Hard times for tractor dealers?

[D7E]

Frankly, I don't expect posters who really have no conception of what a professional farmer, for profit, is.

I agree about not wanting a tractor under 100hp for hay but you lost it after that . Plenty of 4-6000 acre grain farms run on 20 year old machinery round here , I have nearly 2000 first cut 3x3 squares sat in the shed that were made with a $2000 mower and $500 rake without a spot of rain . Most common cause of spoiling crops i see is not the ageing machinery but todays attitude and unwillingness to sit on tractors for 16 hours a day 7 days a week and blame the weather insted of their fishing trip when they should have been baling.

 

[IronHog]

Frankly, I don't expect posters who really have no conception of what a professional farmer, for profit, is.

I suspect most of the small tractor posters think everything edible comes from the grocery, a tractor is a status symbol and actually making a living from the mechanized tools you have is far fetched at best.

Yes, I make money.

Yes, I'm in demand and I have more business than I really have tme for and

...especially with forage, you can't fool Mother Nature, she always wins. That's why it's of paramount importance to get it done, done right and as quickly as possible.

I don't screw around, never have, never will. Haying is always 'under the gun'.

I've seen a lot of good hay turn to brown moldy crap because the harvester was using 'old half worn out equipment' and it broke down...and of course it rained for a week.

I have one contract job in particular. The guy had haying equipment and a tractor and kept loosing his hay because the crap equipment broke down and the field got wet. he sold everything (smart man) and now I do his fields. he's farther ahead, his barn is full and in the long run, it's cheaper, plus his hands don't get greasy and there isn't a bunch of junk sitting in his barnyard.

I've spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours in a hay field. Most of it raking on a 1975 3000 Ford that runs exactly like the day it came to the farm. Hay farming just is not that hard on tractors and does not require overly large, hard to move machines.



The difference in us and people like you is we put our money back into land instead of trucks, tractors, and other junk that wears out.

 

[rtimgray]

D7E, Ironhog - I'm in agreement with you guys. Our hay for many years was cut with a 67 Ford 5000 SOS tractor, raked with a old Ford 2000 with a rake of indescriminant origin, and baled with an on Farmall M pulling an old New Holland baler. Of course there were a few breakdowns, but nothing that couldn't have happened to newer equipment (flat tires, sheared pins, broken/lost rake teeth, etc.). There's nothing wrong with having new fancy equipment, but to make the assertion that it is needed for every large haying operation to be successful is (in my opinion) somewhat errant. So long as said equipment is maintained in a reasonable fashion, it should perform in a predictable manner.

Of course, I'm also of the opinion that haying is not overly complicated (although not without its challenges), but it's nothing that anyone of sufficient gumption can't handle, even with older equipment. Sure, new equipment is going to be somewhat more reliable than old equipment, but I think that we bought for most of our hay equipment for less than some people pay for a single rake.

Good luck and take care.

 

[IronHog]

D7E, Ironhog - I'm in agreement with you guys. Our hay for many years was cut with a 67 Ford 5000 SOS tractor, raked with a old Ford 2000 with a rake of indescriminant origin, and baled with an on Farmall M pulling an old New Holland baler. Of course there were a few breakdowns, but nothing that couldn't have happened to newer equipment (flat tires, sheared pins, broken/lost rake teeth, etc.). There's nothing wrong with having new fancy equipment, but to make the assertion that it is needed for every large haying operation to be successful is (in my opinion) somewhat errant. So long as said equipment is maintained in a reasonable fashion, it should perform in a predictable manner.

Of course, I'm also of the opinion that haying is not overly complicated (although not without its challenges), but it's nothing that anyone of sufficient gumption can't handle, even with older equipment. Sure, new equipment is going to be somewhat more reliable than old equipment, but I think that we bought for most of our hay equipment for less than some people pay for a single rake.

Good luck and take care.

I've got serious Hay/cattle farmers on my wife's and my side of the family.....and by serious I mean it is the full time job for at least one of the adults in the family.


One side has new pickups, big cab tractors, new bailers, huge goosenecks, and a dozen other "tax write offs"

The other side has barely suitable barns, 20 to 30 year old balers, too light trailers, no ATV, old well worn tractors, and one modern tractor that is apparently "too small".


Guess which one seems to have plenty of money and which one claims to struggle?

 

[CDsdad]

5030? Isn't that a 50 hp Kubota? Anyhow.

