A customer asking in November what went on in March
You spread slurry for dairy and beef farms, with tankers, an umbilical system with a dribble bar or trailing shoe, or both. In spring the work is intense: long days, several farms a week, fields picked at the last minute according to ground conditions. The operator knows how many loads went on which field, more or less, and the umbilical operator knows how many hours the pump ran.
In November, a customer rings. His adviser or his assurance assessor wants a record of every organic manure application on his fields this year: dates, fields, amounts, method. His own notes say 'contractor did slurry in March'. Your invoice says 'slurry spreading, 14 hours, umbilical'. Neither is what he needs, and working it out now means asking operators what they remember from eight months ago.
Why spreading records are thin
Slurry work is organised around getting the store emptied when the ground allows, and records come a long way behind.
| What the customer needs | What the contractor usually records |
|---|---|
| Field and date | Farm and date, sometimes |
| Volume applied per field | Loads or pump hours for the whole job |
| Method, such as dribble bar or trailing shoe | Not recorded, because it is obvious to you |
| Which store or lagoon it came from | Not recorded |
| Area covered | Rarely, unless the kit records it |
The rules about when, where and how much organic manure can be spread, and what records farms must keep, are set by the authorities, and they are the farmer's responsibility with their adviser. We do not interpret them. But your customers depend on your records to keep theirs, and a contractor who can supply a clean record is a contractor they will keep using.
What thin records cost you
The customer's problem becomes yours. Customers who have to chase you for records are less happy customers, and time spent rebuilding records months later is unpaid time for your office and operators.
Invoicing suffers too. If you charge by the hour, a customer who is unsure how much went where is more likely to question the bill. If you charge per cubic metre or per load, the count is the whole invoice, and an unclear count is an unclear invoice.
Spreading records made as the work is done
What we build is a spreading record captured by operators as each field is done, and sent to customers in a clear format.
- At the start of each field, the operator picks the customer, field (from the shared field map) and the store it is being pumped or loaded from.
- For tankers, the operator taps each load. Tanker size is set once per tanker, so volume is worked out.
- For umbilical systems, pump hours and the flow meter reading at the start and end of each field are photographed or taken from the pump's data if it records it. Volume per field comes from the meter.
- Method is set per machine, so the record says dribble bar, trailing shoe or splash plate without the operator typing it.
- Where your applicator records the area covered, the area comes from it. Otherwise, the field area from the map is used, with part-field work marked.
- Each customer gets a spreading record per job or per season, by field, date, volume and method. The same record feeds the invoice.
If a customer's farm records software accepts imports, the record can be sent in its format so they do not retype it.
Awkward days are covered too. A field started on Tuesday and finished on Thursday after rain is two entries under one field, each with its own date. A job stopped halfway because the ground became too wet is recorded as part done, with the area left noted, so it goes back on the board rather than being forgotten. And when an operator switches from the tanker to the umbilical on the same farm, the method changes with the machine.
The November phone call, answered in minutes
In November the customer asks for his organic manure applications. You open his account, choose the year, and send the spreading record: six fields, dates in March and April, volumes per field from the flow meter, method dribble bar, source the main lagoon. He forwards it to his adviser.
In spring, when he books the next season, he asks for the record to come automatically after each job. It does.
Does your slurry work leave customers asking?
- Customers ask you for spreading records months after the work.
- Loads or pump hours are recorded per job, not per field.
- Method and source are not written down.
- Your invoices do not match what the customer thinks was spread.
- Rebuilding records means asking operators what they remember.