6 Sprayer Boom Leveling Systems That Master Uneven Ground

You’ve spent hours watching the weather, waiting for that perfect, calm window to spray. You finally get out there, but your fields aren’t a tabletop. As you navigate terraces and rolling hills, you’re constantly fighting the controls, trying to keep one boom tip from digging into the ground while the other soars ten feet in the air. This isn’t just frustrating; it’s wasteful and ineffective. Proper boom height is the foundation of a good spray application, ensuring chemicals land where they’re supposed to, at the right concentration.

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Manual vs. Automatic Sprayer Boom Leveling

Manual boom control is the default for most smaller or older sprayers. It’s simple: you watch the booms and use a joystick or levers to adjust the height and tilt. On flat ground, this works just fine.

The trouble starts when the terrain gets interesting. With manual control, you become the sensor and the computer, constantly reacting to every dip and rise. This is incredibly fatiguing over a few hours, and mistakes are inevitable. A moment of distraction is all it takes for a boom to dip into the crop, causing damage, or fly too high, causing massive spray drift and poor coverage.

Automatic systems take that burden off your shoulders. Using sensors—typically ultrasonic or radar—they constantly measure the distance to the ground or the crop canopy. This data feeds a controller that automatically adjusts the boom’s hydraulic cylinders to maintain a preset height. The primary benefit is consistency. The system doesn’t get tired or distracted, delivering a perfect application height from the first acre to the last. While the upfront cost is a major consideration, the long-term savings in chemicals, reduced crop damage, and better yields often justify the investment.

Raven AutoBoom XRT: Radar-Based Precision

When you need uncompromising performance, especially in challenging conditions, radar-based systems are the top tier. The Raven AutoBoom XRT uses radar sensors instead of the more common ultrasonic ones. This is a key difference. Radar can "see" through thick dust and is less likely to be confused by a dense, uneven crop canopy.

This makes the XRT system exceptionally good for late-season applications, like spraying fungicide over tall corn or soybeans. Where an ultrasonic sensor might get a false reading off the highest leaves, the radar penetrates the canopy for a more accurate sense of the true boom height. It also provides incredibly smooth and proactive adjustments, anticipating changes in the ground ahead.

For a hobby farmer, this is a premium choice. It’s an aftermarket system that can be fitted to most sprayers with sufficient hydraulic capability. If your property has dramatic terrain changes or you grow high-value crops where precise application is critical, the investment in a radar system like the XRT can provide peace of mind and a measurable return.

John Deere BoomTrac Pro for Integrated Control

If you’re running a John Deere sprayer, staying within their ecosystem offers huge advantages. BoomTrac Pro is John Deere’s factory-integrated boom leveling solution. Its biggest strength is that it was designed from the ground up to work with your specific machine and its GreenStar display.

The system uses multiple ultrasonic sensors along the boom to control height, tilt, and wing yaw. This means it’s not just lifting the center rack; it’s actively managing each boom wing independently. This is crucial when crossing ditches or terraces, as it can lift the downhill boom while lowering the uphill one to perfectly follow the contour.

Because it’s integrated, all the settings and readouts are right on the screen you’re already using for guidance and rate control. There are no extra boxes bolted to your console or confusing wiring harnesses. For the farmer invested in the John Deere platform, BoomTrac Pro offers a seamless, powerful, and user-friendly experience, though it comes at a premium price typical of OEM solutions.

Topcon NORAC UC7 for Aftermarket Upgrades

Topcon’s NORAC systems are legendary in the boom control world. For years, they’ve been the go-to specialists for aftermarket solutions, and the UC7 is their most advanced offering. It’s designed to be retrofitted onto virtually any make or model of sprayer, making it a fantastic way to bring modern precision to an older, but still reliable, machine.

The UC7’s magic lies in its "active roll" technology. It combines data from ultrasonic sensors with a solid-state gyroscope in the main controller. This allows the system to differentiate between the sprayer chassis rolling and the actual terrain changing. The result is a boom that stays incredibly stable and level, even when the sprayer itself is bouncing over rough ground. It’s proactive, not just reactive.

This is an ideal choice for the farmer who has a good sprayer but needs to conquer challenging terrain. NORAC offers various sensor packages, allowing you to tailor the system to your boom width and budget. It represents a significant upgrade in performance that can transform an older sprayer’s capabilities.

