CLAAS sells first small AXOS 340 tractor into the WA market

Australian seed trial company Kalyx has purchased the first CLAAS AXOS 340 tractor sold into the WA market.

CLAAS Harvest Centre Northam, which sold the tractor, was prepping it for delivery to Kalyx’s Beverley site, where it is expected to be used for trials across the Wheatbelt.

CLAAS HC sales representative Mel Parnell said the company was branching out into the small tractor market with this initial sale, which had been a long time in the making due to not having the model on display in WA for customers to see.

“It’s a good story that the branch is expanding into the small tractor market,” Mr Parnell said.

Mr Parnell said Kalyx, which had not commented on the purchase, had been using one in the eastern states and during a recent visit from local team members they decided it was what they needed in WA as well.

“The buyers had seen the model while on a trip to the east coast and came back and asked for a quote,” Mr Parnell said.

While the first AXOS 340 tractor was already sold, there was another one on the way to WA, which would be on display at Northam, Katanning, and Margaret River for customers to get an up-close look.

The AXOS 340 is marketed as compact on the outside and spacious on the inside, easy to control, suitable for working inside buildings, and has a tight turning radius of 4.3 metres.

It has a long wheel base of 2.49m and a low centre of gravity with a balanced 50/50 weight distribution — a maximum lift capacity of 3800kg.

PTO speeds range from 540rpm to 1000rpm and a hydraulic pump’s flow rate of 55 litres per minute.

The AXOS 340 is a 4.4 litre, 100hp tractor, with a Perkins engine that has an internal exhaust gas recirculation system that enables it to meet Tier 3 emissions standards.

Mr Parnell said CLAAS Northam had been busy the past few weeks receiving shipments of tractors and preparing them for delivery to clients in the region.

It recently sold three large Axion tractors to an existing customer, Linto Agricultural Contractors, at York, which has been posting Facebook videos featuring CLAAS machinery since 2016.

CLAAS HC Northam also stocks Amazone ZA-TS mounted spreaders, which Mr Parnell said had been “very popular”, with 22 units sold in the past two years.

He said the granular fertiliser spreaders worked with different precision guidance systems and could better spread around boundaries, reducing waste and saving time and money.

“It fits behind a tractor and is not as heavy as a pull behind,” Mr Parnell said.

The spreaders come in a eight different sizes and configurations from 1400-4200L capacity and have a range of up to 54m, spreading 650 kg/minute.