Claas Balers Turn 30
Claas built its first variable chamber round baler - the Variant 100 - in 1996, so 2026 marks 30 years and the fifth generation of the Variant name, recently complemented by the new Cerex Series introduced in 2025.
It was one of six John Deere products named by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), which each year recognises innovative product-engineering designs in the food and agriculture industry.
Winning products are selected for ingenuity in product development and for their ability to save farmers time, costs and labour while improving safety.
The HDR Rigid Cutterbar Draper Series was recognised for its ability to maximise harvesting capacity for small grains, canola and pulse production across changing conditions and uneven or rolling terrain while capturing more grain.
Featuring a new hinged frame, the HDR provides terrain-following capability and uniform cut height when harvesting on curves or uneven terrain.
“This reduces crop losses and increases hectares harvested per hour,” says JD’s Australia and New Zealand production system manager Ben Kelly.
The HDR will be available in New Zealand in time for harvest 2022.
Further 2021 AE50 Awards were picked up by the JD X9-1000 and X9-1100 Combine Harvesters.
The latter offers the ability to harvest up to 12 hectares (30 acres) of wheat per hour, or 182 tonnes per hour of corn. The X Series will arrive in New Zealand in August 2021.
Likewise, John Deere’s CF Folding Corn Heads help reduce operating costs by offering fold cycle time of less than 40 seconds, when fitted to X Series harvesters. Or less than 60 seconds when connected to an S700 Series machine.
The folding corn head helps reduces a farmer’s costs by eliminating the need to purchase a header trailer to transport between paddocks.
