The product and support teams at New Leader Manufacturing, the manufacturer of New Leader® spreaders, have been fighting a persistent spreader misconception for most of their professional lives.
“There’s a belief in the industry that you can’t use your broadcast spinner spreader in the wind,” explains Mike Nelms, Product Support Manager at NLM. “And it’s unfortunate this belief exists because it’s simply not true. We see operators put their machines away or use an inferior method when their New Leader broadcast spinner spreader is perfectly acceptable. This misconception is not only hurting people’s productivity, it’s hurting their profitability as well.”
New Leader broadcast spreaders are known for their high capacity, high output features; out-performing competitive spreaders and air machines in acres per day while offering one of the lowest cost per acre capabilities. While New Leader spreaders have been around since 1939, they became a leader in the industry with the release of their G4 spinner technology in 2000.
“Our G4 spinner technology revolutionized the application industry,” explains John Rathjen, Director of Product Development at NLM. “At that time, spinner spreaders were not known for their accuracy or reliability. We changed that with the G4. Instead of lofting product off the disc like the competition, we designed our spinner so the nutrients left our disc piercing the wind.”
This piercing of the wind technology is what lets New Leader spreaders spread in windy conditions. “Because our equipment does not loft product up in the air or drop it to the ground, it’s less susceptible to negative impacts from the wind,” says Nelms. “Any broadcast application equipment, air machines included, can be impacted by the wind. But because our spreaders are designed to cut through the wind, not be carried by it, they are reliable in winds up to 25 mph.”
“If there’s one thing we want everyone to know,” Nelms continued, “it’s that the New Leader spreaders you see today aren’t the same ones you grew up with. Times have changed, technology has improved. If you follow the recommended guidelines, you can get the job done well even in traditionally windy conditions.”
See below for the spreading Do’s and Don’ts put together by the service and product teams at NLM. If you have any questions, contact your authorized New Leader dealer.
The Do’s:
• Verify the spreader is properly calibrated
• Verify wind gusts are +/- 5 mph to wind speed; anything greater, no broadcast application is recommended
• Drive perpendicular to the wind and maintain your AB line
The Don’ts:
• Drive parallel to the wind
• Veer off your AB line
• Fail to calibrate your machine or adjust the settings without recalibrating
