The first high-capacity slurry applicator with its own on-board reel system has arrived in the UK from Dutch firm Veenhuis.

The Rotamax lays and collects up to 700m of hose on the go and uses a swivelling arm to guide the 5in pipe as it is wound in and out.

Veenhuis reckons the system combines the best of tanker and umbilical systems, which means operators can spread products without the disruption of refilling a tanker, and without dragging a heavy and vulnerable pipe across the field.

This means there’s no smearing, reduced weight and the applicator can even run in row-crop fields.

See also: Bunning builds 14t tracked muckspreader

Operators can spread products without the disruption of refilling a tanker

The Rotamax can pump out up to 150cu m/hour depending on the consistency of slurry, or roughly 1,500cu m/day.

Total weight is 14t when fully loaded, which Veenhuis points out is two-thirds less than a typical 50t tanker set-up. A hydraulic off-set drawbar helps to lower compaction further and a hydraulically extendable axle is on the options list.

TWS, a waste management company based near Bury St Edmunds, has bought the Rotamax with a 12m disc injector to help spread digestate from AD plants.