Act 36 compliance
Act 36 of 1947 spray records for golf courses and grounds
TurfOps keeps a chemical application register for golf courses, estates and grounds in South Africa, written as the spraying happens. Each record holds the site, the zone, the product, the rate, the area treated, who logged it and the weather on the day, captured automatically. The register filters by site, product and date, and prints or exports in one click when an inspector or auditor asks for the Act 36 of 1947 spray records.
What the register holds
Act 36 of 1947 is the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act 36 of 1947, the South African law under which agricultural remedies are registered and controlled. TurfOps keeps one record per application. It holds the date applied, the site, the zone or the whole site, the application type, the product name, the rate, the area treated, the weather conditions, the person who logged it and any notes. Application type is one of fertiliser, herbicide, fungicide, insecticide, growth regulator, wetting agent or other. Area treated is greens, fairways, roughs, tees, surrounds or all. The register is a record kept so that an inspector or auditor can be answered from one screen. TurfOps does not give legal advice and does not certify compliance; it keeps the record in order.
- Date, site and zone, down to a single green or fairway
- Product name, rate and area treated
- Application type, from fertiliser to growth regulator
- Weather on the day and the person who logged it
Spraying weather recorded automatically
Weather is the part of a spray record most often left blank on paper, so TurfOps fills it in. When an application is logged, TurfOps looks up the weather for the site's coordinates on the application date from a public weather service and stores it on the record. For a past date it stores the mean temperature, the maximum wind speed and the rainfall for that day. For today it stores the current conditions. Nobody types a wind speed, and nobody can type a convenient one. Before spraying, the chemicals screen shows a spray conditions line for the site, rated good, marginal or poor, with the wind speed and temperature behind the rating, so a superintendent can hold off when the wind is up.
- Mean temperature, maximum wind and rainfall for the day of application
- Spray conditions for each site rated good, marginal or poor before you start
- No weather field to fill in, and none to leave blank
A pesticide application register that answers an inspector
The compliance register lists every application across every site the organisation can see, newest first. Search by product name, filter by site and set a date range, and the register narrows to the records asked for. Print or PDF produces the register with the organisation's name and the date it was generated at the top, with every matching record included, not only the page on screen. CSV export gives the same filtered set as a file for an auditor, a client or head office. A service provider maintaining a client's course logs against that client's site, so the register follows the ground rather than the contractor. The same register covers landscaping and grounds work, because the Act applies to the remedy, not to whether the ground is a fairway.
- Search by product, filter by site, set a date range
- Print or PDF with the organisation name and generation date
- CSV of the whole filtered register
- Records kept per site, so a contractor's register follows each client's ground
Who logged it, and vehicle licences that warn before they lapse
Each record carries the person who logged it, taken from whoever was signed in at the time, so every row names who made the entry and when. TurfOps does not hold applicator or pest control operator licences. Licence tracking is in the fleet module and covers vehicles and machines: a licence disc or registration with an expiry date on file is grouped as overdue, expiring within thirty days and current, soonest first. A banner appears the moment any vehicle or machine licence is overdue or within thirty days, an alert is raised, and the site turns amber on the portfolio map. Renewing is one confirmation, with an optional photo of the new disc kept against the machine.
- Logged-by user recorded from the sign in, not typed
- Vehicle and machine licences grouped as overdue, expiring within 30 days and current, in the fleet module
- Renew a disc with one confirmation and a photo of the new one
Logging an application in a few fields
An application is logged from the chemicals screen in a few fields: site, zone, type, product, rate, area and date, with a note if needed. The date defaults to today and cannot be set in the future. Zones are the real greens, fairways and tees drawn on the site map, so a record can say which green rather than just which course. The record is written at the time, and the weather is attached as it saves, so there is no evening of copying from a notebook into a spreadsheet. Logging requires a role allowed to write operations, and every organisation's records are isolated from every other's in the database. The register exports in full at any time, so the records remain yours if you leave.
- Site, zone, type, product, rate, area, date and a note
- Zones drawn from the real course geometry
- Role based: only people allowed to write operations can log
- Full export at any time, with no lock in
Common questions
What is an Act 36 of 1947 spray record?
Act 36 of 1947 is the Fertilizers, Farm Feeds, Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act, the South African law under which agricultural remedies are registered and controlled. A spray record is the entry an operation keeps for each application of a remedy. In TurfOps that entry holds the date, site, zone, product, rate, area treated, application type, the weather on the day and who logged it. TurfOps keeps the record; what the law requires of your operation is a question for your regulator or adviser.
Is there spray record software for golf courses in South Africa?
Yes. TurfOps is built in Cape Town by TurfOps (Pty) Ltd for South African operators maintaining golf courses, estates and grounds. The chemical register is part of the platform rather than an add on, with the Act 36 of 1947 record, automatic spraying weather, who logged each record and print, PDF and CSV exports included. Pricing is per site per month with free unlimited field seats; current prices are on the pricing page.
Why keep the chemical register in software instead of a paper register or WhatsApp?
A paper register is in one place, usually the wrong one, and a WhatsApp group is a photo nobody can find under pressure. In TurfOps each application is logged on the day, the weather attaches itself, the record names who logged it from their sign in and the register filters by site, product and date. When an inspector asks, it prints or exports in one click. Nothing is copied over at the end of the week, so nothing is missed or rewritten from memory.
How is the spraying weather recorded?
Automatically. When an application is logged, TurfOps looks up the weather for the site's coordinates on the application date and stores it on the record: for a past date the mean temperature, maximum wind speed and rainfall for that day, and for today the current conditions. There is no weather field to type into. Before spraying, each site also shows a spray conditions rating of good, marginal or poor with the wind and temperature behind it.
Does TurfOps keep pest control operator records?
No. TurfOps does not hold pest control operator registrations or applicator licences, and it does not warn when a person's licence lapses. What it keeps is the record of each application and who logged it: every row carries the name of the signed-in user who made the entry, together with the product, rate, area, zone, date and weather, on screen, in print and in the CSV. Licence expiry tracking in TurfOps is for vehicles and machines in the fleet module.
Can the chemical register be exported for an audit?
Yes. Filter the register to the site and date range the auditor asked for, then choose Print or PDF for a document headed with the organisation's name and the generation date, or CSV for a file. Both cover every matching record, not only the page on screen, with the same columns: date, site, zone, type, product, rate, area, weather, who logged it and notes. Records export in full at any time, with no lock in, and each organisation's records are isolated from every other's in the database.