01785 840 849Call SCS on 01785 840 849 Book a test

Spreader setting charts and apps: are they right for your fertiliser?

Every spreader manufacturer publishes settings, most now in an app, and they’re right for the fertiliser they were tested with. Here’s where to find them, how they’re made, and why the fertiliser in your shed is the thing to check.

By Spreadcheck, NSTS testers. Published . 5 minute read.

The short answer

Yes, for the fertiliser they were made with. But fertiliser is a commodity, made all year round in different plants and batches, so the product in your shed may not be the one the chart was made for. Start from the chart, then check the setting with your own fertiliser.

  • Charts come from climate-controlled test halls. Rauch’s hall weighs the catch in 88 trays and runs about 3,000 tests a year.1
  • Rauch says its setting is a recommendation to be checked with a test kit and a calibration test.2 Kverneland says always do a static calibration test before spreading.3 Bredal says always do a spreading test with your own fertiliser.4
  • The AIC says manufacturers’ tables give guidance only, and that calibration and tray tests are necessary.5
  • Fertilisers with the same name can behave differently, so identify yours by granule size and weight, not by its name.6
  • If your fertiliser isn’t listed, Amazone and Rauch will both work out a setting from a sample of about 3 kg, free.72

Where to find the chart for your spreader

Spreader manufacturers’ setting charts and apps, as published in October 2026
ManufacturerChart or appIf your fertiliser isn’t listed
AmazonemySpreader app and the online FertiliserService89Free setting recommendation from a 3 kg sample (5 kg on its international site)710
RauchRAUCH app, covering almost 2,700 fertilisers111Photo identification in the app, or post about 3 kg for free analysis2
KuhnKUHN SpreadSet app and web app12Settings come from the Rauch test hall13
BogballeSpread Charts app and online database, more than 56,000 test results1415Fertiliser quality test kit and online analysis14
Kverneland and ViconKverneland Spreading Charts, online and as an app; Vicon has its own version316Enter the density and granule sizes; identify by properties, not name6
Bredal (sold in the UK by KRM)Online spread chart tool17Do a spreading test if in doubt4

Sulky spreaders are now sold as Sky Agriculture: the Burel Group dropped the Sulky name in 2023.18 Sky’s SARA app has the operator measure granule size and weight to find a setting,19 and the older Sulky setting tables strongly recommend a test run to verify the calibration and spreading width.20

How the charts are made

Each manufacturer runs a test hall: a climate-controlled building where the spreader throws fertiliser over a long line of trays on weigh cells, so the pattern can be measured exactly. Rauch’s hall has 88 weighing trays and runs about 3,000 tests a year,1 and Kuhn’s settings come from the same hall, because Rauch is Kuhn’s manufacturing partner.13 Kverneland’s test centre uses 80 trays, each on its own weigh cell.21

That gives very accurate settings for the sample that was tested, in the conditions of the hall. Kverneland says the widths in its charts are the widest that gave under 10% CV in its lab, and that not every fertiliser can be spread at every width.6 Teagasc and the FAI note that test halls achieve under 5% CV, while in the field up to 15% is acceptable.22

What the manufacturers say about their own settings

The clearest argument for checking the chart comes from the people who make it:

  • Rauch: its setting is a recommendation, to be checked with a practical test kit for the spread and a calibration test for the rate.2
  • Kverneland: always do a static calibration test before spreading, and identify fertiliser by its properties rather than its name.36
  • Bredal: always do a spreading test with the fertiliser you’ll spread; it accepts no liability for spreading errors.4
  • Amazone: a fertiliser’s physical properties have a big influence on both the spread pattern and the rate.7

The UK’s Agricultural Industries Confederation puts it plainly: manufacturers’ tables give guidance only, and calibration and tray tests are necessary.5

Fertiliser suppliers who publish settings for their own products say the same. Origin Fertilisers’ settings sheets are “for guidance only”, and say the spreader should be recalibrated for rate and spread pattern using a tray test.2324 Thomas Bell recommends calibrating the spreader separately for every type of fertiliser, and always doing a tray test.25

Why your farm isn’t the test hall

  • Your fertiliser. Two batches of the same product can need different settings,26 and products with the same name can differ by factory, transport, storage and humidity.6 In the 2011 Bygholm test, one spreader gave 13.6% CV on its chart setting and 5.1% after a tray test, because the chart was based on a coarser product.27
  • Your set-up. Working height, level, PTO speed and headland settings all move the pattern.5
  • Your field. Wind, slopes and bumpy tramlines. Rauch says wide patterns and light products are more sensitive to side wind and to changes in the fertiliser.28

And each manufacturer’s chart covers its own machines. If you run more than one make, or you’re comparing spreaders before you buy, the only like-for-like comparison is a test of each with your fertiliser. We test every make.

