with little Brumby booms and built out from there.”

Greg and his wife Gai-Maree farm at Curban with their two daughters. The farming operation produces grain on 2100 ha.

They lease the cropping ground from Greg’s father, Neville, who oversees the day-to-day running of the farm when Greg is away with his contracting work.

The farm has been severely impacted by the drought over the last couple of years, but Greg is hopeful this season’s grain crop will be a healthy one to get the farm back on track.

Over the last 18 months Greg’s team of nine full-time workers has also been kept busy cutting and transporting close to 45,000 big square bales of hay from Victoria to farms in NSW and Queensland impacted by drought and fire as part of the state government’s relief effort.

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Running a large farming operation requires efficiency, and RoGator self-propelled sprayers have proven to be just the ticket in that regard for the Day family.

Based in Oaklands in southern New South Wales, Shannon Day and his uncle Gavin farm around 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres), with the bulk of the operation, nearly 10,000 hectares, in broadacre crops.

“With a property of this size, time is everything for us. Having these machines makes the work easier and we get more time to concentrate on other areas of the business,” Shannon says.

“It also frees you up for family time. Definitely getting family time is a priority.”

Shannon’s grandfather Pat started out as a local transport operator serving farmers in the area and he could see the opportunity that farming offered.

“Pop started buying farms in the early 1970s. He was always working for farmers carting fertiliser and grain, so he always had a connection with farming.

“He bought smaller properties in the same area and joined them together, gradually building it up to the business we have now.”

Shannon’s father Peter continues to run the transport operation with a fleet of 40 trucks on the road, while Pat is still very much hands-on with both businesses.

Six full-time staff are employed on the farm, along with Gavin and Shannon, and they employ seasonal workers as needed.

The farm runs a cropping rotation primarily of wheat, barley and canola.

“We do two or three cereals to break it back into canola. Around here that’s the standard rotation,” Shannon says.

“The yields have not been great the last couple of years with the dry conditions, but in the last 10 years we have averaged 3.8 tonnes of cereals and 5 tonnes in a good year. Canola yields are 2-3 tonnes.”

The Day family has been using RoGator self-propelled sprayers for the last 15 years. They bought their first RoGator 1274 from their local Croplands dealer back in 2005, and it is still going strong, having clocked up more than 11,000 hours in operation.

They are a simple enough machine to operate. It is really the ease of use and the simplicity that has kept that one going for so long.

Shannon Day, Oaklands NSW

“We have had no serious mechanical issues, only with the hydraulic piston-driven motors, which we have replaced.”

Shannon says the newer models now have a motor and hub design which make them more efficient.

The Day family added a RoGator 1100C with a 120-ft boom to their fleet last year, and they took possession of a brand new RoGator 1300C at the beginning of the year.

The RoGator 1300C also has a 120-ft boom. Shannon is particularly impressed with the simplicity of the new machines, their automation, and the height controls on the boom.

“The screen has a lot of information on it and they have done really well putting that whole package together and getting it working well.

We looked at other machines, but we have just been blown away with 1300C. It is really compressed and simple.

Shannon Day

“While we have only been operating it for a couple of weeks it is amazing to think about how far we have come with the technology.”

While his uncle Gavin is the main driver of the RoGator 1274, Shannon has been taking charge of the new machines. He says he would have no hesitation in employing and training new operators for them.

“They are simple enough. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to drive them. In the long run, we will probably have drivers for the two new machines.”

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THERE are some things about having so-called ‘fruits’ or new technology, that just makes work a bit easier.

And if you’re spraying, the bonus is maximising windows of opportunity to achieve high weed kill rates.

For Chapman Valley farmer Ian Grant, who replaced his Croplands RoGator 5000 litre tank capacity 1386B model with a new 6000L tank capacity1300C model, comparing performance between the two models is almost chalk and cheese.

And that’s despite the 1386B living up to expectations with high productivity and weed kill efficiency.

It’s the ‘fruit’ that makes the 1300C a dream to operate.

Take its trade-marked SmartDrive system, which links the tractor management system and drive functions, so no operator input is needed. 

The tractor management system controls engine RPM and hydrostatic drives, and operators who have tractor management systems, know how efficient they are at providing the greatest torque curves at the lowest RPM.

Croplands says SmartDrive adds to this with even better fuel economy because the operator can match RPM to operating speed. In fact Croplands claim the 1300C provides 24 per cent more fuel saving than its B Series predecessor with an operating consumption of about 15 litres an hour.

