Priorities for spraying

As I have detailed previously in this blog, spraying with a four-wheel all terrain vehicle with a trailer provides a convenient way to spray weeds and brush on hilly land. the operator can sit astride the four-wheeler and drive to the spot where spray is needed, do the job and them move on without the labor of crawling off and pulling hose the way you do with a tractor mounted sprayer. The trailer with spray tank allows the operator to move 40 gallons or more and the center of gravity is low allowing travel over rough, steep ground. Application of spray is slower, but more precise than a tractor mounted sprayer.

What sort of priorities should one have? Keeping fence lines clear should be first. You need to keep livestock at home. Barbed wire fence needs work regularly, but keeping the worst brush and weeds out of electric fence in imperative. Surely, fences have first priority, all the way around fields keeping livestock. Spraying can also serve to examine and repair fence. It is a good idea to keep fence tools and some materials, such as insulators in the tool box. On my farm I have a trail around the fence even through the woods to allow rapid, mobile access. It took some effort to get it there, but it was worth it, reducing time and effort year after year.

If you are just starting to spray, cover the ground that has the least, most widely spread brush to spray first, particularly if it is near the farmstead where your house and equipment is kept, then push away from the base. Around the tree line of woods will always take a lot of attention, because birds will drop seeds from the limbs above, and the shade discourages grass and allows brushy plants. Where the plants to be sprayed are continuous do last. It takes the most spray and the least pasture is freed up.

A 40 gallon spray tank will require two hours, plus or minus half an hour, to place. The time required to come to the farmstead and get a new load is about 20 minutes to half an hour.

Once again, avoid inhaling the stuff. Your lungs are very delicate, only two cell layers between the blood and the air pockets called alveoli. They also have a system to control surface tension, and spray has surfactants to help it stick to the leaves and stems of the plants you spray. If you can feel it on you face or can see it falling toward yourself, hold your breath and move on.