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Dillon and the videography team from Broadacre Contracting are back in Birchip in the Victorian Mallee, catching up with Jayden from Noonan Contracting.
We caught up with the boys back in Episode 3 to talk about their harvest outfit, but this time we are having a proper look at their Agrifac self-propelled sprayer.
Birchip sits in the heart of the Southern Mallee, and from here, Noonan Contracting can service growers across a fair stretch of country, from Warracknabeal and Nhill right through to Sea Lake and across into parts of New South Wales around Temora and West Wyalong, even into Queensland if the job is right.
Warning for anyone visiting Birchip: the pub is a dangerous place and can make for a bad morning.
You have been warned. Speaking from experience here.
In this yarn, we are going to run through the Agrifac sprayer, what tech it has on the boom, how efficient it is, and why this European-built machine is well suited for contract spraying in Australian broadacre cropping.
So before we dive in, if you are a grower needing a hand with your spray program, or a contractor wanting to build your reputation in the cropping sector and attract better clients, give Dillon a buzz on 0439 300 380 from 6am to 9pm.
We would love to have a yarn.
The Agrifac sprayer has height control, section control and individual nozzle shutoff for turning compensation.
The boom is very rigid, so when you are turning and working through uneven paddocks, it does not move around like some other setups can.
It is a good design, a European design, and they make a solid boom.
It is also wide: 48 metres wide, so it is pretty productive.
The individual nozzle shutoff comes in handy when you have paddocks with lots of trees, so you are not overlapping so much.
Especially on angles, paddocks that are not square, and point turns.
You can see it all the way down the boom, nozzles shutting off individually.
Especially being so wide, you can just see that one is done. Looks pretty cool.
Jayden is dead right here.
The Euros can build a rigid boom, and this Agrifac, from what I have seen, seems to be handling the Birchip paddocks pretty good.
The paddocks we are in are of a sandy dune type.
Most gear from overseas comes over here and struggles in some way, shape or form, and more commonly than not, it is related to our dust or heat.
These Agrifac sprayers seem to be built tough enough for the Mallee and wide enough to make serious ground across the Wimmera or up through the black soil plains around the pioneer district of cropping, Moree NSW.
We might as well say this Agrifac has all the bells and whistles on the boom. The only thing it is missing is a camera setup.
I have stood in the paddock and watched this thing work.
The boom runs along bloody smoothly and the nozzle shutoff is clean on the turns.
Being used to 36m booms, seeing this at 160ft / 48 metres, it just smashes out the hectares.
If you are a grower around Nhill, Warracknabeal, or anywhere through the western districts and you see an Agrifac in the paddock, I reckon it is worthwhile pulling up for a moment and focusing on the boom.
As a matter of fact, anywhere in Australia.
Now I am not trying to sell this machine. I am just saying what I have seen when I was in the paddock filming for a contractor.
What you see might be different to what I have seen. The boys’ Agrifac is a brand new SP, so if you see something opposite to what I have, do not hesitate to fill me in.
The Noonan boys are running SR 11103s and DR 1103s on 25cm spacings.
Jayden says they are a good reliable nozzle.
He has had these nozzles for years on other machines, and they do not tend to get blocked up or break.
He has not really had to change them.
After having a yarn with Jayden about the nozzles they are running, I went and dug into what Agrifac actually releases their sprayers with from the factory.
Curiosity got me, as I am pretty green with sprayers.
The Agrifac Condor Endurance does not come with one set of nozzles across the board, or should I say its own branded nozzles.
Agrifac has been seen to quote that it is an open-platform system. By the way, I have read that, not been told it.
They do come with QuadraJet or StrictSprayPlus multi-nozzle bodies on factory spacing, and then the operator picks whatever nozzles suit their country.
I reckon that is a smart move from Agrifac.
It is not a one-shoe-fits-all setup.
Get up in the black soil around Goondiwindi and it is completely different to what you would run through sandy loam around Ouyen or Pinnaroo.
Different conditions, different weeds, just all-round different problems, but still chasing the same outcome: clean paddocks and better yields.
Now a lot of this might be common sense to you, but to me I am learning a lot here.
I find it interesting that Agrifac appears to have it laid out like this.
I would have expected they would have been trying to lock you in on a branded Agrifac nozzle.
