Retiring old tractors/equipment

[Bob_Young]

This is addressed primarily to full-time Ag Operators.

I'd like to hear your philosophies/experience on when a tractor or implement is due to be retired from regular service. Do you wait for it to become unreliable to the point where productivity takes a hit or do you pre-emptively take the beast off the front line and trade it while it's still somewhat reliable? Certainly repair, rebuild, or overhaul are options at any point but, at what point do you figure you're throwing good money after bad?

Of course, priorities play a huge part in this. If you're expanding the herd or putting up a new building, replacement of an ailing tractor or a baler may have to wait a year or so. But then, at what point does replacement become the priority?

Bob

 

[art]

Bob, this is an easy question to answer, if the farm is really working it's equipment then they will trde more often! Farms can't afford to have people standing around when broken down any more then any other business can.
The farms of today can make it when treated as a business, if they are thinking of going out of business then they very well might take the chance of not trading up, missing the best time in the season for crops to grow or to allow them to mature past the optimum harvest time and loose feed value later paying the grain dealer for feed.
We work with dairy predominately but also have grain farmers and when you have roughly a two week window for many crops it makes it hard to make a profit on crops missing the growing season.

 

[Birdhunter1]

You also have to remember that there is a time when yes your equipment may still be in good shape but it is only decreasing in value while a replacement is increasing in value and by the day the gap between the two spreads. A buddy of mine just traded his Case/IH 2188 with less than 2000 (around 1600-1700 I think) hours plus a well used 30' 1020 header in on a new 2588 with 30' header. Yes his 2188 was capable of 1000 more hours, but one big repair job and there goes possibly 1/3 or 1/4 the difference of what he will pay right now on a new machine.
Earlier this year he traded in a Case/IH 7150 wint about 3000 hours in on a new MX285, the guy who bought the 7150 had the front axle seals go out a month later and the entire front end had to be torn down to replace it.

My buddy is planning on staying in farming for quite a while still so yes is investing in new equipment and keeping it going as a business should.

 

[Bob_Young]

Art, BH1,
What you say makes perfect sense to me. Yet, around here I see 30 & 40 yr. old utility tractors on common use on some of the dairy farms....most have had a hard life. Yet the farm may be expanding, new buildings going up, herd getting larger, etc.

I'd say, great if the things keep running, but in my experience they don't. Usually it's one thing after another with them...clutch goes out, won't start, lousy brakes, terrible steering, hydraulic problems, the list goes on and on. Sometimes the breakdown creates a safety hazard; was involved in one of those yesterday.

Yet, whatever happens, the farmers clean up the mess, patch up the equipment, and put the old stuff back to work. When I've said anything the response has been "The old tractor does the same work as a new one. Why pay big money for the same work?". True, I guess, if and when it works.

I will add that the big 200HP and up tractors are newer and in better shape. It's the under 100HP utilities that are the worst; some are antiques. During the summer these things are in use constantly and spend a lot of time travelling the roads.

Thanks for responding, I was beginning to doubt my judgment. Interested in FarmWithJunk's take on this. I think of him often when helping the neighbor (as in: "Wonder if FWJ would farm with this?").
Bob

 

[Birdhunter1]

One thing to keep in mind with tractors, big machines (over 200 hp) have bigger repair bills when stuff breaks than those that are under 100 hp. Often those older utility machines you see (like maybe a 165 Massey, 180 Allis Chalmers, 4020 John Deere) are not doing as strenuoous duty as those that are 250 hp. Pulling a bailer or manure spreader or running an auger or bushhog does not put as much stress on a machine as heavy tillage work.

If a clutch goes out on a 165 MF tractor most farms may be able to handle that repair in their own shop or take it somewhere for under $2000, put a clutch in a large machine and there is alot of labor involved plus the parts which bigger machines tend to have more expensive parts.

 

[Will_C]

My cousins operate a 225 cow dairy farm and grow around 150 acres of corn and 350 acres of hay. They have a mixture of new and old (30-40 year old tractors.) Their philosophy mirrors Art's and BH1's thoughts. Equipment that is used daily (manure spreader, skid steer, mixer wagon) or during the crop windows (baling, chopping corn, etc.) is replaced on a routine schedule. They have 4 JD tractors (2 -7810s, a 7410, and a 6420) that are less than 10 years old, 2 with FELs, that enble them to always have a good piece equipment to handle those tasks. They also have several tractors that are older (JD 3020, 4020, 4230, 4520) that do various duties, pulling the mixer wagon, manure spreader, hay wagon, bush hog, and other chores that are essential, yet can be performed by any of the older tractors. If one is being serviced, another can be used.
Will

 

[Birdhunter1]

You'll notice very few people will get rid of one of those old 4020 John Deere tractors unless they have absolutely no use for something that big, that small or they need a cab.

 

[Rara Avis]

You'll notice very few people will get rid of one of those old 4020 John Deere tractors unless they have absolutely no use for something that big, that small or they need a cab.

I resemble those remarks...

 

[Birdhunter1]

With good reason I'm sure, those old 20 series tractors were built to last and are some very good machines.