The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Spreaders and sprayers Head for Highland Show
The “live” rejuvenation of the Royal Highland Show could not have come at a better time for agricultural engineer Craig Scott, who is taking the plunge with his first trade stand at the event.
His business, C T Scott Ltd, specialises in sprayers, spreaders and application technology, and has just expanded with a depot and technician at Forfar to complement the home base at Insch.
“We’ve been covering a large area from Insch and spent a lot of time travelling,” he explains.
“But with the new depot, we can reach customers in Morayshire, Aberdeenshire, Perthshire and Fife within an hour.”
The new depot also provided the impetus to take an exhibition stand at the Highland to help make the company’s name and services better known.
“I’ve been an agricultural engineer since leaving school and have always enjoyed spraying and the technology that goes with it,” says Craig.
“So when it came to setting up my own business, it was obvious to specialise in this field, helping farmers with the evermore-sophisticated technology that enables them achieve better, more cost-effective crop protection and nutrient application.
“Product back-up is our number one priority; we supply machines but service is the bedrock of the business.”
The company has a strong portfolio of brands, including Bateman and Agrifac self-propelled sprayers, Landquip trailed and mounted sprayers, and liquid fertiliser application kits for seed drills and planters.
“More recently, we’ve also taken on SpreadPoint trailed lime and bulk fertiliser spreaders from Northern Ireland,” says Craig. “The people behind the products have connections with trailer manufacture and farming, so there’s the expertise to make an effective product that’s robust and practical in the way it’s operated.”
There is a spraying connection too, in that SpreadPoint also manufactures 6,00018,000-litre bowsers that come complete with a lockable storage and container rinsing cabinet at the back.
All sizes have stainless steel tanks to maintain water cleanliness with the aim of minimising nozzle blockages, and the internally baffled “octagon” cross-section tanks sit low in the chassis for stability in transport.
In addition to a bowser and lime spreader, CT Scott’s Royal Highland Show stand will have Landquip trailed and mounted sprayers, front tanks, Techneat applicators and a nozzle technology demonstration from Lechler.
Full-spec examples of Agrifac and Bateman self-propelled sprayers – both equipped with pulse width modulation (PWM) nozzle control – will also be on show.
This technology is gathering pace as a means of compensating for changes in boom speed over the ground without altering system pressure and so preserving the spray qualities required for different targets.