With a combined 108-years of experience in the farm machinery game, machinery dealer group O’Connors  share Croplands’ passion for delivering world-class technology to Australia’s world-class farmers.

It is with this in mind that we are pleased to announce a new partnership with the appointment of O’Connors as authorised dealers of Croplands market-leading WEED-IT optical spot spraying technology.

Established in north-west Victoria in 1964, O’Connors is an award-winning machinery dealership offering an extensive range of both new and used agricultural equipment, precision agriculture products, innovative technology and exceptional customer service.

Along with community engagement this makes O’Connors a reliable, local partner. Having developed teams of high-quality staff at each location with extensive knowledge and a high level of technical training, O’Connors confidently offers farmers the level of support they deserve to be at their best.

Tom Sheridan, Group Sales Development Manager at O’Connors is excited for the partnership and the opportunities it presents for broadacre farmers in the O’Connors Dealership Network.

“Our customers are some of the most innovative farmers in the world and we need to ensure we can supply them with equipment that keeps them at the forefront of profitable and sustainable farming practices. The WEED-IT Optical Spot Sprayers by Croplands are widely respected as the industry leaders in spot spraying technology, with a calculatable and achievable return on investment for farmers who are dedicated to achieving a successful summer fallow.”

Mr Sheridan explained “When we were presented with the opportunity to market the product across our fifteen dealership locations it was a simple business decision for our group.”

O’Connors Staff recently undertook technical training in the WEED-IT system and the capabilities of the product.

O’Connors Machinery Sales Representative, Alex Noonan, one of the staff involved, was impressed with the capability of the equipment.

“It’s certainly a product that our customers have been asking after – the opportunity the reduce chemical use in the summer fallow management period is a high priority for broadacre farmers.” he said.

The addition of Croplands WEED-IT to the O’Connors dealer network represents another significant step for the group as they also celebrate a recent expansion through the acquisition of the former Sunrise Ag Case IH dealerships in Swan Hill, Ouyen and Mildura. These acquisitions take the group’s footprint to fifteen locations and allow the organisation to enhance its product, parts and service offering for the benefit of their customers now and into the future.

Broadacre TrailedO’Connors will be offering the full range of Croplands WEED-IT optical spot spraying solutions and parts as well as retaining the Broadacre Trailing and Compact Sprayers and Components product offering in the acquired Sunrise dealerships.

WEED-IT is an important tool for controlling difficult weeds such as ryegrass, sow thistle and fleabane.

Brendon Schultz is a broadacre farmer on the Liverpool Plains in NSW in partnership with his wife Amy and father-in-law Kevin Perkins. They grow wheat, barley and sorghum.

They bought their first WEED-IT in January 2020, when drought pushed them into the purchase.

“Stressed weeds are harder to kill,” Brendon says.

WEED-IT’s core feature is a series of blue LED sensors along the boom of the sprayer, which detect weeds and then sprays them – and only them. It uses a fraction of the spray compared to a traditional boom sprayer.

The saving in spray is huge. Brendon can use higher rates of more effective (and more expensive) chemicals, and still save money because he uses so much less.

We are getting coverage rates between five and eight percent of the paddock. It allows us to use higher rates that would have been cost prohibitive and we still use far less herbicide.

Brendon Schultz

“It also allowed us to use other chemistries that also would have been cost prohibitive.”

Brendon saves time with the WEED-IT because he sprays less often.

“We are not getting the escapes that didn’t get killed in the first application.”

Brendon bought the WEED-IT system of controller, sensors, nozzle bodies and solenoids, and addedthem to his existing sprayer. The boom is 12m and it is used with a 600-litre tank.

WEED-IT is a flexible system. It can be bought as an add-on, as Brendon has done, or it can be bought as a complete spray unit, and it can do both spot spraying and broadacre applications.

Some versions of WEED-IT can even do both at the same time. For example the Croplands WEED-IT trailed sprayers are complete spray units with two tanks and two regulating systems. These sprayers can apply two different sprays at different rates at the same time, one as broadacre and one as a spot sprayer.

Brendon uses his WEED-IT solely as a spot sprayer and runs a larger sprayer with a 34m boom for broadacre spraying.

WEED-IT uses blue LEDs to detect the chlorophyll in plants as blue is more sensitive than red. The blue lights can be used at night, which Brendon frequently does.

“The sensitivity is adjustable. Typically we run in the middle of the range. We know if it is misfiring if a lot of nozzles are going off, but there are not many weeds. That happens if the ground is very wet or in certain types of stubble. Then we just decrease the sensitivity.”