So use the chart to get close, then check it: a rate check for every new product, and a tray test across the full width to see where it actually lands. See how to calibrate a spreader and can you tray test your own spreader?

Other questions people ask

Where do I find the setting chart for my spreader?

Most manufacturers now publish their charts in a free app and online: Amazone’s mySpreader app, the RAUCH app, KUHN SpreadSet, Bogballe’s Spread Charts, and Kverneland’s and Vicon’s Spreading Charts. The table above has the details.

What if my fertiliser isn’t in the chart?

Don’t pick the nearest name. Kverneland asks you to identify fertiliser by granule size and specific weight rather than by name.6 Amazone’s UK site asks for a 3 kg sample (its international site says 5 kg) and gives a free setting recommendation; Rauch analyses about 3 kg free, usually within a couple of days.7102 Then check the setting they give you with a tray test.

Are the chart settings wrong?

No. They’re right for the fertiliser they were made with, and often close for yours. In an independent test hall trial in 2011, every spreader set from its manual scored under 15% CV, and following the manufacturers’ own correction steps brought them all under 10%.29 But that was indoors, on a level floor, with no wind. The chart can’t know your tractor, your height, your PTO speed or the batch in your shed.

Does a spreader with weigh cells or radar still need checking?

Weigh cells control how much comes out, not where it lands. Teagasc notes that evenness isn’t necessarily helped by electronic control or GPS.30 Some radar systems adjust the pattern automatically,31 but they still start from chart values, so the starting point needs to be right.

About this article

Written by Spreadcheck (Spreader & Sprayer Testing Ltd), an NSTS testing company at Rookery Farm, Wheaton Aston, Staffordshire, which wrote the original qualification for fertiliser spreader and slug pelleter testing that NSTS adopted. We sell testing, so every figure here links to its source, and we say where the evidence is mixed.

Checked on 12 October 2026. Rules, prices and guidance change, so follow the links for the latest.

Sources

  1. Rauch, Test hall, accessed 2026.
  2. Rauch, Fertiliser sample form, 2026.
  3. Kverneland UK, Kverneland spreading charts, accessed 2026.
  4. Bredal, F4 operator’s manual, 2018.
  5. Agricultural Industries Confederation, Fertiliser Spreaders: choosing, maintaining and using, 2005, linked from RB209 2026.
  6. Kverneland, Kverneland spreading charts, accessed 2026.
  7. Amazone UK, Conscientious fertiliser spreading, accessed 2026.
  8. Amazone, mySpreader app, accessed 2026.
  9. Amazone, FertiliserService, accessed 2026.
  10. Amazone, Spreader Application Center, accessed 2026.
  11. Rauch, RAUCH app, accessed 2026.
  12. Kuhn UK, KUHN SpreadSet calibration assistant, accessed 2026.
  13. Kuhn, Grand opening: RAUCH test hall helps Kuhn promote nutrient stewardship, accessed 2026.
  14. Bogballe, Spread charts, accessed 2026.
  15. Bogballe, Test facilities, accessed 2026.
  16. Yara UK, Spreader calibration, accessed 2026.
  17. Bredal, Spread chart, accessed 2026.
  18. Farmers Weekly, Burel Group drops Sulky brand for Sky Agriculture, 2023.
  19. Agriland, Machinery focus: Sky Agriculture keeps Sulky simplicity, 2024.
  20. Sulky-Burel, DX20 and DX30 setting tables, 2020.
  21. Kverneland, Exacta spreader brochure (Spreader Competence Centre), accessed 2026.
  22. Teagasc and the Fertilizer Association of Ireland, Precise Application of Fertiliser, Technical Bulletin 3, 2017.
  23. Origin Fertilisers, Spreader calibrations: Origin AN prilled 34.5%, 2018.
  24. Origin Fertilisers, Spreader calibrations: KRM (SUSTAIN products), accessed 2026.
  25. Thomas Bell, Fertiliser spreader settings, accessed 2026.
  26. Yara UK, Spreading preparation, accessed 2026.
  27. Farmers Weekly, Fertiliser spreader test: Amazone ZA-M, 2011.
  28. Rauch, Practical test kit operator’s manual, 2024.
  29. Farmers Weekly, Searching for the best fertiliser spreader (Bygholm test hall), 2011.
  30. Teagasc (Dermot Forristal), Accurate spreading: six steps you need to take, Today’s Farm, 2023.
  31. Amazone, ArgusTwin: automatic adjustment of lateral distribution, accessed 2026.