Latvia

Janis Cers,
Machinery department director,
Sigulda, Rigas rajons, Latvia.

On the XERION 3800:
"Drivers love to work with it - and that " improves their motivation!

Since the turn of the millennium and the accession of Latvia to the EU, Latvia's agricultural industry is making considerable progress. This is also the case for PS Lidums SIA, a 3,600 hectare farm.

Here, too, a XERION 3800 has been proving its worth since 2007 - in particular thanks to its low fuel consumption and increased versatility.

"Fuel consumption is a particularly important criterion" says Janis Cers, when asked why they continued to use the XERION after the trial. Fuel consumption measurements showed that the XERION 3800, when used to pull a 5m-wide Centaur cultivator at a working depth of 15 cm, uses an average of 12 litres per hectare on hard ground and only around 10 litres per hectare on softer ground. When used under the same operating conditions, the fuel consumption of a standard 350 HP tractor was 14 l/ha. A 485 crawler used considerably more fuel at 16 litres per hectare, although it was only able to pull 1.5 km/h faster.

"Drivers love to work with the XERION - and that improves their motivation", says Janis Cers. He states cab comfort, great visibility from the cab, long maintenance intervals, and CLAAS headland management as the particular pros of the XERION. He is quick to praise the fact that the XERION can be fitted with additional weights depending on usage requirements and can work with a low tyre pressure of 0.7 bar in order to optimise tractive power. Janis Cers also points out an advantage for crab steering: "The ground load pressure is reduced."

However, Cers sees the versatility of the XERION as a particularly important advantage: "In addition to using it for heavy cultivation, we can also use it for transport work and other tasks."Next, PS Lidum SIA wants to buy a XERION Trac VC with a pivotable cab for use, for example, with a seed tank and powerful drilling technology; there is also talk of an add-on tank solution for liquid manure injection.