Versatility in One Pass
Apply fertiliser, seed, trace elements, and biological products together.
Your fertiliser programme in one tank. Mix it, suspend it, apply it, all in the same pass.
Apply less nitrogen, more often, and manage down to work within your limits. Put your trace elements through the same pass. Magnesium, selenium, cobalt, copper, whatever your tests call for, applied little and often with the rest or as a mineral mix stuck to the leaf instead of dusted on.
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With Tow and Fert:
Less, More Often
Apply less nitrogen, more often, and manage N use down to work within your limits and what the plant demands.
Flexible Timing
Apply even when rain is forecast, no need to wait for dry conditions like granular fertiliser.
Dust-Free Applications
Suspend magnesium oxide and lime flour directly in the tank. On wet, on even, no dust.
Dairy Farming with Tow and Fert
Your fertiliser programme in one tank. Mix it, suspend it, apply it, all in the same pass.
Dairy farms are operating in a tighter, more scrutinised environment than ever before. Milk price volatility, rising fertiliser costs, nitrogen limits, and pressure to lift efficiency all mean the old approach of applying more granular fertiliser is no longer stacking up.
The Tow and Fert lets dairy farmers put several inputs on in one pass. Fertiliser, trace elements, lime flour and biological products, dissolved or held in suspension, applied as a foliar or onto the soil.
You set the rate, you pick the mix, and you pick the day. Less nitrogen, more often, on when the plant can use it.
We back it enough to bring one out and run it on your paddock. You can make your own mind up from there.
Adopting Foliar and Fine Particle Nutrition on Your Farm
We're seeing more dairy farmers try foliar and fine particle application. We believe it's the way forward.
The idea with foliar nitrogen is to get as much of it as possible in through the leaf, where uptake happens in hours. Granular has to wait for moisture to wash it in, then for soil microbes to convert it before the roots can use it.
Independent EIP Wales research on four Welsh dairy farms, funded by the Welsh Government Rural Communities Rural Development Programme, ran conventional prilled nitrogen against a foliar mix of urea and humic acid over three seasons.
In the first two years the foliar plots ran on roughly a fifth to a third of the nitrogen, 46 to 93 kg N/ha against 205 to 275. Dry matter came in 1 to 3 t/ha below conventional, though nitrogen use efficiency was two to three times higher. Foliar was ahead in places: 0.5 to 1.0 t/ha more up to the end of April in 2019, and higher yields at two of the four sites in 2020.
In the final year the foliar rate was lifted to about 100 kg N/ha. Dry matter came out comparable to conventional at three of the four grazed sites, on 40 to 50% of the nitrogen. Site 1 was the exception, which the report puts down to field conditions rather than the nitrogen, possibly low magnesium and lighter soil in the foliar plot during a spring drought.
The evidence isn’t all one way. A New Zealand trial found no difference at higher rates per pass, and the Field Notes set out why we think rate per pass is the reason.
Tow and Fert systems are designed specifically to make this practical at dairy scale. Farmers can apply nitrogen, sulphur, magnesium, trace elements, lime flour, seed, and biological products in one pass, tailored to pasture demand and seasonal conditions.
Less, more often
When milk price and fertiliser pricing both fluctuate, efficiency matters more than ever.
The goal is simple. Smaller amounts of nitrogen, applied more often, timed to the round instead of the spreader’s schedule.
A ryegrass leaf can only take in so much at once. Ask it to absorb 50 or 60 units in one hit and it can’t, so the rest sits on the leaf, runs off, or ends up on the soil surface behaving like the granular you were trying to improve on. Published work puts the useful range at roughly 4 to 20 units per pass, and that’s where we’d expect the difference to show up.
So the method is 8 to 10 passes a season rather than two. Low rates, dissolved or in suspension, onto cover of about 1800 to 2000 kg DM/ha, which is where a New Zealand trial applied it at 150 litres a hectare. It’s not about days since grazing, it’s about having enough leaf back to catch it and going before the cows are due.
You don’t need rain to put nitrogen on a leaf. You go when the covers are right and the conditions suit.
Why farmers move to it
Running less nitrogen per pass lets you manage your total down. What you do with the room that opens up is your call, and farmers land in different places.
- Some take it as cost, running less nitrogen and holding the system where it was.
- Some hold the nitrogen and use the room to chase more grass or more silage.
- Some take it as compliance headroom, getting under a cap without giving up covers.
There’s a second thing that follows. Pull the bag nitrogen back and the clover comes with it, because soil nitrogen is what was suppressing it. The Welsh trial found exactly that: clover content tracked total nitrogen applied, most in the nil nitrogen plots, least in the conventional ones. Clover fixes its own nitrogen, so that’s grass grown on nitrogen nobody bought.
We believe this is the way forward. Rather than argue about it, we’ll bring a machine out and run it on your place.
