Combines left behind

[north]

Yes! Very much so! Have a 1984 1480 IH combine with close to 5000 hrs. Just finished completely going through it myself last week. Put around $3,500 into it myself. All my own labor. Nothing big just normal wear parts. This combine is in extremely good condition, but doubt it would bring much more than $20,000 on trade for a $200,000+ new machine. Come on, get real. The motor has never been touched, never had a major breakdown (pumps, gear boxes, etc). It certainly doesn't owe me anything, and will have to continue its use for I don't know how long. I very much doubt I will find a newer model that will offer the same service, and most likely couldn't afford the price tag anyway. How can someone justify buying a piece of equipment that is valued twice as much as their own home. My grandfather would freak out if he were alive, that's for sure.

 

[canuck]

As long as bigger machines are built, someone will buy it just to have it. It doesnt have to make financial sense( it hasn't for years) just as long as its bigger so that they can get more acres. A big hike in interest rates is what is needed to cleanse the ag industry. In the long run it might be an oak casket instead of pine! Hardly worth the effort

 

[pat]

I think CNH and other companies are looking for higher profit margins in the super high capacity machines. They probably don't sell a lot of mid-size machines because 500-2500acre farmers don't wear them out in a year or two. If the manufacturers can get custom and large operators to see gains in efficiency (financial gain) by having a 8010, 9880, 485 then they will pay the price. I'm sure manufacturing a 8010 does not cost 2x to 3x the cost of a 2388 (after development costs are paid),but the market will bear the price and the manufacturer will double their profit_unit. I think it's just like Toyota adding the lexus division (a refined camry - lexus g30IJ is not 2x expensive to build as a standard camry). So, it may not necessarily have much to do most farms or their size - it's more to do with selling bigger, higher profit machines to folks who regularily buy new machines. That's another angle on it. pat

 

[vaughn]

My great grandfather's first tractor cost more than what his farm was worth, but he was able to get rid of the horses and crop twice as many acres each year and still do it better. It's all about productivity. That's why U.S farmers are subsidized up to there eyeballs. You just don't get it.

 

[north]

I don't believe this. In 1979 my father bought a brand new 1486 IH tractor for $18,000. In 1997 we traded this tractor in on a used 7120 case_ih magnum . Tractors are virtually identical in horsepower, both have two PTO's,etc. Is the magnum more productiveIJ Slightly. 1486 had close to 7,000 hrs so I felt it was time upgrade. Was it worth $50,000 more to upgrade; in hindsight, no. In 1984 we upgraded from a 1460 to a good used 1480 combine for around $50,000 to boot. This was a wise purchase as the combine has been very productive over time. Our farm has increased in acreage over the years, now farming over 3,000 acres. Would spending over $100,000 to upgrade to a good used combine today provide the same return on investment, I just don't see it. Crop inputs have increased, while prices for crops have not kept pace. The supposed heavy subsides you feel I receive don't amount to much in the scheme of things. In fact when I budget for a crop year I don't include them as I feel this distorts the picture (I feel they are certainly not guaranteed, and in acutuality may not even be there in 5 years). In fact they don't even account for 1_4 of just my herbicide inputs for one crop year. A previous post rings very true. If we see interest rates like in the 80's (i.e. 18%),alot of this new iron will remain so, no matter how productive it supposedly is.

 

[rod]

We ran 2 pull type 1482's for years that cost us about $7.75 per acre to operate over 10 years. I purchased a new 2188 in 1998 to replace those 2 machines. Over the last 5 years this machine has had an average cost of about $8.25 per acre. I will gladly take 50 cents per acre to decrease downtime, lower labor costs and increase production. I hardly ever have dirt under my nails any more. With the old machines I spent 1-2 hours per day fixing. Rod

 

[chadh]

we have changed our way of thinking here in the past few years, starting with keeping a new planter in tip top shape, and a combine with less than 2500 hours in tip top shape. no more new tractors here. are tractors are all from 2000hrs. to 3500hrs. yrs 77 to 93. 1500 acres with another 1000 acres of custom, and winter side jobs. yes it would be nice to have brand new equipment, but if you look at the actual time out of a year you are in itIJ i am also one of the very few young guys 27, farming full time and my father has the NAPA store in town, so i guess he is part time.