I can grow more groceries on ground plowed by a 30 hp Massey than we can eat in a year. And "we" is 3 families.

Meat is plentiful. All you need is a spotlight and a 30-30 or something similar. No hay required.

Hard times may be coming and I can't eat hay.

 

[whodat526]

The guys making money on hay are the one's running the half wore out stuff behind old, yet still good tractors.


And who would want a 100+ HP tractor on a hay operation?[/QUOTE]

That sounds like a purely person observation based solely on your opinion and what you've read on the net. I don't want to wrench on equipment because wrenching is downtime. You go get it done and put up asap. Wore out hay equipment is fine for a hobby farmer (aka...moved from the city to the country, bought a horse and needs some small squares off a little plot to feed the nag). It's not a hobby with me. It's an occupation. I run new or well maintained equipment on a strict maintenance schedule. That's how business works.

The one thing I don't want is a breakdown half way through a job with my customer looking on and wondering why I hired 'that idiot'.

100 horse PTO is the minimum, I say MINIMUM requirement. especially round bailing with a new net wrap cross cut machine. Becaue my operation runs mostly small squares (though I have a BR780), I can get along with 100 pto. Even my small square bailer is rated at 75 input.

It's about being efficient and not beating on a tractor because it's underpowered. I want to walk a field at 3mph and get it done.

:

my grandpaw baled between 35000 and 40000 small square bales and 5000-6000 round bales a year and never had a tractor over 72 hp and i still bale with the same nh round baler to this day that is 12 years old baling between 1500-2000 roles a year with no trouble and he never had a new tractor

 

[whodat526]

I've got serious Hay/cattle farmers on my wife's and my side of the family.....and by serious I mean it is the full time job for at least one of the adults in the family.


One side has new pickups, big cab tractors, new bailers, huge goosenecks, and a dozen other "tax write offs"

The other side has barely suitable barns, 20 to 30 year old balers, too light trailers, no ATV, old well worn tractors, and one modern tractor that is apparently "too small".


Guess which one seems to have plenty of money and which one claims to struggle?

i would say the one with the old worn out tractor and the 30 year old baler

 

[scott_vt]

Interesting observation. City folk buy some acreage and become wannabe farmers. Don't have a clue and that's fine with me. They get some stock, usually horses (absolutely the worst thing to have), buy an underpowered tractor and some auction implements (not that they have a clue how to use them in the first place) and I wind up running their hay or selling them hay for their hayburners. All good for me. Successful farming is a profession, not a hobby. It involves many aspects, from a herbicide/pesticide applicators license to knowledgable soil testing and practiced conservation methods and a substantial investment in equipment.

I would never dream of owning any tractor under 100 horsepower except for mowing lawns. I believe the cheapest implement I own is a Krone 2 rotor gyro rake and that was 15 grand.

I read many posts on this site (and others) and chuckle. I find it amazing just how screwed up an ill informed and naieve person can be, not only in terms of tractor/implement maintainence but just trying to 'attempt' to do the basic jobs with an ill used implement and an underpowered tractor.

I see most people buy smaller tractors with hydrostatic transmissions and that's all well and good for light duty chores like a back hoe or a lawnmower, but for serious work, you need serious horsepower and a real gear drive, multi range transmission. Automatics are fine in cars but for ground engagement, no.

Keep moving th the sticks and keep calling. I have more than I can handle, but I'm greedy so I'll take on more. When I rool in with a mower and bailer that costs as much as their house (they always ask), they start to realize that farming is about professional equipment and professional methods.

It's almost impossible to make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

Good Evenin Daryl,
About the only thing I agree with your post, is your comment on horses, " being hay burners" ! And your observation on gear drive versus, hydro for ground engaging implements...

The rest might be applicable to someone trying to farm hundreds of acres, and Im sure your a very capable farmer, but we have been putting up quite a few hundred bales a year, with less than the cost of your rake, and thats including the tractor, haybine, rake and tedder..... no professional liscences, unless you want to include my CDL.... probablly not on the magnitude your doing, but we have done it for many years no problems JMO !

 

[WayneJessie]

How did we get here? I was hopeful to hear issues related to the 1643 compact tractor. I farm a whopping 2 acres and can't give all the groceries we grow away. My "big" tractor is a 70hp Kubota. Anything bigger for me would be like boobies on a boar hog...

 

[bigbull338]

the dealers will most always be able to sell some compact tractors during tough times.its the big tractor an equipment sales that are tough to make unless people are looking to buy new equipment.