Claas Axion 8 CMATIC: New Range Replaces Axion 800
Scheduled to replace its Axion 800 series, Claas has released details of the new, three model, Axion 8 CMATIC range.
After its flagship 1200 model set a Guiness World Record in forage harvesting, mopping up 4096 tonnes of whole crop silage in 12 hours, Claas has picked up a brace of awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ASABE).
The society has awarded AE50 Awards to two innovations from CLAAS – the Jaguar 1000 forage harvester series and the Orbis 10500 corn header.
Dennis Ogle for Claas of America said the awards confirm that CLAAS continues to “set standards in performance, efficiency, and intelligent machine design for the harvesting of forage crops”.
Both the Jaguar 1000 series and the Orbis 10500 were developed in close collaboration with farmers and contractors, says Ogle, with a focus on real productivity gains and ease of use, with a high degree of automation.
With four models, the Jaguar 1000 series offers engine outputs of up to 1110hp, complemented by the widest crop flow on the market, fully hydraulic pre-compression, homogeneous chopping quality and a 310mm diameter corn cracker for optimum grain conditioning. As part of the package, the 1000 Series also includes the choice of a newly developed, high-throughput pick-up header, or with the Orbis, a row independent unit.
The ASABE jury also highlighted the Orbis 10500 header for its contribution to increasing overall harvesting efficiency. The row-independent corn header with a working width of 10.50m - harvesting 14 rows with 75cm spacing - uses an independent variable drive of the knife and transport discs.
Four years since it was first detected in New Zealand, researchers and growers now know much more about management of maize pest fall armyworm (FAW).
The Government has announced it will pause key parts of Waikato Plan Change 1 (PC1) in a decision that is set to give Waikato farmers a reprieve from new consenting and farm-planning requirements while the wider resource management system is overhauled.
OPINION: The time has come for the Government to back the organic sector.
Plan ahead and be patient. That’s the message to farmers and horticulturalists from the chairman of the NZ Agricultural Aviation Association, Kent Weir.
The industry is crying out for graduates with agricultural related degrees.
While GPS and guidance have become the norm and yield mapping and variable application continues to gain traction, most agricultural machinery manufacturers continue to expand their technology offerings, amalgamating the vast amounts of data being collected to streamline real-time and ongoing management decisions.

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