54 | Spray truck builds growing part of ag business Gilchrist Brothers Peter and Andrew have more than 25 years of agricultural experience and knowledge behind them. Kelly Deeks Offering a wide range of precision ag, chemical application, and agronomy services from Swannanoa, Gilchrist Brothers Peter and Andrew have more than 25 years of agricultural experience and knowledge behind their services and their technical advice, supporting North Canterbury farmers to get the best out of their businesses. Peter and Andrew both had the perfect start to their careers in agriculture, both having spent their early days at Pyne Gould Guinness, which provided the perfect training ground. They soaked up as much knowledge as they could from their workmates and higher-ups about all things farming, from stock feed to chemicals to seeds, and came out of their time with broad knowledge as well as close relationships with key suppliers. Today Peter and Andrew are farmers in their own right, fattening stock and grazing dairy heifers, growing specialty seeds for export, and growing wheat, barley, and maize for stock feed. Their contracting business provides ploughing, RURAL SERVICES » Gilchrist Brothers grubbing, rolling, and planting precision ag services, as well as agricultural spraying with the latest Topcon rate controllers, GPS guidance systems, and purpose-built rigs to ensure perfect application every time. They also cart bulk liquid urea for other contractors and farmers around the greater Canterbury region. Peter and Andy are pretty handy in the shed and they build spray trucks for themselves and for other contractors around Canterbury, and this division while taking some time to set up, gained traction straight away and is now a growing part of Gilchrist Brothers’ business. “Most of the spray trucks we build are fitted with Topcon GPS systems and the majority of them are now being auto steered as well,” Peter says. “We are the only company in New Zealand that can get spray trucks certified to be auto steered.” The benefit of auto steering is repeatability, nice clean straight lines, less fatigue for the driver, and the ability for a driver to do a perfect job without having years of experience under their belt. One recent customer, Philip Wareing Contracting in Methven, had Gilchrist Brothers fit two of their trucks with auto steer for this very reason. Alexanders are proud to support Gilchrist Brothers “They were really happy with it and said they should have done it years ago.” Gilchrist Brothers has solutions for farmer clients as well as they work through this tight season with high inflation and low commodity prices. “A lot of our business comes from dairy clients and they started off the season in a pretty rough way with the projected forecast profitability, or lack of it,” Peter says. “They want to stop spending but they can’t afford to forget about next season either. Some of the decisions they made at the start of this season are going to affect their profitability next season, when the payout is potentially higher.” Gilchrist Brothers continues to provide the most efficient and effective service to make sure each client gets value for the money they have to spend to keep their stock fed, and prepare for next season. HOME OF AUTHORISED PARTNER OF FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS
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