In the North Hessian municipality of Wabern, Holger Jäger runs an agricultural contracting, excavating and transport business. When not harvesting, he supports the region's road maintenance crews in winter services and carries out tree pruning work. In spring and summer, the busy contractor can be booked for earthmoving work of all kinds. Autumn, however, is reserved for the maize harvest. This is when Holger Jäger's truck teams easily switch between fields and silos, negotiating long stretches of road in between. "Every autumn we transport up to 45,000 tonnes of maize chaff from the field to the farmyards and into the maize piles. During this peak period, each of our trucks covers around 8,000 kilometres", Holger Jäger calculates. During the harvest season, he refits his agrotrucks with the Alliance 398 multipurpose tread. "This tyre masters the combination of field and road really well."
Before the versatile 398, Holger Jäger used the previous model, the Alliance 331. With its pronounced grip, the A/S tread was the first choice for pure arable use, according to Jäger. However, the Alliance 331 is not designed for high speeds; in addition to the tyre itself, the chunky tread also affects ride comfort. But the Alliance 398 has already been designed for a higher speed range and offers a balanced compromise - on the one hand, between ride comfort and speed on the road, and on the other hand, solid performance on the field.
"The Alliance 398- currently the best solution on the market."
For the reasons mentioned, both agrotruck operators and Unimog drivers like to use the 398. Not least, the rugged tyre with its enormous load capacity contributes to increased productivity and reduced driving times in agricultural logistics. Semi-trailers can be brought from A to B fully loaded in minimum time without changing tyres. Practitioner Holger Jäger also explicitly praises the durability of the tread. According to Jäger, this is much better than the previous model. "With its combination of features, the 398 is the best solution currently available on the market. The advantage is that with the agrotruck I can even get where the tractor can't go - even on the highest maize heap!" In terms of operating costs, the farm trucks also perform well. Compared to the tractor, Holger Jäger saves around 30 percent fuel with his agrotrucks. That adds up."
Agrotruck pioneer since 1996
The contractor came up with the idea of driving the truck on the field while he was in the USA. Here, Holger Jäger observed how farmers switch between field and road with their trucks as a matter of course - on normal road tyres. He took this idea back home with him. "Here in North Hesse, it's a bit hillier and the soils are a bit wetter. Even tractors quickly reach their limit here. So I had to get a bit more creative to get the trucks into the field."
The conversion of his road trucks to suit arable farming was carried out by Jäger in the company's own workshop right from the start. "In 1996, we made the first two-axle tractor fit for the field. The next vehicle was a three-axle truck in 1998", the entrepreneur recalls. During the rainy harvest season in 1998, the innovative agrotrucks on rugged excavator tyres continued to roll over the maize fields of North Hesse when competitors' tractors were stuck in rows. His growing truck fleet quickly set him apart from other agricultural service providers. Today, contractor Jäger has six agricultural articulated trucks in his fleet, which are on the road during the season on the Alliance 398 tread.
Agrotrucks on the Alliance 398- a summary
In addition to the considerable fuel savings of around 30 percent compared to tractor-trailer combinations, agrotrucks on the Alliance 398 simplify and accelerate agricultural logistics considerably. Changeover times for the transition from the field to the road are eliminated. Agrotrucks perform the entire range of applications on the multi-purpose tread - from picking up the crop, transferring it over longer distances at higher speeds to unloading the crop on the freshly piled maize heap.
For detailed tread selection for different application scenarios and agrotruck types, we have prepared a separate workshop tip for the right tread for agrotrucks here.
Alliance 398 sizes available at Bohnenkamp
The Alliance 398 is currently available from Bohnenkamp in the following sizes:
445/65 R 22.5 (160 J)
600/50 R 22.5 (164 J)
445/70 R 24 (151 J)
495/70 R 24 (155 J)
Alliance 398 in der Größe 445/65 R 22.5 (160 J) in the shop
Alliance 398 in der Größe 600/50 R 22.5 (164 J) in the shop
Alliance 398 in der Größe 445/70 R 24 (151 J) in the shop
Alliance 398 in der Größe 495/70 R 24 (155 J) in the shop