The spray line is 700 mm above the ground, clear of stubble, and the sensors are 1100 mm above the ground to prevent shading of weeds. Each sensor is a metre apart and controls four nozzles.

Controlling the WEED-IT is done via its own monitor, which Brendon says is easy to use.

Added to it is GPS control to prevent overlaps or missing sections.

Brendon’s dealer is NFS Ag Machinery in Gunnedah.

He says they have provided good service and can supply everything he needs.

“We had a few small issues with software and they have been quick to come out and get the machinery running again.”

Before WEED-IT, Brendon was spraying herbicides more frequently.

“Now we load up the tank with the brew and we know it is going to kill those weeds.

“The results are very good. We get it done first time in a manner that is economical.

Environmentally and economically it’s a long way in front of where we were.”

Tony and Leanne Wedel crop 3640 hectares in Capella, Queensland. The operation, Marylands Farming, produces sorghum, wheat, sunflowers, mung beans and chickpeas on undulating country 50 kilometres from Emerald.

Weed control is vital to the Wedel’s operation. With weeds constantly evolving and adapting, Tony and Leanne have had to evolve their weed management practices.

Where Tony previously used a self-propelled sprayer for his entire spraying program, he now uses a Croplands WEED-IT optical spot sprayer for managing weeds in fallow paddocks across the farm.

“Sometimes I only spray five percent of the paddock. It is a big saving on chemical, and gives us better control.”

WEED-IT Quadro sprayers from Croplands are multi-talented machines that give farmers and spray contractors options including two systems of operation – blanket spraying and spot spraying.

They can work alone, or the two systems can work simultaneously. For example, you can blanket spray a pre-emergent with one tank across the whole paddock, while the spot sprayer has a high concentration of a different chemical and targets only the emerged weeds at a different rate.

Tony and Leanne purchased their first Croplands WEED-IT spot sprayer in November 2017.

“We had bought the place next door and were having trouble trying to control summer grass and Feathertop Rhodes. We got the WEED-IT spot sprayer and it has controlled it all.”

Because Tony only sprays the weeds and not the whole field with the WEED-IT, he uses a fraction of the spray and can afford a more concentrated chemistry with a different mode of action to ensure a good result.

“We use a lot more expensive brew that does a better job,” he says.

The couple bought their latest WEED-IT sprayer in June, 2021. The Croplands WEED-IT 6000 has a 36m ground -following boom with springs and twin airbags on each wheel to give efficient boom suspension.

“Every now and then we hit a contour on the wrong angle, but there have been no issues,” Tony says.

The main tank holds 6000 litres and the spot-spray tank holds 1100 litres. Tony can also use the main tank for spot spraying.

His first WEED-IT sprayer featured the first generation red LED sensors, whilst the new sprayer has the next generation Quadro sensors with blue LEDs, which are more sensitive to weeds and give greater accuracy.

Sensors are spaced 1m apart with each unit controlling four solenoids on 250mm spacing fitted with 40 degree narrow angled nozzles. Unique to the industry, this superior sensor and nozzle arrangement delivers more chemical savings than its competitors and ensures the highest dose of chemistry is delivered to the target.

The sensitivity of the machine can be altered to suit the size and type of weed as well as light setting – for example, if you are spraying at night, so that the unit’s performance is not impacted.

“Some weeds have been incredibly large but the WEED-IT still knocks them over and kills them,” Tony says.

At the end of the day, he flushes out the lines using fresh water from the 470-litre rinse tank combined with some Omo washing powder. If the sprayer will be in storage for a few weeks he uses a wetting agent to stop the nozzles blocking.

It only takes a push of a button in the cab to fold the boom back into transport mode.

Tony pulls the Croplands WEED-IT 6000 with a 280-hp tractor but he says “150 hp would be plenty”.

He controls the spot sprayer on its own terminal, and can run the blanket boom through the tractor’s ISOBUS system.

While he has the option, Tony has yet to use the blanket spray option with his new Croplands WEED-IT 6000 due to the high accuracy of the spot spray mode across his fallow ground. He says he wanted the full boomspray option mainly for resale value.

Tony also owns a self-propelled Rogator RG1300B that he uses for all in-crop work including insecticides and fungicides.

The local WEED-IT dealer is Western Mechanical in Capella.

“It is a really good local service,” Tony says.

They do other repairs and maintenance for Marylands Farming and are happy to come out when required.

