A NEW Steiger 400 could create massive savings for Riverina grower, Danny Pinnuck.

Set to dramatically reduce his operating costs and increase on-farm efficiencies, the single Case Steiger 400 will do the work of two older model tractors, including ploughing and sowing.

The Steiger 400 was delivered last month to Danny's mixed farming enterprise, Wilani Pastoral, which he runs with his father Bill and brother Bernard.

Located 45km from the Victorian border, the property's cropping mix includes 400ha of irrigated rice, 800ha of winter cereals and a flock of 6000 prime lambs.

Like most farmers, they've gone through a decade of tough times.

"Despite having zero water allocation for the past decade, we've still had to pay annual water licence costs of up to $100,000," Danny said.

"If it wasn't for the lambs, we would have gone under by now."

Following such a tough run, Danny said the long-term benefits of trading two older tractors for one new Steiger 400 made good business sense, particularly now the seasons had taken a turn for the better.

The Pinnucks sowed about 2700ha of cereals last season and averaged about 2.5 tonnes per hectare, according to Danny.

"With its standard precision ag technology, the new Steiger will enable us to improve the accuracy of our inter-row sowing and reduce input costs drastically.

Using our older gear, input placement would overlap by up to 10 per cent, which is significant considering that fertiliser prices are up around $700 per tonne.

Reducing or removing that overlap will be a huge saving," he said.

"We also lost a week of moisture early last year when the clutch on our older tractor went just prior to sowing. The new Steiger will eliminate those reliability issues. We'll be able to get going and keep going when the conditions are right."

The potential fuel savings are a further benefit.

"The new Steiger 400 will give us the same horsepower output as our older tractors, but with a 12.9-litre engine, compared to our older 15-litre models," Danny said.

The Steiger 400 features a six-cylinder FPT Tier 2 engine delivering 1899Nm torque at 1400rpm. The powershift transmission runs 16 forward and two reverse gears. Up to eight remotes are available with maximum pump flow of 159l/m.

Steigers are available with an optional suspended cabin to reduce vibration and improve driver comfort.

Preliminary Nebraska Tractor Test Lab results confirmed the Steiger's fuel-saving ability, with the larger 450 model testing 6 per cent more fuel efficient than the John Deere 9430 at maximum drawbar pull, 11 per cent more fuel efficient at 75 per cent drawbar pull maximum power, and 6 per cent more fuel efficient during standard speed PTO operation.

With six all-new models in the series, maximum engine power on the Steiger ranges from 290kW to 500kW.

The Steiger range boasts more than an incremental upgrade, with 60 per cent of the machine specifications being new. Every change is aimed at boosting productivity and fuel efficiency, while increasing comfort.