Kubota or mahindra

[Hay Dude]

Most large farmers around here LEASE their equipment (Combines and large row crop tractors), they don't buy them outright.

Yeah one guy I know who is a step larger than me started doing this and says it’s the way to go.
Seems like purchasing farm equipment went in this order:
Long ago-pay cash or possible short term finance.
More recently-pay cash or longer term finance
Today-long term or “0%” finance or lease
Future??? Donate a kidney? Lol

I can’t see this lasting much longer. Equipment prices now far exceed farming profits. My most recent tractors are 20 years old. Solid and reliable, but at some point will experience a catastrophic failure.

New 300HP tractor is $250-300,000. Has the complexity of an Aircraft and most everything needs to be dealer repaired
Not the most impressive warranty, either. Maybe 3yr 2000 hours.

 

[Hay Dude]

Just to give you an idea of what farm equipment costs, I paid $42,000 for a well used, but excellent running 300HP Case/IH Magnum.
That tractor new is about $300,000.
The new one has features I would never use. Basically for pulling a square baler all you need is a strong 4WD tug with a good selection of gears and plenty of power.
If I was going to sink big coin into anything, it would be a hoss baler. Large Balers are complicated and frustrating. Better off “newer” on the baler and “older” on the tractor.

 

[sea2summit]

At 71, my 'man card' expired years ago

Somehow I doubt the there is any truth in that statement...other than age.

I guess I was more saying the gear/hst debate should not be influenced by not knowing how to use a clutch. My children have/are all learning to drive a manual vehicle specifically because I believe it makes them more aware of what's going on with the engine and how power is being applied/used and puts their brain into the decision making process of how that's done unlike HST/automatic trans.

 

[5030]

If I experienced a a major failure of my units, I think I'd just hang it up and be fully retired without the constant hassle of taking care of equipment.

So far, so good, but who knows what the future will bring.

No way buying new can ever balance cost to profit today and it's only getting worse which is why more and more operators are going lease plans. Works with vehicles too. With vehicles I like that because I always buy late model off lease vehicles with the balance of the factory warranty still in force.

Have not bought a new vehicle in decades. Firm believe in letting some other schmuck take the depreciation hit.

Far as equipment is concerned, I always buy new (minus the tractors) because with equipment, there won't be any warranty for one and secondly, equipment generally gets abused and ill maintained and I don't like buying some one else's issues. I already have enough of my own.

 

[5030]

Just to give you an idea of what farm equipment costs, I paid $42,000 for a well used, but excellent running 300HP Case/IH Magnum.
That tractor new is about $300,000.
The new one has features I would never use. Basically for pulling a square baler all you need is a strong 4WD tug with a good selection of gears and plenty of power.
If I was going to sink big coin into anything, it would be a hoss baler. Large Balers are complicated and frustrating. Better off “newer” on the baler and “older” on the tractor.

Just wait until the economy goes south and your forage customers either vanish or demand rock bottom prices because they can no longer afford your prices.

it's coming but you already know that.

When push comes to shove you already know what takes the hit.

 

[Hay Dude]

It’s just hard to believe you can buy a good, tough running tractor for 1/8th the cost of new! You do need to have $10,000 in reserve for a big repair, and the will to fix smaller issues, but that’s still a heck of a lot less.

 

[ptsg]

Gear drive tractors is all I have ever used. The gear drive makes more sense in certain applications like mowing big open fields or pulling plows but the problem is the OEM's are not offering gear drive transmissions that are worth considering most of the time. When the only choice is a unsynchronized gear drive or a hydrostat it becomes clear what the manufacturers are setting the customer up to choose.

Most manufacturers offer a synchronized shuttle along with synchronized main gears and unsynchronized range gears.

Branson now offers a fully synchronized transmission on the new 2021 20 series. F&R Shuttle, 4 main gears and 4 range gears, all synchronized.

 

[Hay Dude]

Just wait until the economy goes south and your forage customers either vanish or demand rock bottom prices because they can no longer afford your prices.

it's coming but you already know that.

When push comes to shove you already know what takes the hit.

I don’t sell much to those kinds of people. That’s small potatoes I can survive without.
My prices are dirt cheap and my guess would be I’d actually get more customers

 

[Emainiac]

Yep, would you buy a car made in India? Of course not

You are showing your ignorance. My tractor was manufactured and assembled in PA. Only the engine is made by Mitsubishi in Japan.

 

[coobie]

Kind of curious as to what happens when the economy finally takes the deep dive and all those 'suburbanites' that buy the small tractors can no longer afford to make the payments on them. reality is, when you have to choose from feeding your face or making a note on a piece of equipment, you all know what takes preference.

Same applies to the housing market. It's gotten so inflated that buying a home has become almost financially impossible unless you actually have the where with all to make a couple grand mortgage payment every month. I don't see any of that coming to a good ending with the general economy on the cusp of a severe recession.

Something has to give and it's usually not necessary purchases that take the hit.

Same applies to vehicles. I'm sure not gonna pay 80 grand for a new pickup truck, but then, I have not had a vehicle or house payment for years anyway.

Believe it or not some folks pay CASH for tractors.. You are NOT the only Big $hooter on this website. How many times do have you to TOOT your own horn about payments and money? In one your earlier posts you stated you married Olds car company grand daughter correct ? So I guess you married money and really did not work for it.Kind of strange how that works..