60 | RURAL SERVICES » Hide Spraying Ltd Drought, recession a double whammy The original Hide Spraying fleet in 1950 (top left) and again in 1976. The line-up today. Kelly Deeks As one of New Zealand’s first ever spraying contractors, for 77 years Hide Spraying in North Canterbury has been doing its best for farmers so they can get the best out of what they do too. Hide Spraying supplies and applies agrichemicals, solid and liquid fertilisers, and lime for farmers, lifestylers, commercial businesses, and private individuals throughout North Canterbury. The company has grown significantly over 77 years, since the late Ellis Hide started out in 1947 with a couple of pieces of basic equipment. Today’s owners, father and son team Graham and Andrew Hide, have more than 90 years’ of experience between them and they pride themselves on their workmanship and on providing the most efficient service possible using modern machinery with GPS. Graham and Andrew’s extensive knowledge of their area, its growing conditions, its pest pressures, and its weather events means they can help their clients to anticipate the challenges they will have with their crops and provide the right solution to deal with them. Today Hide Spraying services its customers with two self-propelled Househam sprayers, with a high clearance of 900mm and 24m computer controlled booms.Two truck mounted, computer controlled 16.5m boom sprayers undertake all types of spraying from small jobs to large, and a hose reel hand gun unit is used to spray noxious weeds in lawn areas, industrial yards, drains, and driveways. Hide Spraying also runs two fertiliser spreader trucks, one carrying two tonnes, the other carrying five tonnes, and one can tow a sidetipping trailer carrying another five tonnes. These spreader trucks can be operated on row crop tyres and are suitable for spreading on lifestyle blocks and spreading urea to 24m on crops behind the self propelled sprayers. This season’s recession is being compounded with current drought conditions for North Canterbury farmers who have no winter growth going at all and are desperate for rain. “It’s a double whammy for farmers,” says Andrew. “Everyone is being very careful and doing only what they need to do. We are doing the same in our business. We’re not replacing gear, we are working hard on keeping our maintenance up and doing what we have to do to get through. It will come right.” Hide Spraying’s spraying business is down about 15% and fertiliser tonnages used across the sector are also down, reflecting farmers saving money where they can, with aircraft applied fert down up to 50% and spreader trucks down about 30%. “Farmers will reduce their fertiliser for a year, but they can’t get away with it for two years or more, otherwise production goes down. Some did it last year, but there are more doing it this year. Everyone is looking at everything they spend.” Graham and Andrew are proud to have one of the rare businesses that is still contracting for third-generation customers, and they treat each farm they work on as if it was their own. “We do our best for them so they can get the best from what we do.” “Everyone is being very careful and doing only what they need to do. We are doing the same in our business” Proudly supporting Hide Spraying for over 75 years
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