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No Time For Downtime

Fendt® tractors keep this family’s business running, even in the harshest of conditions.

By Richard Banks | Photos By Jamie Cole

During six weeks each summer, Jered Rediger and his crew bale as many 3,200 straw bales a day. “We might be following 20-plus combines that are going as hard as they can go,” and, he notes, “we’re just running three balers these days.”

The conditions are brutal, and because of the short season, there’s even less time for downtime. “We have a lot of chaff,” he says. “It’s so dry. It’s a light, short product … so it moves around a lot and gets in places you wouldn’t think it would. With other tractor [brands], we’ve had to watch the radiators, your aftertreatment on the exhaust … around bearings and drives and things like that.”

Rediger, however, says of the AGCO® tractors he’s now running—especially his Fendt® 933 and a new 1038—“the hoods seal well, keep the engine compartment clean. It keeps your coolers clean.” Instead of spending valuable time blowing off the radiator screen and filters, or having to deal with issues of overheating, Jered and his crew “keep running hard,” he says.

It’s just one example of the “fit and finish” of Fendt tractors, adds Jered. “There’s just a lot of quality put into them. The cab suspension and the front axle suspension—just the ride. I can hardly say enough. The whole unit comes together and works well.”

Specifically of his 1038, Rediger praises its versatility and fuel efficiency in ground-engaged operations and pulling his Hesston by Massey Ferguson® large square balers, as well as its ability to drive on roadways. Of Fendt’s continuously variable transmission (CVT), he says, it is extremely useful “if we’re going to hop on the road and [need to] accelerate quickly, or if we’re in the field and want to make a small adjustment in speed for baling or blade work.”

Rediger also gives his AGCO dealer Peterson Ag in Albany, OR, a nod for keeping his equipment up and running. “The conditions that we operate in are extremely harsh,” says Rediger, “and, on top of that, there is no margin for error during baling. We have to have that equipment running and running at peak performance. Those guys at Peterson are there for us, whenever we need them.”

Overall, Jered says of his Fendt tractors, “We’ve had almost zero downtime,” which has helped him run fewer tractors and balers in the past few years, while actually improving productivity. “You can get in every morning and run them, and they go all day, maybe all night if you want. Just fill them up with fuel and go.”