Latest tackle from around europe

Holmer Terra Variant

* New 490hp and 612hp system-vehicles from Holmer are set to inject much more power into a range of jobs.

It's six years since Bavarian sugar beet specialist Holmer stopped its ambitious 400hp systems vehicle programme.

But, like a phoenix from the ashes, it has risen again. Thirty of the new Terra Variant tractor units will be completed for sale this autumn with another 30 ready by next spring.

The 500 is powered by a straight six-cylinder and bigger brother 600 features a 612hp V8 - both Benz.

Payloads are up to 21cu m with slurry tanks and 24cu m for grain. Both share a new 18F x 6R Funk transmission - also used in JD articulated tractors.

Both axles are steered, making the inner turning circle a tight 5.5m for the 10.25m long vehicle.

Price? The basic systems vehicle with air suspension will be about E250,000.

Holmer's Terra Variant systems tractor can handle a wide range of kit and will be demonstrated by importer Standen-Reflex in Cambridgeshire this autumn.

WM potato harvester

* A major parts supplier for motor manufacturers including Audi, Jaguar and BMW is now also producing custom-made potato harvesters for specialist firm WM Kartoffeltechnik in Germany.

The Haller Group - which also manufactures the Harain crawler units used for a wide range of combines (John Deere, Deutz Fahr) and beet harvesters such as Holmer - opened a new assembly line for WM potato harvesters at the beginning of this year. Already 100 one and two-row machines are in action on potato fields from Ireland to Romania.

WM is part of an alliance between seven potato machinery manufacturers including Reekie, Bijlsma Hercules (Dutch potato handling equipment) and Baselier. This has enabled Europe-wide co-operation for servicing and spare parts supply.

The company aims to produce 200 single and double-row harvesters a year plus an unspecified number of self-propelled, rubber-tracked "Quadro" four-row harvesters.

WM has its eye on the British market, but has so far concentrated on bunker systems (maximum 6t capacity single-row and 8.5t for the double row trailed, with 16t for the Quadro) and will not start selling here until a continuous unloading system is ready.

Leeb Self-propelled Sprayer

• Is this the world's biggest sprayer?

Spraying at 14mph, the Leeb PT 230 is designed to take the place of two tractor-hauled sprayers on farms where spraying tops 20,000ha a year.

Another German development looking for a foothold on the British market is this high capacity self-propelled sprayer designed to offer the flexibility of tractor-drawn machines, but cover far more acres. The Leeb PT 230 TRAC is built to cover 400ha (1000 acres) a day and comes with 8000-litre tank, booms that work at 18m or 36m and weighs in at just over 7t empty. For rapid turnarounds the rotary pump sucks in water at 1000 litres a minute. Up in the cab (borrowed from Krone's Big M and X) all operations are electronically monitored via a colour terminal. Spraying precision and operator comfort are helped by pneumatic suspension on front and rear axles. Power is provided by a 224hp Deutz engine which drives a 50kph hydrostatic transmission.