The Case IH Steiger 620 has broken a number of records at the University of Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory (NTTL) in the US, the verification facility for tractor manufacturers’ performance claims.

Results from the tests on the wheeled equivalent to the Case Quadtrac 620 have shown that the machine is the most fluid-efficient and highest drawbar horsepower tractor in the world. Records set by the model include those for drawbar fuel efficiency, drawbar horsepower and maximum pull. In each category the Steiger 620 outperformed all tractors previously tested at the facility.

The figure of 594.08hp is very impressive and it also showed the best drawbar fuel efficiency at 242g/kWh. This is a measure of the amount of fuel used to do a set amount of work.

If you calculate what this number means in real terms, the big Case will drink about 120 litres per hour, more than the biggest combines and silage harvesters working in Ireland.

Case IH spokesman Ulrich Sommer said: “Those figures are backed up by similar results from the next model in the Steiger range, the 580, which scored the second-highest drawbar fuel economy figures ever recorded at the facility, at 243g/kWh

“Case IH Steiger and Quadtrac engines, made in-house by Case IH’s sister company, FPT, feature a design in which there is no particulate filter to clean, no regeneration period and 600 hours between oil changes. The NTTL is the officially designated tractor testing station for the US and tests tractors according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) codes.”

Although this tractor wouldn’t fit into most fields in Ireland, it shows the size and scale of agricultural production in other parts of the world.