When Ryan Cannell of Te Aroha upgraded to the BA LM1150 Linkage Sprayer back in 2024, he was at breaking point with his old setup. Two years later, he has no second thoughts.
Ryan runs a dairy operation in Te Aroha with a mix of maize cropping and pasture work: pre-emergence, spray-outs, and re-grassing across terrain that’s seen more than its share of challenges. After Cyclone Gabrielle put him through 13 floods in 13 months, weed pressure became a serious issue. The LM gave him the capacity and the boom to hit it hard.
“I spray a lot more now than we ever used to,” says Ryan. “A lot more pasture spraying.”
The time savings have been the headline win. Going from a 6-metre front-mounted boom and a sub-500 litre tank to the LM1150 with its 12-metre M Boom has changed how Ryan works through a job. His father put it plainly when Ryan came back from spraying a maize paddock over a kilometre away: “Are you done already?”
The induction hopper has made a difference too, something Ryan didn’t anticipate when he first bought the unit. “Mixing spray is awesome with that induction hopper on it. Cleaner and safer. You’re mixing at normal height, no climbing ladders. And it’s big enough that I can fit everything I need for a whole load in at once.”
On hilly ground, the hydraulic wing lift on the M Boom earns its keep. “I can spray sides of hills I could never spray before, one boom going up, the other coming down. It was flatland spraying only before.”
For anyone hesitating over the purchase, Ryan’s view hasn’t changed since he bought it. When Todd at Piako Morrinsville walked him through the LM, the value was obvious. ‘It had everything I needed at a price that made sense.'”
The BA LM Series is a 900–1150L linkage sprayer with a T-shaped tank integrating chemical induction and flush in a single moulded unit. Fitted with a Bertolini PTO pump, built-in induction hopper, and 12m fully hydraulic M Boom with independent wing lift, fold, and up to 30° wing tilt.
Find out more: 900–1150L LM Series – BA Pumps & Sprayers
