6 Best ATV Hitch Mounted Herbicide Applicators For Pastures For Small Acreage
Discover the top 6 ATV hitch-mounted sprayers for small pastures. Our review compares tank capacity, boom options, and key features for effective weed control.
Staring at a pasture full of thistle and dockweed can feel overwhelming, especially when you only have a few hours on a weekend to deal with it. A good ATV-mounted sprayer turns that daunting task into a manageable one, letting you cover acres in the time it would take to walk them with a backpack sprayer. The right tool doesn’t just save you time; it ensures you’re applying herbicides effectively and responsibly, protecting the forage you want to keep.
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Choosing the Right ATV Sprayer for Your Pasture
The first decision isn’t which brand to buy, but what type of sprayer fits your land. The biggest fork in the road is choosing between a boom sprayer and a boomless sprayer. A traditional boom with multiple nozzles offers incredible precision and a consistent spray pattern, which is perfect for open, rectangular pastures where you want to avoid overlap and missed strips.
Boomless sprayers, on the other hand, use one or a few specialized nozzles to cast a wide, fan-like spray. Their main advantage is durability and convenience. If your pasture is dotted with trees, rocks, or has tight corners and uneven terrain, a boomless setup is a lifesaver because there are no arms to snag on obstacles or break off.
The tradeoff is control. Boomless sprayers are more susceptible to wind drift, and their pattern can be less uniform at the edges, which might mean over-spraying some areas and under-spraying others. You have to decide what matters more: the rugged simplicity for navigating obstacles or the precise application for maximizing chemical efficiency and protecting sensitive areas.
Finally, consider how it mounts. Most sprayers are designed to sit on the ATV’s rear rack, but some are tow-behind units. A rack-mounted sprayer makes your ATV more nimble for tight spots, while a tow-behind model often offers a larger tank and greater stability on hills, as the weight is lower to the ground and not affecting your ATV’s center of gravity as much.
Fimco 25-Gallon Boomless UTV Sprayer LG-25-BL
This sprayer is the workhorse for properties with character. If your "pasture" includes a wooded section, a creek bed, and a few old stone walls, the boomless design is your best friend. It throws a spray pattern up to 30 feet wide, allowing you to cover ground quickly without worrying about a delicate boom getting caught on a low-hanging branch.
The 25-gallon tank is a sweet spot for small acreages, typically from 2 to 10 acres. It’s enough capacity to get a significant area covered without making your ATV feel dangerously top-heavy or causing excessive soil compaction. You’ll still have to refill, but it won’t be every ten minutes.
It also comes standard with a handgun sprayer attached to a long hose. This is more useful than it sounds. It lets you transition seamlessly from broadcasting across the open field to spot-spraying that stubborn patch of poison ivy along the fenceline or hitting weeds under a low-slung electric fence wire without getting off the ATV.
NorthStar 40-Gallon Broadcast & Spot Sprayer
When you cross the 10-acre threshold, refill trips start to eat up your entire Saturday. The NorthStar 40-gallon unit is built for those slightly larger hobby farms. That extra 15 gallons of capacity means significantly more spray time between water runs, which is a huge efficiency gain.
The key feature here is the powerful pump. NorthStar sprayers are known for their commercial-grade pumps that deliver higher pressure (PSI) and flow rates (GPM). This ensures a consistent and forceful spray pattern, even when broadcasting at maximum width. A stronger pump is less likely to bog down, providing better atomization of the herbicide for more effective coverage on weed foliage.
However, be realistic about your equipment. Forty gallons of water weighs over 330 pounds. You need a UTV or a larger, more powerful ATV to handle this weight safely, especially on slopes or uneven ground. Putting this on a small recreational 250cc ATV is asking for trouble.
Chapin 15-Gallon Mixes On Exit Spot Sprayer
Spray efficiently with the Chapin 97361: its dual tank design mixes concentrate on demand, eliminating premixing. Featuring a 15-gallon water tank, quick connect pump, and triple filtration, this USA-made sprayer easily attaches to your ATV/UTV.
This sprayer solves one of the biggest headaches for a small operator: what to do with leftover herbicide mix. The Chapin "Mixes On Exit" system is brilliant in its simplicity. You fill the main tank with plain water and put concentrated herbicide into a separate, smaller tank. The system then mixes them to your specified ratio as you spray.
This is a game-changer. You never have to worry about mixing too much and having to dispose of it. It also allows you to switch between different herbicides without flushing the entire system; just swap the concentrate container. For someone managing different weed types in different areas—broadleaf in the pasture, a tougher brush killer along the woods—this flexibility is invaluable.
