David Williams
North East, Wales
This story was filmed in 2025 and reflects one farmer’s own experience with their Tow and Fert. Every farm is different, so please treat it as a story rather than a forecast for your place.
We’re learning… I don’t think we’ve barely scratched the surface of what is possible.
David Williams farms 120 hectares in North East Wales, running an all-grass, 260-cow spring calving system on mostly sandy soils. Before the Tow and Fert, he was spreading 200 to 250 kilos of nitrogen a hectare, in compound or protected urea form.
Rising fertiliser prices made the payback look attractive when he bought the machine in 2022, but that wasn’t the only reason.
I was getting concerned about the soil biology. I wanted to try and reduce the synthetic fertiliser going onto the soils and destroying the biosphere within the soil. That was the main reason behind the decision to buy the Tow and Fert.
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Since making the switch, David says his nitrogen use has dropped to around 100 to 110 kilos a hectare. He’s careful about how much weight to put on that drop, though, since recent seasons have been difficult ones to compare fairly.
It’s a significant drop, but it’s difficult to give an accurate comparison because the weather has been so challenging that the growth rates have been all over the place as well. So it wouldn’t be fair to say too much about that one at the present time.
For David, adopting the Tow and Fert has been a learning process, and he thinks there’s more to get out of it yet.
