How Phillips County, Colorado Simplified their Spray Jobs through automation

In the fall of 2014, Kerri Doleshall, the Phillips County Weed District Manager, reached out to the Colorado County Weed Supervisors Association  and asked a simple question, “Which spray monitoring system should Phillips County upgrade their equipment to?” In every response he received SprayLogger by AgTerra was the first and only suggestion.

Prior to the introduction of SprayLogger, record keeping was done by hand in the field on paper forms and the brought back to the office. In previous years paperwork was filed with hand drawn maps to indicate where work had been done. When Kerri came on staff he initiated the process inputting recorded numbers into a database for faster access to information, though the original field work still had to be transposed from the paper forms into a computer.

Kerri consulted with the Phillips County Board of Commissioners, Weed Districts Board of Director and the Supervisors of the road districts. They concluded that a digital web-based recording system would be better for record keeping. Also, there could be additional uses of the AgTerra software and mapping equipment for the road maintenance department. The appeal of SprayLogger to all was that they could completely automate their processes and digitally record where they had been and what was done. All records would be accessible within moments that could easily show any recorded data by an individual application, project or all data combined into a master file set.

Kerri called the AgTerra offices in Sheridan, WY and spoke with their representatives to see if there might be a better way. After an in-depth demonstration of all of the AgTerra products was given, including MapItFast, Strider and SprayLogger, and after answering his questions Kerri set in motion a plan to eliminate the paper recording process Phillips County had been using to track and record their spray projects and move to a completely digital process with SprayLogger.

“For Phillips County, SprayLogger was a huge effort. Many people helped and supported it, from our county commissioners to the applicators, as well as the AgTerra Staff. Everyone working together is what made this a successful project. As we move forward, I can see multiple uses for your products.”      – Kerri

While the seasons turned from winter to spring, Kerri coordinated with AgTerra on the build of his trucks and consulted on what would be most appropriate for his applications. When the time came to install the SprayLogger units, a representative from AgTerra met with him and the road district applicators to assist with the installation of 6 units and helped train his staff for the upcoming spray season. After just a few hours, Phillips County was up, running and on the road spraying. It was was the simplicity of the software, the efforts of the applicators using the equipment and their input that made the project a success. When the crews got on the road they began to see the time saved because they did not have to focus on the technology, but rather the job.

Months later when the spray season was wrapping up Kerri accessed the data, built reports from the collected information and easily present them to his board to show what the department had accomplished. In addition to being able to outline the previous months, the collected map data could be shared with the road department for their upcoming season. Lastly, he was able to use his SprayLogger data to effectively present a plan of action and budget for the following year in an organized and timely manner because the information he needed was at his fingertips and not lost in a paper file.

With SprayLogger by AgTerra Phillips County was able to become more efficient with their time, improve their record keeping and better plan for the future than paper alone would have allowed. To learn more about the case study, Kerri can be reached at (970) 774-7453.