For Ian, who highly rates the SmartDrive system, he averages 11L/hr and has further enhanced fill times with a front-fill system to bypass all pumps which allows him a five minute fill-time from his nurse tank.

SmartDrive also features two-speed cruise control – one for ‘in-paddock’ and the other for ‘end-row turn’- from its all-wheel traction control with a single-hydrostatic, four-wheel drive system. Shuttle shift makes changing direction fast and easy.

Croplands believe this is an industry first that provides power to the wheels with no slip.

If the system senses a wheel slipping, it diverts power to the wheels that still have grip to keep the sprayer moving.

In undulating and boggy conditions, it’s a handy feature and Mr Grant also likes the 

Another big feature is a fully pressurised circulating boom with three circuits, providing even pressure across the boom to within plus or minus 1psi.

Called FlowLogic, this re-circulation plumbing keeps product moving through the boom, plumbing and filters to reduce chemical build-up and help eliminate blocked nozzles.

The boom is certainly easier to clean. There’s no sediment build-up and all the chemical gets recovered back to the tank.

Ian Grant, Chapman Valley WA

An optional Capstan PinPoint system uses blended pulse width modulation technology to achieve complete individual nozzle control.

In conjunction with the self-priming boom, it means instantaneous and constant spray pattern to eliminate over and under-spraying.

“It’s an excellent feature because I’ve got irregular-shaped paddocks so it eliminates a lot of overlap and scorch,” Mr Grant said.

“It’s also worth mentioning that with this new spray system we can comfortably spray 120 litres a hectare of water rates up to 30km/h.”

Mr Grant also likes the auto-height boom control which he says is a “huge plus” in undulating country and “the reaction time is good”.

Then there’s the LiquidLogic system, which helps operators simplify their jobs, reduce potential for off-target application, make clean-out faster, easier and more thorough and reduce product waste.

“It used to be a huge issue decontaminating with SU residues before spraying canola and we’re also using Intervix from brome and wild oats in wheat and that can be flushed out before using the RR canola sprays,” Mr Grant said.

Other key features of the LiquidLogic system include a “hold at minimum” pressure setting across the boom that helps ensure a consistent spray pattern to keep product on target at low speed and the ability to maintain a +/- one psi variation across the boom.

Section control for either 35 sections with 25cm (10in) or 37.5cm (15in) spacings or 36 sections with 50cm (20in) spacings, are standard with the AgControl rate controller.

Finally, variable displacement control of the product pump manages and limits speed to 5000 rpm to help prevent pump failure.

ClearFlow recovery is how Croplands describes the industry’s first full-recovery system. Air is used to force product from the boom back into the tank, leaving less than 10 litres in the system while a self-priming boom enables product flow through the entire boom once the product pump and recirculation are turned on.

In addition Mr Grant also opted for a WEED-IT spot spraying system which entails fitting cameras on the boom with appropriate wiring harnesses.

“It’s a bit of a hassle but it converts the RoGator into a spot-sprayer,” Mr Grant said.

 According to WEED-IT it has the best sensors on the market to recognise chlorophyll making it just as effective in the dark.

“I reckon I’ll get my investment back in two years with the chemical I’ll save,” Mr Grant said.

I’m estimating I’ll save between 80 and 90 per cent on chemicals.

Ian Grant

In the cab of the 1300C, a 26 centimetre touch-screen AccuTerminal allows intuitive, easy-to-learn control and monitoring of machine functions, such as the new cruise control and shuttle shift speed along with drive sensitivities, headland control and tractor management system (TMS).

The AccuTerminal can be used to access functions within the re-designed AgControl rate and section control system as well as spray functions such as pressures, auto agitation, boom clean-out, product rinse and recovery.

Automatic guidance and AGCO’s full suite of Fuse precision application, documentation and machine tracking tools are all controlled through this single operating terminal.

Dual-band cellular plus world-wide satellite connections, allow machine tracking and performance through Fuse Connected Services via AgCommand.

Originally published in Farm Weekly as “RoGator ‘fruit’ makes spraying a breeze”, Ken Wilson.

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The RoGator C Series from Croplands has changed the game in professional-grade application. Designed to deliver more precise application, the RoGator C Serves has croppers from around Australia reporting extensive fuel savings, with an average of 23% on the new model when compared to the previous RoGator B Series.

Key to this is the revolutionary SmartDrive system which not only enables the C Series to burn less fuel, it also makes life easier for the operator.

Long-time RoGator owner Scott Smith from Baboo Pastoral Company, Green Range WA has recently taken delivery of a new RoGator C Series and he is already seeing positive impacts to his operation.