Now I could be wrong here, but it does seem most growers and contractors who are running these Agrifacs in Australia end up on either TeeJet or Wilger tips.
TeeJet, from what I have read, seems to be the standard for flat fan work and drift reduction, while Wilger is good for reducing those driftable fines.
We see it a lot, we hear about it a lot, and it is a big deal.
Spray drift, especially when there are row crops like the Moree region, cotton with cereal crops, or in the Riverina around horticulture.
Anyway, moving on.
The Noonan boys have gone with the Wilger DR and SR setup on the standard Agrifac spacing.
When Noonan Contracting is moving paddocks or needs to go and fill up, the Agrifac can do 60km/h on the road.
The sprayer itself closes down to 2 metres in width.
You can literally punch in whatever number you want and it will fold out to anywhere between 2 metres and the full working width.
You press the button and it folds all the way out, then press another to pop it down.
60km/h down the road is a proper handy speed.
To travel 150km, you are looking at around 2 hours and 45 minutes.
That puts you from Birchip out to Robinvale, or down to Hopetoun, and still covers serious hectares in the same day.
Travelling 150km down the road to get to a job is definitely on the cards.
I want to add in, there is one thing I feel would be proper handy on these Agrifacs, and that would be an Air CTI system.
Dropping tyre pressures with full tanks in paddocks, but then jumping on the road empty and flying down at 60km/h, the Air CTI system would be unreal.
Anyway, moving on.
When I was over in the west, the word was out everywhere about a serious fatal crash that occurred in April 2022 on a public road in the Midwest region of WA.
The farmhand was driving a tractor towing a seeder between paddocks on a public road without a pilot vehicle or escort to warn oncoming traffic.
An accident occurred, and it is a reminder that moving agricultural machinery on public roads is not something to take lightly.
The reason I bring this up is that in Victoria, the standard maximum legal width for vehicles and machinery without needing oversize permits or signage is generally 2.5 metres.
Because the boys’ Agrifac sprayer is well under this limit, it falls under standard access guidelines.
Now this might not sound like much as we read it, but it actually is.
This thing can run around the clock, staying in front of seeders at planting.
Instead of running one or two seeders, you can scale and run 2 or 3 seeders.
These are the efficiencies that make a big difference in what we do.
If you get your timing right with your canola, you are off to a cracker start.
It is a real difference.
The Agrifac has an auto greaser, with lines to the machine, not the actual boom.
That helps make sure all the bits that need greasing do not get forgotten.
To fill up, depending on how many chemicals are going in, it probably does not take more than 15 minutes to fill and go again.
That is filling an 8,000L poly tank.
The boys have also been focusing on compaction, and they feel the poly tank is nice and light.
There is also a 750L fresh water tank, so they can clean out the lines and flush on the run without spending any time on it.
Now auto greasers, they are good, but I reckon they can be bad.
Why?
One, we pick up on minor issues before they become big problems by walking around the gear.
More often than not, we are required to walk around the gear with the hand pump or Milwaukee grease gun, and this is mostly the time we are running our eyes over it.
We catch minor problems.
By having the auto greaser, it reduces the opportunity of glancing and looking.
I feel anything that has an auto greaser needs to have a routine where, when filling or doing the morning pre-start, the operator walks around and glances over everything.
Catch minor problems, and that is all they are: minor.
If we do not do that, they become a major issue.
Outside of that, I have had a prick of a run with auto greasers, mainly on the tippers.
They just bloody give us grief: lines breaking, rocks flicking up, lines blocking.
I do believe hand greasing is the way to go.
You know not to over-grease and how often to do it.
You learn your machine more, pretty much.
Something the younger generation is losing: learning the machines.
Am I against auto greasers?
No. They are good, and they have their place, but I would prefer to grease my gear myself.
I waffled on a bit too much there, but I feel I have some valid points to make.
On poly tanks, I spent a few years sowing with a Horsch Avatar.
It was a 12m single-row disc seeder with 3 tanks: 2 poly tanks around 2000L each and a small seed steel tank on the front, utilised mostly for canola.
I reckon these poly tanks are a cracker of an idea, but I always wonder: can a branch bring you undone?
We are human. We make mistakes. Poly to me seems somewhat vulnerable.
Now that is an uneducated presumption on my behalf, but that is what comes to my head.