The 15-gallon size makes it light and nimble, perfect for smaller ATVs and for detailed work. It’s not designed for broadcasting across 20 acres, but for targeted applications, fencelines, and properties under 5 acres, its precision and lack of chemical waste make it an incredibly smart and cost-effective choice.
Agri-Fab 25-Gallon Tow Sprayer for Precision
For those with smooth, open pastures, a tow-behind sprayer like this Agri-Fab model offers a level of precision that rack-mounted units struggle to match. Because it’s a trailer, the boom height remains consistent even as the ATV’s suspension moves over small bumps. This results in a much more even application, which is critical for preventing streaks of burned or untreated pasture.
The folding boom design provides a 7-foot spray width, which is a very manageable size for navigating gates and storage. The large pneumatic tires help it float over the ground, reducing compaction compared to the ATV’s tires doing all the work of carrying the weight. This is a subtle but important benefit for maintaining healthy pasture soil.
The primary drawback is maneuverability. A trailer is inherently more difficult to back up and navigate in tight quarters. It’s not the right tool for an orchard or a winding pasture full of obstacles. But for a clean, rectangular field, its stability and application consistency are hard to beat.
Master MFG 15-Gallon Spot Sprayer for Fences
Sometimes, you don’t need to spray the whole field. You just need to control the relentless creep of weeds along hundreds of feet of fenceline, around buildings, or along a driveway. That’s where a dedicated spot sprayer like this 15-gallon Master MFG unit shines.
Its small footprint and low weight mean it can be mounted on virtually any ATV without impacting stability. The focus here is entirely on the spray wand and hose. A quality pump delivers consistent pressure to the handgun, allowing you to adjust the nozzle from a fine mist for broad coverage to a straight stream for reaching distant or specific targets.
Think of this as the specialist’s tool. While other sprayers can do spot spraying, this one is built for it. It’s perfect for the farmer who already has a good broadcast solution (like a pull-behind spreader for granular fertilizer) but needs a liquid applicator for the detailed, time-consuming cleanup work that every property has.
Fimco 25-Gallon Sprayer with 7-Nozzle Boom
This is the classic, no-nonsense boom sprayer for small pastures. It offers the same reliable 25-gallon Fimco tank and pump but pairs it with a 7-nozzle, 12-foot folding boom. This setup is the gold standard for uniform coverage in open spaces. Each nozzle is precisely spaced to ensure the spray patterns overlap perfectly.
The main advantage over a boomless sprayer is drift control. The nozzles are closer to the ground, and the droplets are generally larger and less misty, meaning your herbicide goes where you want it to—on the weeds, not on your neighbor’s garden or a sensitive creek bank. This is a critical aspect of responsible herbicide application.
Of course, the boom is the weak point. You have to be mindful of fence posts, trees, and uneven ground that could catch a boom arm. But for someone with a few acres of relatively open pasture, the superior accuracy and reduced environmental impact of a boom sprayer make it the superior choice.
Key Features: Pump GPM, Tank Size, and Nozzles
When you’re comparing spec sheets, it’s easy to get lost in the numbers. Let’s simplify the three most important ones: pump GPM, tank size, and nozzles. They all work together to define what a sprayer can do.
Pump GPM (Gallons Per Minute) is the measure of flow. A higher GPM pump can support a wider boom with more nozzles or power a broadcast nozzle that throws liquid 30 feet. A pump with a low GPM (around 1.0) is fine for a spot sprayer wand but will struggle to maintain pressure for a large boom, resulting in a weak, dribbling spray. Look for pumps in the 2.2 to 4.5 GPM range for effective broadcasting.
Tank Size is a direct tradeoff between efficiency and safety. A bigger tank means fewer stops to refill, which saves a surprising amount of time. However, water is heavy (about 8.3 pounds per gallon). A 40-gallon tank adds over 330 pounds to your ATV’s rear rack. You must match the tank size to what your ATV can safely carry, always checking the manufacturer’s rack capacity limits.
Nozzles are the final piece of the puzzle. They determine the pattern and droplet size. Boom sprayers use flat-fan nozzles for an overlapping, even pattern. Spot sprayers use adjustable cone nozzles that can go from a mist to a stream. Boomless sprayers use a single, wide-angle nozzle that sacrifices some precision for clog resistance and durability. Having the right nozzle for the job is just as important as having the right pump.
Ultimately, the best ATV sprayer is the one that matches the unique layout of your land and the specific jobs you need to do. Don’t just buy the biggest one you can afford; think about your terrain, your ATV’s capacity, and whether you need broadcast precision or spot-spraying flexibility. Choosing correctly from the start will save you countless hours and frustration, letting you get back to the more enjoyable parts of managing your property.
