The Jaguar 1200 from Claas has set a new official forage harvesting world record by harvesting 4,096 tons of whole crop silage in 12 hours in Texas, USA. In addition to the harvesting performance, the efficiency with just 0.49 liters of fuel consumption per ton of silage harvested, was worth mentioning.
How much throughput capacity is in the new Jaguar 1200 with a maximum output of 1,110 hp? A project was set up to answer that question and to demonstrate how great the leap in performance of forage harvesters has been from 2001 to the present day. At the time, Claas set an official world record with the Jaguar 900, embedding the benchmark at 1,891 tons of harvesting output in 12 hours. Now, 24 years later, this mark should not only be broken, but doubled if possible.
The new Jaguar 1200 has the best prerequisites for this world record: new pick up with independent, variable drive of pick-up and conveyor auger, new hydraulic pre-compression, crop flow with 910 mm wide V-FLEX chopping cylinder, high-torque and efficient MAN twelve-cylinder with Dynamic Power, CEMOS Auto Performance driver’s assistance, maximum driving comfort with quiet cab with joystick steering and rotating driver’s seat.
In addition to the new Jaguar 1200, a Disco 9700 RC Auto Swather with Axion 960 and 30 articulated lorries were in the field. On the silo, a Xerion 12.590 TRAC with silage blade distributed and compacted the impressive harvest quantities.
From idea to world record
On 2 June 2025, in the center of the tornado season and before the official launch of the new Jaguar 1000 series, the starting signal was given on a spraying wheat field. In order to have sufficient removal capacity on site, no 30 articulated lorries and a team of 39 people were available. Also present: a Guinness referee who closely followed and documented the world record attempt.
The first tracks were tackled at 8 o’clock in the morning. The first hectares fell at an impressive pace, and with an average filling time of 2:42 minutes per combination, the Jaguar 1200 kept the departing trucks on their toes. In the end, 266 lorry loads left the field and were received, distributed and compacted by the Xerion 12.590 TRAC at the silo. After 12 hours, interrupted only by a few knife sharpening cycles and a short refueling stop, the flag was waved off at exactly 8 p.m. local time.
The result was 4,096 tons harvested. The world record set by the Jaguar 900 in 2001 had actually been more than doubled. The low fuel consumption of just 0.49 liters per ton was also record-breaking. Only the harvesting performance was entered in the Guinness Book of Records however. “This world record illustrates that it’s not just horsepower that counts in a forage harvester, but an optimally coordinated overall concept from the front attachment to the pre-compression and chopping cylinder to the drive management and driver assistance systems,” says Dominik Grothe, Claas Senior Vice President Self Propelled Forage Harvesters.
Permanent monitoring
The performance and process data were continuously monitored and documented in CLAAS connect during the 12-hour operation. The new Nutrimeter provided valuable support. With 59.4 per cent measured moisture, the ISOBUS-enabled NIR sensor was almost exactly on a par with the 60.006 per cent moisture measurements taken on the scales by P.M.S. Harvesting. In addition to the moisture and dry matter content and the crude fiber content, the Nutrimeter is also able to determine the crude ash content and ingredients such as crude protein, starch (maize crop) and sugar.
The harvest data was permanently monitored and documented in CLAAS connect. All 266 articulated lorry combinations were weighed at the silo before transferring their load to the Xerion 12.590 TRAC for pushing and compacting.
Facts and figures at a glance
- Place and time: Dalhart (Texas) USA, 2 June 2025.
- Jaguar 1200 with PICK UP 4500: 17 mm chop length.
- Removal logistics: 30 trucks with semi-trailers.
- Mowing: Claas Disco 9700 RC Auto Swather with steel roller conditioner and Claas Axion 960 CMATIC with 450 hp maximum engine power.
- Silo: Claas Xerion 12.590 TRAC with 18 foot (5.5 m) wide Grouser silo shield.
- Harvested quantity: 4,096 tons in 12 hours (266 truckloads).