His Croplands WEED-IT sprayers have needed little support, but if Tony needs spare parts the dealer stocks them as well as other wearing parts.

Our first WEED-IT covered 25,900 hectares per year for four years. All we did was change the air bags and tyres, which was just normal wear and tear.

Tony Wedel

Technicians from both Western Mechanical and Croplands came out to set up that first WEED-IT and show Tony how to use it.

When he got the second one, they set it up, gave it a trial run, and will return when the spray season gets underway.

WEED-IT sprayers have been well worth the money for Tony.

“I wouldn’t have bought another if it wasn’t. I don’t understand why more people aren’t using them, especially with the price of chemicals going up and weeds getting harder to kill.”

WEED-IT optical spot spraying has been instrumental in helping Australian farmers gain the advantage in weed management and control.

Using advanced sensors to detect chlorophyll in actively growing weeds in fallow fields, WEED-IT saves growers time and money when spraying and reduces overall herbicide usage. Croplands has led the charge in bringing WEED-IT to market with over 13,000 sensors sold into the Australian market alone.

Having distributed WEED-IT in Australia for nearly a decade, Croplands have built up a wealth of knowledge and runs on the board when it comes to advising and supporting end users and their consultants with their optical spot spraying programs.

While the sensors are manufactured in the Netherlands, Croplands has developed a range of best practice platforms specifically for Australian conditions and for Australian operators who are continually searching for field efficiencies.

The premium model in the Croplands WEED-IT range – the Croplands WEED-IT 7000 – features a 7000-litre main tank, 800-litre flushing tank and a 1500-litre hot tank. The latter of which holds high-concentration chemicals for spot spraying.

“Our Australian-designed twin-tank, twin-line sprayers allow growers to spot spray whilst also applying a blanket spray with the option of using different herbicides at different water rates to deliver excellent weed control

Steve Norton, Croplands Portfolio Manager.

“For example, a pre-emergent herbicide could be applied through the blanket line, while the spot spray line may apply a knockdown herbicide to existing weeds.”

“Another common strategy used to delay the onset of herbicide resistance is to use a concentrated mixture of chemicals and rotate between groups. The Croplands WEED-IT twin-tank, twin-line sprayers give growers the ability to engage both these strategies in a very economical fashion to target those hard-to-kill weeds,”.

In 2019 Croplands released the evolutionary WEED-IT Quadro, the next generation in spot spraying technology which uses blue near infrared sensors.

“WEED-IT Quadro’s superior mode of detection allows for faster travel speeds and the ability to target smaller weeds before they get harder to kill or go to seed,” says Steve.

WEED-IT Quadro sensors activate extremely fast 50Hz 6-volt PWM-capable solenoids – opening and closing 50 times per second – that in turn activate nozzles to hit the weed with a targeted spray. This is vital for accurate targeting of weeds in a range of weather and speed conditions, day or night.

Quadro sets a new standard for high-speed nozzle activation and accurate weed targeting.

Steve Norton, Croplands Portfolio Manager

“The sensors automatically calibrate 40,000 times per second to compensate for varying crop, soil and daylight conditions. They are also very efficient at night spraying.”

“25cm nozzle spacing coupled to 40 degree nozzles means that WEED-IT Quadro’s spray zone is optimised and more accurate than other optical spot sprayers.”

Other models in the Croplands WEED-IT trailed range include the cable-suspended hydraulic boom models made in collaboration with leading Western Australian manufacturers, Sonic, and the Croplands-designed models with 4000 or 6000-litre main tanks. All models have the option to upgrade to a twin-tank, twin-line configuration.

In 2020 Croplands boosted its WEED-IT range with the introduction of a three-point linkage model that was designed at its facility in South Australia.

“Over the past eight years, most WEED-IT platform developments have focused on trailing sprayers and smaller tool bars. Now we work more towards adapting a sensor platform that better suits row crop environments”, says Steve.

The three-point linkage sprayer is available with boom widths of 19m or 25m.

“Quadro sensors are fitted every metre across the boom with the first sensor placed on centre, which is ideal for row cropping,” Steve says.

Designed with a tank size of 1600 litres, the new linkage model offers other convenient features such as hydraulic lift, separate hand wash tank, and 80-litre flush tank for rinsing nozzles and boom lines.

Brothers David and Gordon Brownhill have understood the value of weed-sensing technology since the 1990s.

David says the latest spray technology is an essential tool for no-till broadacre farmers, and the pair has received an immediate financial return from their new trailed WEED-IT Quadro sprayer.