So I thought after looking at the boys’ sprayer, what is the deal with availability for tanks if something does happen?
From what I could find, Agrifac appears to use integrated high-density polyethylene tanks built into their sprayers, and for OEM replacements, parts or servicing, you would need to go through the official Agrifac support path.
Now I could be completely wrong in saying this, but if getting a replacement tank is not simple, there is a concern here.
Australia is a big place, and when we need to spray, we need to spray.
Take it all with a grain of salt, because I do not know these poly tanks.
If we have an issue with one cracking or being damaged, your problem might only be at the start if getting one becomes a concern.
Everything I have said here is only coming from me searching the web and seeing the gear in the paddock.
If I am wrong, please leave a comment and give us the facts.
If my concern is valid, please add your two bits as well.
The Agrifac has a Cummins engine in it.
Pretty bulletproof motors.
It only sits on 1,300 revs when spraying in the paddock.
Going down the road at 60km/h, it is only sitting on 1,500 revs.
So it is just idling really, and it does not use much fuel.
The boys mentioned doing about 17.9 litres per hectare overall with nearly 900 hours on the clock.
Ground clearance is about shoulder height, maybe a metre and a half.
Good for getting over canola and that sort of stuff.
Plenty there.
Cannot go wrong with a Cummins.
Maybe the jury is out there on that, but I feel they are a good motor across the board.
I am pretty sure the boys’ sprayer has the 9L Cummins in it.
I think they are around that 5% to 7% per hectare in less diesel burn compared to other options in the market.
Look, we are in 2026.
In the past, I would have looked over that. You know, it is not a big deal breaker for me.
But now that I have seen diesel prices go to $3.60 and ordering in bulk can be dearer than buying less, which I do not understand or have ever seen, I do feel like Agrifac could push this as a sales pitch now.
Whether you are burning diesel running between paddocks around Charlton or doing long water trips up in that Coonamble country, that 5% will add up real quick across a season.
But I am still on the side of the fence where it is not a deal breaker.
Having a Cummins as the donk really hits reliability with me.
The Cummins reputation really speaks for itself.
Moving on from the donk chat, the ground clearance is pretty standard, and that is why we run SPs.
I reckon the boys have made the right decision to go SP over a trailing boom, especially for contracting purposes with the height of this Agrifac SP.
You are getting over standing canola, through thick stubble, and you are not dragging a trail unit through wet headlands at 5am wondering if you are going to get bogged.
For a contractor moving between different growers’ paddocks in different conditions every day, that clearance is a positive outcome.
The Agrifac run screen shows everything on the machine.
Bar pressures, litres per hectare and how much is in the tank.
Then there is the Trimble screen with GPS and Precision-IQ on it.
The boys run Trimble because all their other machines have it.
That means they can take one card to the other and upload all their paddocks to each machine.
Easy to transfer data.
They also have blue lights on the boom, so at night they can see all the nozzles working.
There is a rear vision camera behind, and the dicky seat in this thing is actually comfortable, which is saying something for a dicky seat.
On the last run, the sprayer was doing 109 hectares per hour, and that was apparently really slow.
Being so wide, the boys can easily cover over 1,000 hectares in a day.
The screen in this Agrifac is like an iPad on steroids.
It is big, it is impressive, and I actually like it.
My question would be, being such a big screen, can we merge and sync everything up and make it a split screen?
Meaning we do not need as many monitors in the cab, saving a bucket load of cash.
I feel like we can, and I have read we can.
If it is true, that means we could be saving thousands of dollars and less stuff to deteriorate and go wrong.
The screen is ISOBUS compatible and acts as a universal terminal.
The size is there, so I reckon it would be worth looking at.
Just touching base on the Trimble setup, I was under the impression that Archer was more for horticulture, which it is known for, but this is the Precision-IQ setup that is compatible with CentrePoint RTK.
Whether you are running controlled traffic around Dalby or precision spraying orchards down near Shepparton, having that RTK accuracy on a boom this wide is a must.
Having the blue lights on the boom is pretty standard, but it is a cracker of an idea.
I do not believe Agrifac came up with it, but whoever did is a legend.
Overall, the cab on these things is impressive, especially your visuals.
The windows, the cab ROPS not getting in your vision, it is just designed all round for the operator, which is hard to come across nowadays.