The new C Series uses noticeably less fuel and lower engine revs mean a smoother drive and a lightweight feeling in the cab.

Scott Smith, Baboo Pastoral Company WA

Engine RPM in the RoGator C Series is managed automatically to deliver drive and system performance, even in changing soil and terrain conditions resulting in fuel savings, reduction in wear and minimised operator fatigue.

Each wheel is monitored by a speed sensor, meaning that if any of the wheels start slipping the power to the ground is adjusted at the individual wheel motor. Like a continuously variable transmission (CVT) in a tractor, the tractor management system (TMS) controls the engine in conjunction with the transmission to adjust RPM automatically as required. This feature of the SmartDrive enables the engine to run at the ideal RPM resulting in a cooler system that burns less fuel and reduces wear on the engine.

Further adding to the comfort of the ride is turn compensation. The speed sensors register that the machine is turning on the headland and cause the inside wheel motors to operate at a different RPM to the outside wheel motors – reducing the soil disturbance on corners.

Scott crops a combination of canola, barley and wheat on his property located 80 kilometres from Albany. Depending on summer rainfall and weed and pest pressures, he averages between five and six spray passes each year at an application rate of 80 litres per hectare.

“We are averaging 1000 hours a year in the RoGator. In the first two months with the new machine, we’ve done 300 hours” says Scott.

With large hectares to cover, making daily spray operations more productive is key.

The RoGator C Series LiquidLogic system – arguably the world’s most advanced liquid-system technology – is designed with productivity in mind. It has a full boom recirculation system with E-Stop valves on each nozzle body, enabling on/off control at the nozzle body. The LiquidLogic system also keeps chemical in suspension – enabling the operator to prime the boom on the way to the paddock, eliminating downtime.

The one-piece boom allows for product recovery, which can be performed by the operator from the cab. This feature is a real money saver when weather conditions suddenly change and any unused product in the pump, manifold or boom can be returned to the tank until weather conditions improve and the operator can prime the boom again and resume spraying.

The LiquidLogic system also features auto-agitation which is especially important when applying powders or granular chemical products. It automatically agitates product in the tank as the tank level increases/decreases which eliminates foaming in the tank.

This will be Scott’s fourth RoGator having previously owned B Series models.

RoGators are tough and reliable sprayers with minimal mechanical issues. Technical support and service provided by the service agents is also excellent.

Scott Smith, Baboo Pastoral Company WA

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The RoGator C Series Self Propelled sprayer is packed full of features designed to drive efficiencies on farm and make life easier for Australian croppers.

Key to this is the sprayer’s LiquidLogic application system, which offers individual control at each nozzle body through 35 sections of the boom – helping operators better target the spray as well as offering more precise rates and a more effective cleanout.

The system also enables boom recirculation, allowing spray products to be continuously filtered in the tank and letting booms be primed on the way to the paddock, saving time and chemical before starting to spray.

Andrew Graham and Kerry McFarlane from Victoria’s Southern Mallee recently took delivery of a new RoGator RG1300C fitted with 48m aluminium Pommier boom and they are already seeing positive impacts on their spraying program.

Andrew and Kerry farm 2900 hectares in Cannie, Victoria – 55km south of Swan Hill – cropping a combination of wheat, barley, canola, field peas, lentils and vetch.

Depending on summer rainfall and weed and pest pressures, they average between four and ten spray passes each year at an application rate of 80 to 100 litres per hectare.

Since taking possession of the new RoGator in February, Andrew and Kerry have already sprayed over 8000ha. With travel speeds of between 20 and 22 kms and the addition of the 48m Pommier boom, they are able to quickly and efficiently travel across paddocks.

This is the couple’s first self-propelled unit having previously operated a trailing sprayer.

With boom width being a key consideration when they were deciding on the purchase of a self-propelled sprayer, the optional 48m Pommier boom offered the best solution for a lighter, stronger and wider boom.

The 48m boom allows us to cover more land, quicker and will result in less wheel tracks when crop topping later in the season

Andrew Graham, Cannie VIC

Andrew has also been impressed with the low engine RPM and corresponding fuel efficiency along with the smooth ride and operator comfort.

Engine RPM in the RoGator C Series is managed automatically to deliver drive and system performance, even in changing soil and terrain conditions resulting in fuel savings, reduction in wear and minimised operator fatigue.

Andrew purchased his RoGator from local St Arnaud dealership, Precision Farming Solutions, where he is also able to source spare parts for his machine if needed.

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