The all-new Fendt 1000 Vario Series tractor range will be making their debut in Ireland. These tractors are the result of thousands of hours of design and engineering, resulting in what Fendt claims is “serious tractors for serious agribusinesses”.

The Fendt 1050 Vario is the first high-horsepower tractor to be fitted with the low engine speed concept – Fendt ProDrive. This system has incorporated all of the key tractor components such as the engine, transmission, cooling system and hydraulics, allowing them to be coordinated with each other during the course of the design and development of the tractor. This allowed each component to be designed to suit a ‘‘high torque – low engine speed’’ principle in order to maximise overall performance, while more importantly in a tractor of this size, minimise fuel consumption.

I feel that the 1000 series will be a serious contender in the high horsepower tractor market due to the extensive design and development that has gone into this machine

The range consists of four models with horsepower outputs of 380hp to 500hp. All of the models are powered by compact MAN six-cylinder engines. On the road, the 1000 series can reach a top speed of 60km/hr making light work of road haulage work, and with an unladen weight of just 14 tonnes the tractors are equally efficient in the field carrying out tillage operations.

Sean Gorman, area sales manager for Fendt, spoke about his excitement to be introducing the 1000 series to Ireland at the Ploughing.

“I am really excited to be able to introduce this new flagship tractor to the Irish market. I feel that the 1000 series will be a serious contender in the high horsepower tractor market due to the extensive design and development that has gone into this machine. Firstly, take the engines; they enable the tractor to achieve maximum torque at low revs of between 1,100rpm and 1,500rpm. This, in turn, results in a highly fuel-efficient machine.”

The high level of performance is aided by the concentric air/cooling system, which makes the 1000 Series 75% more efficient than tractors fitted with standard cooling systems.

Transferring the power to the ground is taken care of by independently-driven front and rear axles, which perform without the need for any input from the operator. This ensures that maximum traction is achieved in all conditions. The tyres on this tractor are a main focal point; up front, the tyres are 710 60R38, which are more commonly found on the rear axle of many 200hp tractors, while the rear tyres are an enormous 900 65R46, which had to be specially designed for the Fendt 1000 Series.

Ballasting is another area that Fendt has looked at in great detail with the aim of enhancing the tractor’s performance. Flexible ballasting can be fitted from 14t up to 21t. This is made a much simpler process thanks to the innovative Grip Assistant feature, where the tractor is able to calculate automatically the level of ballast required to achieve optimum overall performance.

Inside the cab, the Fendt VarioGuide self-steer system helps to achieve significant savings in costs and time by avoiding over- and under-lapping, meaning that every inch of every field is used for maximum crop production, while the tractor doesn’t use fuel unnecessarily while carrying out the work.

This system also allows the operator time to monitor all vehicle functions to ensure optimum task performance is being achieved. VarioGuide offers varying degrees of accuracy to satisfy individual requirements and can be transferred between tractors.

Also on display on the Fendt stand at the National Ploughing Championships will be models from the 700, 500 and 300 Series tractors. The Fendt team will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.