The closest service and dealership is Agrifac Australia Horsham, about an hour away.
The boys say they are pretty good.
There have not been too many things that go wrong with the sprayer so far.
The bloke next to them has one too, and he likes it.
There are a couple of other boys around the area with them as well.
If anything happens, they can ring Agrifac, tell them what machine they are in, and the support team can log in on the computer and go from there.
I feel that is not many hours on the boys’ sprayer.
She is pretty new, and to be honest, it is pretty flash.
The dealer being able to log in remotely is good, but it is not a new thing nowadays.
It is pretty standard.
The feedback from the boys in the area is, so far the machines are good.
That is all we can take from it.
The dealer has not really had the chance to prove themselves to the people we spoke with, which is good, as that means the gear has not had issues yet.
It will have issues at some point, so I would like to hear more feedback regarding the dealers in the future, but for now we cannot comment.
I am not going to sit here and pitch a heap of rubbish about a dealer just because their product is good.
We see time and time again: product unbelievable, after service shocking.
Hopefully that is not the case here, as I really like these Agrifac sprayers.
But as an honest, transparent person, I cannot comment and will not comment even if I was paid a decent lump of cash.
I will comment if I know, and I would be happy to take the kind offer of cash, but I need to know myself.
So anyway, reliability is there with the gear, cannot comment on the dealer side, guys.
Noonan Contracting’s Agrifac sprayer is very well suited for contracting.
Jayden said they would obviously be interested in doing contract work with it.
Based out of Birchip, they are happy to travel.
Even if they have to throw it up on the float and take it up to New South Wales or Queensland, for the right job, they would go up there.
Chucking it on a truck would not take long to get there.
Proper big boom, getting over some proper hectares.
Mate, what a pleasure it would be sitting in the cab at the end of the day seeing all the hectares you have covered.
So the spread the boys have is pretty serious.
It sounds like for the right job they would venture to Clermont, QLD through to the Eyre Peninsula, SA, who knows, even Tasmania.
They have a serious bit of gear that covers some serious hectares per day.
If you want to have a yarn about finding a reliable spray contractor, whether you are farming around Narrabri, Dubbo, Forbes or anywhere across the Mallee and northern cropping belt, give Dillon a call on 0439 300 380 from 6am to 9pm.
Thanks for joining us on this yarn, legends.
Till next time.
You can view Noonan Contracting’s Agrifac self-propelled sprayer on the Broadacre Contracting website.
If you want to put out an instant alert looking for a spray contractor, post a job through Broadacre tenders.
These resources may help growers and contractors watch the episode, view the listing, post a job or understand some of the sprayer technology discussed in this yarn.
If you are a grower looking for spray contractors across the Victorian Mallee, Wimmera, NSW or Queensland, Broadacre Contracting gives you a clearer place to start.
View Noonan Contracting’s Agrifac sprayer, post a tender, or watch more Talking Gear Tuesday episodes to see how we showcase the people behind the gear.
Noonan Contracting is a broadacre farming and contracting business based around Birchip in the Victorian Mallee. The team offers harvesting, spraying, spreading, cartage and haulage services.
In this Talking Gear Tuesday episode, Jayden from Noonan Contracting talks through their Agrifac self-propelled sprayer with a 48m boom, height control, section control and individual nozzle shutoff.
Noonan Contracting is based in Birchip and can service growers across the Victorian Mallee, Wimmera and surrounding cropping regions, with the ability to travel into New South Wales or Queensland for the right job.
A 48m boom can cover serious hectares quickly, which is valuable for broadacre spraying when timing is tight. The wider the boom, the more important accuracy, height control, nozzle shutoff and operator skill become.
Individual nozzle shutoff allows nozzles to turn off independently, helping reduce overlap on point rows, corners, angled paddocks and areas around trees or obstacles.
In the episode, the boys mention the Agrifac can travel at 60km/h on the road and fold down to a 2m transport width, making paddock-to-paddock movement more practical for contract work.
You can browse spraying listings, view contractors like Noonan Contracting, or post a tender on Broadacre Contracting so verified contractors can see the job and contact you directly.
Talking Gear Tuesday is Broadacre Contracting’s video series where we sit down with growers, contractors and ag operators to yarn about gear, businesses, risks, lessons and the real stories behind Australian agriculture.
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