"Our new solar-powered fly sprayer automatically sprays insecticide onto cattle without causing stress to the cattle or operator. It works especially well for rotational grazing," says Glenn Spencer of Great Plains Marketing, LLC, about the 3-D Quik Hand cattle sprayer. It was on display at the recent Oklahoma City farm show.

The self-contained sprayer comes mounted on a 2-wheeled dolly that tows behind any vehicle equipped with a 2-in. ball. The totally electronic unit is designed to be placed in the gateway, between the pasture and a pond or mineral source, or anything else that will draw the animals through the sprayer. It comes equipped with a battery, solar charger, 15-gal. tank and expandable wings to close off the gate opening. V-shaped centering bars direct cattle through the center of the sprayer, one at a time.

A pair of laser beam sensors spaced 12 in. apart detect the animal and cause the sprayer to activate. The unit can be set up to spray cattle going in one direction only, or in both directions. The sensors detect the direction of passage and spray only as the animal exits the unit.

"It provides efficient and effective fly control for cattle and requires very little maintenance because the cattle basically treat themselves," says Spencer. "The 3-D stands for "3-dimensional" because the sprayer applies insecticide to all sides of the cow's body sides, belly and legs and back in one pass."

Spencer says the sprayer was invented by an Arkansas cattleman for his own use. "He got a patent and built several units for local ranchers. The demand became so great that he hired me to set up mass production and to do the marketing. We're now setting up dealers and distributors all across the U.S.

"It works a lot better than using fly tags or driving around with a 4-wheeler trying to spray animals, or rounding up the animals into a corral and then spraying them. The animals can walk through at their own pace without any stress."

The sprayer offers several other features. It can be adjusted to spray the animal's back only and switch to stream instead of spray with an extra spray tip that's included. There's an adjustable automatic shut-off if the cow stays too long, and an adjustable delay so it doesn't get sprayed in the face and want to back out. There's also a float switch in the tank and an indicator light so the sprayer will shut down if the tank runs empty. "The system can be set up to shut itself off automatically, without you having to babysit it," says Spencer.

The unit even counts the number of cattle passing through the sprayer.