IMHO THIS TRACTOR PUTS JD TO SHAME!

[Agvg]

What happens when laborers are obsolete?

Well, that's a real issue, when people can't sell their time we will have a very different society, how you can solve that is open for a lot of discussions. Fact is that for most of the western world the birth rate is so low that we might run out of people, the same in Russia, china and several other Asian countries.

For the young growing up today it will be a very different world, our values on work, wage and how to organize the world has almost no relevance for the world they will live in. But if I think of it I was not really a part of my father's world and I am not really a part of my son's world, I can try to understand it but probably I have no clue.

 

[Agvg]

My dad's foreign made David Bradley tractor says CASE on the hood. Some parts are impossible to find.

That's the way it is, shareholder value is the only thing that matters, I see a change in parts sale, even simple parts are priced so high that nobody will buy them, I got a quote on a new rubber flooring in my cheap van, 1700$ for a small piece of low quality plastic.

When the equipment gets old it's not of any interest and in the case of the floor, you don't have to spend much on storage and never have to do reproduction if you price it high enough.

 

[Rustyiron]

A guy making 100 round bales with a 90HP kubota doesn’t need a Fendt.

Yeah, but at 100 rounds, he's in it for the write off as a hobby, so I wouldn't be too surprised.

 

[Hay Dude]

the first 25 post have said it all... very nice, great quality, fantastic to use, popular on other side of world, etc...

The one thing not yet said is downtime.... JD and Kubota have the shortest commercial downtime ratings in our area (probably in N.A.). Both dealers around me deliver parts 24 hours a day / 7 days a week right to a GPS location in a field.

Unless a competitor can beat these downtime numbers and quick service/parts commercial users (us guys that require our equipment to make a living) will never consider changing as we only have limited windows to make our work and need our equipment up and running. Downtime can be wickedly expensive.

other than the odd Hutterite colony, in our area not too many of us have good / used 1/4 million dollar tractors standing by in case primary equipment breaks.

But I sure wouldn't be ashamed to own one if the luxury of parts and service was a non issue.

Does Deere or Kubota offer a 48 hour guaranteed replacement tractor if they can’t get theirs running in under 48 hours?

I think that’s an industry best for Fendt.

They also have longer base warranty than the others.

24/7 parts delivery is not really so much brand as it is dealer.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yeah, but at 100 rounds, he's in it for the write off as a hobby, so I wouldn't be too surprised.

It has to be. Ain no way 100 round bales will pencil. Even 1,000 barely does.
No freakin way in heck….

I’m making the equivalent of 3,000 RB’s and I can’t make 6 figures on that alone, so I mow LOTS of fields and large areas to supplement. AND plow snow, and clear land, and do tree work….LOL

 

[Rustyiron]

It has to be. Ain no way 100 round bales will pencil.
No freakin way in heck….

Not every small producer, but I'm sure you've seen them in your area.
I know a guy who has a huge commercial plumbing business, huge $$$.
He does beef and his JD dealer loves his and I'm sure his neighbor farmers have a little bit of contempt or jealousy towards him. (understandably).
What's the old saying? How do you make a million dollars farming, start with 2 million.

 

[CliffordK]

The problem is quite easy, there are not easy to get workers into farming, it's not a very profitable business so doing more with fewer people is the only way. Here in Europe we had a long period with East European workers that worked for low pay and in many cases were farmworkers, but skilled workers will after a period find better paid work, and now there is a big shortage of workers in farming.

It has been so bad that they have flown in workers from Asia for the harvesting season.

We have a constant influx of workers from the south. But, that has also become a political hot potato around here.

One thing we're seeing is the industrialization of farms. So the little 50 acre farms are vanishing quickly. Some being bought up by corporations. Some being converted to house lots.

It isn't the small plot farms that are going out and buying $100K to $1M tractors and combines.

 

[ruffdog]

What's the old saying? How do you make a million dollars farming, start with 2 million.

Over spending to impress people or not following a good business model is a sure way lose money.

 

[Agvg]

Same here, I own a small farm it's just an expensive hobby, I have some income on it but that's not farming, last year I had 600$ of profit on selling grass and renting out fields to my neighbour. Most of the profit comes from sale of hunting rights, renting out land to industrial use and I have some income from hydroelectric deals on rivers, but its not close to enough to keep it in the state that i would want.

A few decades ago you could make a modest living out of it, you might have to work a bit on the side of it if you wanted a good economy.

But here in Europe we are starting to see that farming is a question of national security, so we might have to get small farms up and running again.

I do follow several YouTube channels and US news and the problem with immigration, we have the same situation in south Europe and it has a big impact on politics, but here nobody really wants immigration, and thousands upon thousands immigrants die trying without anyone really care.

Those that help immigrants from drowning in small boats can get 20 years in jail and have the ships confiscated, Europe is not particularly soft or humaine. But we might getting in to politics now.

And of course the immigrants that survive do work illegally in farming in south Europe.

 

[Agvg]

As a citizen of Norway I am a part of the EU inner market, free flow of goods and services, I can just show up and seek work in most of Europe without any difficulties or paperwork, no borders or anything, that was the reason for all the cheap workers from East Europe, and a lot of them moved permanently and has become a part of the population. Now its Ukrainians that are coming here and probably a lot of them will settle down.