TeeJet BoomPilot: A Simple, Reliable Option

Not everyone needs a system with gyroscopes and radar that can handle 120-foot booms. Sometimes, you just want something that will reliably handle the basic up-and-down adjustments on moderately rolling ground. This is where the TeeJet BoomPilot shines.

TeeJet is a name every farmer knows from their nozzles and controllers, and their approach to boom control reflects their brand: straightforward, effective, and reliable. The BoomPilot is a simpler, more accessible automatic system. It uses ultrasonic sensors to control the main boom lift and, depending on the kit, the tilt function.

It’s not designed to be the fastest or most feature-rich system on the market. Instead, it focuses on automating the most critical and fatiguing task. For a 60-foot boom on a smaller farm with gentle hills, the BoomPilot provides about 80% of the benefit of a premium system for a fraction of the cost. It’s a practical, workhorse solution for taking the first step into automatic boom leveling.

Ag Leader IntelliHeight for Total Farm Sync

Ag Leader’s strength is in creating a single, cohesive ecosystem for your entire operation. Their IntelliHeight boom control system is not just a standalone component; it’s a fully integrated part of their InCommand display environment. This is for the operator who wants one screen to manage everything seamlessly.

When connected to an InCommand display, IntelliHeight works in concert with your autosteer and rate control. The system knows your speed, where you are in the field, and what your application goals are. This allows for smarter, more integrated control, such as automatically adjusting height presets when you approach a headland.

Choosing IntelliHeight is about more than just boom control; it’s about buying into a platform. If you’re already using Ag Leader for guidance or yield monitoring, adding IntelliHeight is a natural extension. The benefit is a less cluttered cab, simplified operation, and the power of having all your precision ag tools communicating with each other.

Trimble Field-IQ System for Full Automation

Like Ag Leader, Trimble offers a comprehensive, modular precision agriculture platform. Boom height control is a key feature within their Field-IQ system. This approach allows you to build your precision toolkit over time, starting with what you need most and adding capabilities later.

The Trimble system uses ultrasonic sensors to maintain consistent boom height, but its real power is unlocked when combined with other Field-IQ functions and an Autopilot steering system. When everything is working together, the level of automation is remarkable. The sprayer steers itself, maintains the perfect boom height, and controls individual nozzles to prevent overlaps, all without constant operator input.

This level of automation dramatically reduces fatigue and allows you to focus on monitoring the sprayer’s performance and field conditions. For the hobby farmer looking to maximize efficiency and make long days in the cab more productive and less stressful, the Trimble system offers a clear path toward full automation.

Choosing a System for Your Sprayer and Field

There is no single "best" boom leveling system. The right choice depends entirely on your equipment, your fields, and your budget. Start by defining the problem you’re trying to solve. Is it just operator fatigue on gentle slopes, or is it preventing a boom from crashing into a terrace on steep hillsides?

Use these points as a guide to narrow down your options:

• Budget & Existing Sprayer: For an older sprayer and a tight budget, a simple aftermarket system like TeeJet BoomPilot is a fantastic starting point.
• Maximum Performance & Flexibility: If you need the best performance on any brand of sprayer, a dedicated aftermarket system like Topcon NORAC or Raven AutoBoom XRT is the answer.
• Seamless OEM Integration: If you run a modern John Deere, Case IH, or other major brand, their factory-integrated systems offer the cleanest and most user-friendly experience.
• Building a Full-Farm System: If your goal is a single-screen solution for steering, mapping, and application control, choosing a platform like Ag Leader or Trimble is the most strategic long-term move.

Ultimately, an automatic boom control system should be viewed as an investment in quality. It pays for itself by ensuring every dollar you spend on chemicals is placed exactly where it can do the most good. By reducing waste, preventing crop damage, and minimizing spray drift, you’re not just improving your application—you’re improving your farm’s bottom line and sustainability.

Moving from manual to automatic boom control is one of the most impactful upgrades you can make to your spraying operation. It transforms a stressful, fatiguing job into one of oversight and management. By choosing a system that matches your terrain and goals, you ensure better results, save money on inputs, and gain confidence that every pass is a perfect pass.