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| We have both, and air spreaders are far more expensive and time consuming to maintain. I would use the spinner spreader with fertilizer if it did almost as good a job. The G4 New Leader spinner assembly is a better than the old ones, but it still can not spread as even as an air machine. One problem that few people seem to know about is that a spinner spreader pattern changes with the rate of material in pounds/hr, etc. This means speeding up or slowing down will change the pattern. Variable rate spreading will change the pattern. As the rate of material on the spinners increases, the pattern lightens in the center and gets heavier on the outside. New Leader had a spinner machine at the 2007 World Ag Expo in Tulare with all the hardware needed to change the fan frame and spinner speed on the go, but could not get the changes right. They put an electric actuator instead of the jack on the fan frame that is adjusted on the go by their control system. If they ever get it working, it will help, but there are other problems with spinners. Blended fertilizer will spread evenly only if the blend is of similar size and density. Soft urea will crush if the spinner speed is a too fast (above 650 RPM in all the urea I have tested, 500 rpm can crush soft urea). This causes a heavy streak of powder right behind the machine that can only be seen with the spread test kit. Wind is a problem. An air spreader is not affected by any of these conditions, however air spreaders can make spectacular streaks in a field if the operator does not know what he is doing.
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New Leader Spreader
