Combines 50 Machines Sold in Manitoba

What are you going to do now that CAT has terminated it's agreement with ClaasIJ (Does everyone on here know thatIJIJIJ) Will you buy a Claas combine nowIJ I guess Claas is pretty upset with the whole deal. CAT wanted to end it peacefully, but now Claas has the lawyers involved. CAT dealers will get Fendt tractors to sell and the new MTs painted like a CAT, and AGCO dealers will get them with AGCO decals that say "powered by CAT."

Jefftisdale-I think you are refering to TOROMONT CAT whose ag store is located in Elie, Manitoba which is about 20 miles West of Winnipeg. They demoed a 480 Cat on our farm this past summer putting it up against our 2388 and 9750 where we had weigh wagons at the end of the field. Their dealership's salesmen are first rate but we'll keep our 9750 STS after seeing what that 480 can and cannot do. Thanks for coming out!

i work for a cat dealer that was at the meeting on tuesday and it is still business as usual between cat and claas. i am not saying that it will stay this way forever but as of jan 8 cat and claas were still in a joint venture together. if the partnership does dissolve, there will still be a combine made at the omaha plant. they have to stay in production because of all the incentives that omaha and sarpy county gave them to locate there. even if cat and claas split the sheets, most if not all of the cat dealers, will still sell them. we as dealers have finally turned the corner in getting everything in place to make them a highly productive and longer lasting machine than anything else on the market.

What can the 480 not do, fit in your machine shedIJ I know from personal experience that no other competitive machine comes close to the productivity and efficiency of our 480.

Contrary to what most Cat owners would like to think, there are a lot of very satisfied STS owners out there like myself. We did'nt go and buy a unit that already had 750 hours of abuse heaped on it in one season by someone else and then whine and complain continuously about the way it performed for us. The 480 demoed on our farm simply put could not outperform our 9750. When the 480 tried to overtake the 9750 in side by side swaths alarms started going off and the machine began bucking and whomping like it was going to plug or stall. At the end of the rounds, on repeated tests and numerous resetting by the Cat salesman, the STS always had more in the tank.(as measured by a weigh wagon with similiar samples) Why would I want a 480 when compared to my 9750 can't go any faster, does'nt save as much product, costs more money, gives no better sample, compacts the ground more, has a cab that I feel totally alien in, has a hopper that is very difficult to climb in and clean for seed production and whose manufacturer has yet to prove it is capable of establishing a long term relationship with any ag company in North America. And that's not even getting into what a Claas combine painted yellow and black will be worth in a few years if Cat and Claas are not working together anymore. Who needs that riskIJ So for now we will happily stay with our STS made by good old JOHN DEERE.

just a thought after reading your post that the Cat sales people must be first rate to sell 50 combines(although the dealer told me the number was 40) If 50 people bought a newcomers machine after only being out for a couple of years a lot of farmers didn't find the same results you did. Perhaps Cat combines are cheaper and that helped. Maybe John Deere is under rating it's 9750 as a class 7 machine, maybe it should be a class 9. I'm sure those 50 will find out eventually what you already know. Some people just see what they want too. My 2 cents. Kevin

Well that is all fine and dandy. last time I checked there is a deere talk page. I am a satisified cat customer and will always be. You dont see me bashing on the deere page. I guess that is what I need to be doing. Half of follow ups are people praising deere. Did they kick you off their pageIJ It seems to me that you are scared of your deere choice and this is the only way you feel better. thanks nucky

If they gave me one free I have to trade it off for a John Deere, strictly because of dealer service in this area.

Try your deere or a Cat Next to a R72 set up right and see what you think. I have tried it with a 480 cat with a 36'hdr, a 9650sts with a 30'hdr, and a R72 with a 36'hdr. in wheat the Gleaner out ran them both, but mostly the cat stayed broke down.

What areaIJ Oh,by the way another great reply!