Built for Dairy Scale and Proven on Farms Worldwide
Tow and Fert machines are designed and built in Dannevirke, for New Zealand dairy country. The range runs from a 500 litre machine towed behind an ATV through to a 4000 litre unit covering 40 hectares a load, so it scales from a small block to a large herd.
They’re now working across fourteen countries across five continents
What the machine does is put several inputs on in one pass, at low rates, when you decide to go. Nitrogen, sulphur, magnesium, trace elements, lime flour and biological products, dissolved or held in suspension.
What farmers do with that is their business, and they land in different places. Some run less nitrogen. Some hold the nitrogen and chase more grass. Some use it to get under a cap without giving up covers. The Farmer Stories are individual accounts of individual farms, and they’re worth reading for the range rather than for a number.
A Smarter Way Forward for Dairy Farming
Dairy farming is no longer about applying more inputs. It is about applying the right inputs, at the right rate, at the right time.
Tow and Fert puts the fertiliser programme back in your hands. You pick the mix, the rate and the day, and you can change your mind when the conditions do.
Get started
Ready to see what Tow and Fert can do on your farm?
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BUILT TO OUTPERFORM
The most capable suspension sprayer, feature by feature
We built the Tow and Fert to do what others can't. Line them up against it and the gap speaks for itself.
| Feature | Tow and Fert | Other Sprayers |
|---|---|---|
| Even spread, under 15% COVEven application you can measure, test it on your own farm | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersPartial |
| Dissolves 1 part urea to 2 parts water, fastHigh-concentration mixes without clogging or long load times | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Suspends 2 parts lime flour to 1 part waterKeeps heavy fine particles in suspension, evenly, all the way to the nozzles | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Boom recirculation on every nozzlePatented system, works even on single-nozzle machines - no blocking | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Purpose-built Metalform 3 inch stainless pumpEngineered in-house after off-the-shelf pumps couldn't take the punishment | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Runs at 22psi to protect biologicalsLow pressure keeps microbes and living inputs alive through application | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Onboard weigh scalesKnow exactly what's in the tank, load accurately every time | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersPartial |
| Companion Mix appMix rates, nozzle selection and ground speed worked out for you | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| 2,500+ strong farmer communityReal users sharing results, trials and advice, not just customers | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Commercial-grade build, Over-engineered to outlastCommercial construction that keeps performing, day in day out | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersNo |
| Travelling service & support - globallyOn-farm support and servicing, not a phone queue | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersPartial |
| Pioneered and built in New ZealandDesigned and manufactured in Dannevirke, over 15 years in the paddock | Tow and FertYes | Other SprayersPartial |
Mix Examples
Tow and Fert machines aren’t just for nitrogen. It can be used as a spreader, sprayer and over-sower. Throughout the year, the Tow and Fert can be used for many jobs often making your spreader, sprayer or duster redundant.
Spring
Fertiliser: Urea, DAP, SOA, Elemental S, MOP, Gibberellic Acid, Effluent, Fine Phosphate Rock/DCP Powder Minerals:: Mag Oxide, Mag Sulphate, Fine Lime Flour, Trace Elements Sprays: Thistle Sprays, Foliar Stickers Soil / Biological: Humates/carbon, Fulvic, Biologicals, Trace elements, Over-sow chicory, Over-sow Plantain, Over-sow Clover, Over-sow turnips, Seaweed, Fish Hydrolysate
Summer
Fertiliser: Urea, DAP, SOA, Elemental S, MOP, Effluent, Fine Phosphate Rock/DCP Powder Minerals:: Zinc Oxide, Zinc Sulphate, Other Trace Elements Soil / Biological: Fine Lime, Gypsum, Humates, Trace Elements
Autumn
Fertiliser: Urea, DAP, SOA, Elemental S, MOP, Gibberellic Acid, Effluent, Fine Phosphate Rock/DCP Powder Minerals:: Copper and Other Trace Elements Sprays: Thistle Sprays, Foliar Stickers Foliar / Soil / Biological: Humates/carbon, Fulvic, Biologicals, Trace elements, Over-sow chicory, Over-sow Plantain, Over-sow Clover, Over-sow turnips, Seaweed, Fish Hydrolysate Stickers
Winter
Fertiliser: UAN, SOA, Foliar Applied K, Fish Hydrolysate Minerals: Iodine, Selenium Soil / Biological: Seaweed Extract, Fine Lime, Humates
Other Uses
Tow and Fert is also used commonly for: Fire Fighting Pressure Washing/Washdown Trough Emptying/Cleaning Culvert Clearing Milk Powder Mixing Hydro-seeding Fertigation/Feeding Dosing Pumps for Pivot Irrigation Compost Slurries/Extracts
Let’s talk about your operation
Whether you’re exploring options or ready to go, our team can help you find the right Tow and Fert setup.