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With 14 models across the range, the Jaguar Series is the largest in the market.
Family owned harvesting specialist Claas employs about 11,300 people globally and 10% of its workforce is in R&D.
This explains why the lime green machines dominate the grass harvesting market in NZ and overseas.
For the 2017 season, Claas Jaguar will be offered in three ranges: Jaguar 800 series (type 496), Jaguar 900 series (type 497) and the new Jaguar 900 series (type 498) – the latter only available for the coming season with Tier 4 Final engines. With 14 models now available across the three families, the Jaguar range is the largest in the market and able to cope with a wide range of operations.
The new Type 498 includes several technological advances: a continuously variable front attachment drive system, enhanced crop-flow and an automated loading system.
Up front, the hydraulically driven attachment drive will automatically adjust its speed as chop length is changed, thereby maintaining crop feed and chop quality.
Particularly useful for grass pick-ups or the Orbis maize header, there is also the ability to use a split system which combines the new hydraulic and the original mechanical drive lines to allow high power transmission at constant speeds. This might be the case with attachments like the DirectDisc cutterbars.
Grass pick-ups can also be equipped with the maker’s Active Contour system to improve ground following accuracy in undulating or hilly conditions, while ensuring clean raking and minimal crop contamination.
The new 900 Series also has an automatically adjusting cylinder concave said to aid crop flow by its working with automated shear-bar setting software. In practice, once the blades have been sharpened and the shear bar has been adjusted to its optimal clearance the concave is also adjusted to its premium setting irrespective of the blade condition.
The AutoFill function, as the name suggests, does exactly that and removes strain from both the harvester and haulage operators by automatically filling trailers, wagons or trucks. A discharge spout mounted, high-resolution camera looks at the transport body dimensions in real time and fills the void automatically.
Also new for the 2017 season are improvements to the main driveline which has been designed to offer maximum tractive power and quick response, especially in difficult terrain or conditions.
A new hydrostatic motor offers two ranges, with field speeds up to 22km/h, while an added function called Cruise Pilot allows precise control of forward speed and reduces engine speed.
A differential lock set-up can be triggered manually or automatically when wheel slip is detected.
Well known for its dominance in the harvesting arena, Claas has channelled its engineering excellence and a deep knowledge of the ag industry with the Fieldays release of the 2025 facelift Claas Arion 600C Evolution and Claas Night Edition Arion 660 tractors.
Silage making is both a science and an art, but Claas says it offers onboard technology featured in its Claas Perfect Partners to help farmers make silage more efficiently and effectively.
Claas has recently celebrated the 250,000th CLAAS mower – a Disco 3200 FC – rolling off the production line in Bad Saulgau, south-west Germany.
Christchurch-headquartered Landpower and its Claas Harvest Centre dealerships has taken out the Global After Sales Excellence award in Germany, during the annual Claas after sales meeting at the end of January.
January to March is the heart of New Zealand’s ‘golden’ harvest, but also the time of the year when Landpower and Claas Harvest Centre welcomes two optimisation specialists from Germany to support Claas combine customers in the cab of their machine.
A project reducing strains and sprains on farm has won the Innovation category in the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2025.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other sector organisations, has launched a national survey to understand better the impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmers.
One of New Zealand's latest and largest agrivoltaics farm Te Herenga o Te Rā is delivering clean renewable energy while preserving the land's agricultural value for sheep grazing under the modules.
Global food company Nestle’s chair Paul Bulcke will step down at its next annual meeting in April 2026.
Brendan Attrill of Caiseal Trust in Taranaki has been announced as the 2025 National Ambassador for Sustainable Farming and Growing and recipient of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy at the National Sustainability Showcase at in Wellington this evening.
The next phase of the Taste Pure Nature campaign has been launched in Shanghai, China.
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