The Brownhill brothers are third generation farmers, who run Merrilong Pastoral Company. The farm on the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales has grown to 10,000 ha.

They run stock on 2000 ha and the rest is for cropping cotton, sorghum (for grain as a summer crop), corn, four types of wheat, barley, chickpeas and faba beans.

Gordon is general manager and David is business manager. They also have a farm manager and nine full time staff. Gordon’s son Hugh recently joined the business, becoming the fourth generation of Brownhills to work the land.

David says he first became interested in weed-sensing technology when the then Department of Agriculture was developing a system in Tamworth. He and Gordon bought an early prototype. It was not user-friendly.

However, in 1998, David won a Nuffield Scholarship and used the opportunity to visit California to see how spot-spray technology was being used with cotton.

That led David to form a company in 2001 to import weed-sensing technology on a 24m boom. He then changed tack, and used another version of the technology, until finally this year he bought the WEED-IT Quadro with a 36m boom.

He says the main reason he swapped to WEED-IT was its new blue light system. Earlier brands use red LED lights, but blue LED lights are more accurate at detecting the green of chlorophyll in plants, and they operate just as well at night.

The night operation matters as the Brownhills can spray glyphosate during the day and gramoxone at night, because the latter is more effective at night.

Their best effort has been 780 ha covered in 24 hours.

The WEED-IT system is compatible with most boom types and David and Gordon run theirs on a Hayes sprayer, made just over the border in Queensland.

We are super happy. It has been a great investment. The pay back has been crazy. In the first eight weeks we saved $157,000 off the weed bill.

David Brownhill, Merrilong Pastoral Company NSW

That massive savings was because after two years of drought there were minimal weeds – only about four percent cover. This meant they could spray their entire 8000 ha cropping area with the spot-sprayer to hit the hardy survivors, without wasting spray on barren areas.

“The guy running our spraying operation brought a proposal to the board. He did the maths and said we would pay it off in three years. The way it is going, it will be in two. It is one of the few bits of technology that gives you a return to the pocket straight away.”

David says integrated pest management (IPM) is stock standard for anyone in the cotton industry and they do practices such as winter and summer rotations and use targeted sprays where possible, which do not harm beneficial insects.

“I believe in science and technology and have no issues with herbicides and insecticides, but the less we can use the better,” he says.

Spot spraying is a perfect complement to IPM. It also means they can deal with hard-to-kill weeds by using higher concentrations, without breaking the bank.

The WEED-IT Quadro provides options. It can be specified with two tanks to apply two different chemicals on different rates. Or it can broadacre spray with one chemical while spot spraying with the other. WEED-IT sensors can also be retrofitted to several makes and models of self-propelled sprayers with kits specifically designed for each boom.

For David’s operation, he ordered a model with just one 4000-litre tank and only spot sprayers. He does have the option to add another tank later if required.

It is not a huge tank, but then when only spraying four percent of a paddock, you do not use much. It also means little time is wasted filling up.

Lochie, the night driver, fills up at say 6pm, and that tank usually lasts the night.

If he does need to fill up, there is a cage on the front with herbicide. He can fill up with water somewhere on the property, and the herbicide is ingested through the line into the tank. In this way, he is fully self-sufficient through the night.

Weed-detecting sensors on the WEED-IT boom are on 1m spacings. Each sensor controls four nozzles fitted with a high speed 50hz, 6v solenoid. The boom is 1.1m high to prevent shading of weeds and background calibration happens 40,000 times per second so there are no issues with accuracy in different soil conditions.

Crop rotations on the Brownhills’ farm see wheat harvested in December, and then 10-11 months fallow before replanting. During that fallow time, paddocks are sprayed on 4-6 week intervals.

David says the WEED-IT can work at about 13 kph, which allows them to cover 36 ha/hour. “The accuracy at 13 kph is sensational.”

The Quadro has five sensitivity settings and on Merrilong farms they always run on 1, the most sensitive. The WEED-IT system automatically calibrates as it goes.

How big does a farm have to be to justify this technology? “I could probably justify this on 2000 ha,” David says.

At Merrilong they use a 320-hp tractor to tow the Quadro, however David says that is really overkill and they could use 150 hp. The tractor used on the WEED-IT, also has other roles on the farm.

Croplands provides the back-up service for the WEED-IT Quadro.

“There are so many settings, and the guy from Croplands helps us make other choices, like when the nozzles turn off and on. It is an excellent process.”