Castleagri is owned by Dermot Tobin, who has been a farmer in Ireland for the past 30 years. He is the sole agent here for the Moscha Swivel Spout.
The Moscha Swivel Spout fits to the rear of a slurry tanker. To date, Dermot has sold the bolt-on attachment to owners of most makes of slurry tanker, including Abbey, Conor, Hi-Spec, Joskin and Redrock.
In fact, he says that he has now sold almost 500 of these add-on units here during the past three years. Over 70 of these have been sold since the start of January. 3,000 were sold in Germany last year.
A range of different-size units are offered; each with a different bore diameter to suit different sizes and capacities of slurry tankers.
The most popular unit, the 77mm-wide 77W, costs €1,000 excluding VAT. It comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. A maintenance kit, designed to enable the unit to spread up to 6m gallons, costs €35.
The Swivel Spout, as it is called, was developed by a German farmer who had toyed with concept for over a decade.
The operating premise is that the speed at which slurry leaves the slurry tanker is reduced, when the Swivel Spout is used. Thanks to the design of the unit, larger slurry droplets are formed.
According to Tobin, these larger droplets retain the gases within them to a greater extent than when slurry is spread with a ‘conventional’ splash-plate. This, in turn, is said to reduce the loss of slurry gases to the atmosphere, most especially nitrogen.
Tobin said, “Slurry leaves the tanker at a speed of 29kph when using the Swivel Spout. This contrasts with a figure of 42kph, when using a splash-plate. This leads to less grass contamination, less smearing and faster re-growth.”
Unlike a dribble bar or trailing shoe, the Swivel Spout spreads evenly right across its working width. It doesn’t leave white lines; nor does it burn a track into the ground.
Typical working widths are from 12m up to 18m.
As the name suggests, the unit swivels or ‘oscillates’ as it spreads. Rubber bushings help to cushion it, during its side-to-side movement. The oscillating action is due to the flow of slurry through it, as it leaves the tanker. The Swivel Spout does not need to be ‘powered’.
Alternatively, the unit can be fitted to an umbilical spreading rig, rather than a tanker.
