The Fendt 1000 Tractor: The New Benchmark

Sonke Claussen is not immune to the allure of a gleaming, brand-new tractor, but he has a business to run. “It needs to make money,” he says. “It needs to be paid back.”

For each tractor he buys, Sonke—who along with his brother, Hauke, runs a custom-farming and roadwork business—carefully computes the cost per operating hour. Based on such factors as fuel consumption, sticker price, service, even resale value, he has found that by using Fendt tractors, he saves between CA $7 and $10 per hour, as compared to the competition.

The Claussens bought their first Fendt in 2003. Since then, they have bought 21 more—most recently, a Vario 1038 and a 1042. They quickly saw that the award-winning 1000 Vario Series “was setting a new benchmark,” says Sonke. For instance, compared to some of his older tractors, he says he is now saving an additional 10 liters per hour when using either of the 1000 Series tractors.

The Claussens were first attracted to Fendt for its speed, critical to a business in which jobs are as much as 100 kilometers from home. “If we can cut down the road time, that gives us more productive time in the field,” Hauke says. At a certain overall weight, the 1000 Series can easily hit 50 kph—and the comfort is just “phenomenal,” Hauke says. “It’s just like driving a nice car.”

A key part of Sonke’s calculations comes down to service. The Claussens have thousands of acres and plenty of kilometers of road to work, all scattered across western Ontario, and need to maximize uptime. The team at Connect Equipment in Innerkip works hard to make sure that’s a reality, he says, providing quick tune-ups and replacement machines when necessary. “Since 2004, we really haven’t had any downtime,” Sonke says. “We are very, very happy with that service.”

Ultimately, though, what makes Fendt tractors so valuable is their engineering. While they are nimble enough to get from field to field quickly, the Fendt 1000 Vario tractors deliver the power necessary to do nearly any fieldwork. In addition, the new VarioDrive is the first drivetrain that drives both axles independently. It was developed specifically to exploit high torque to keep engine speeds low, independent of ground conditions.

Such technology not only saves on fuel, but it also extends the life of the machine, Sonke has found. A quality machine that saves money—that, says Sonke, makes the decision to keep buying Fendt tractors an easy one.