I don't understand something.

[ROUSTABOUT]

OK, I don't understand a lot of things, but that's another thread.


My little squirt is approaching 4 years old (wow, has it really been that long?) and it approaching 500 hours, or around 125 hours a year.. I don't use it very much. It sits for weeks sometime between tasks if I don't have to mow.

But I keep seeing threads and posts about 20, 30, 40 year old tractors with hour readings that work out to 20 hours a year or less. Is it that they have more than one machine and each gets lesser use than if they only had one? How do you spend $20,000 or so on something you use so little?

I got on a tractor with 497 hours on it and hauled chicken poop for 3 days from 5:45 am till 9:00 pm. Has 500.9 hours on it now. How fast you run an engine determines hours on meter. Not like a watch. It was 105 HP tractor so it was easy work. I'm easy on it. Hours are low. I use my other tractor a lot, but maybe 20 hours on meter per year. No wide open throttle around here.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I guess you could sell the farm. Move to public housing in town. Sell your vehicles and ride the bus.

 

[paulfun9]

OK, I don't understand a lot of things, but that's another thread.


My little squirt is approaching 4 years old (wow, has it really been that long?)

Thought you was going to ask something about your child

and it approaching 500 hours, or around 125 hours a year

Then saw this and got confused

Need to put the wine away and sleep it off!

A very tipsy
Janet

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I don't know how a black cow eats green grass and makes white milk and yellow butter.

 

[oosik]

My main tractor use - winter, plowing snow - - spring, chipping all my small thinned pines - - summer, driveway maintenance. Otherwise - projects for upkeep of the property. The accumulated hours on my tractor - it is what it is.

 

[The Deerslayer]

I think a lot of people are in the mindset that if they want a tool and can afford that tool then they buy that tool and use it as they see fit.

....precisely this in most situations I suspect. Only thing I could add is the enjoyment/therapy factor that accompanies said purchase=priceless

 

[lman]

I noticed that I haven't been using my tractor as much this year because the price of diesel fuel makes me nauseous.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

I run between 80-100 hours/year. Since gas is cheaper than diesel at the moment--by quite a bit, I have been using a smaller mower for part of my yard; but the bulk of the mowing is still with the tractor. I also cut my brush, clear driveways, haul some wood and other FEL work. All this on 13 acres.

 

[royyme]

OK, I don't understand a lot of things, but that's another thread.


My little squirt is approaching 4 years old (wow, has it really been that long?) and it approaching 500 hours, or around 125 hours a year.. I don't use it very much. It sits for weeks sometime between tasks if I don't have to mow.

But I keep seeing threads and posts about 20, 30, 40 year old tractors with hour readings that work out to 20 hours a year or less. Is it that they have more than one machine and each gets lesser use than if they only had one? How do you spend $20,000 or so on something you use so little?

 

[JWR]

OK, I don't understand a lot of things, but that's another thread.


My little squirt is approaching 4 years old (wow, has it really been that long?) and it approaching 500 hours, or around 125 hours a year.. I don't use it very much. It sits for weeks sometime between tasks if I don't have to mow.

But I keep seeing threads and posts about 20, 30, 40 year old tractors with hour readings that work out to 20 hours a year or less. Is it that they have more than one machine and each gets lesser use than if they only had one? How do you spend $20,000 or so on something you use so little?

People will reveal themselves for the strangest reasons...

My farm is 100 acres and 330 miles from my home. And another place I have is 3 acres 80 miles from the farm. I'm there for a few days once a month. The 1954 MH Pacer we got when I was 11 no longer covers my needs (though we keep it usable.) When I retired 21 years ago "farming" was a euphemism for my most expensive hobby. So I bought a real tractor new and spent 3 years getting the bugs out of it. It now has 550 hrs on it. That was expensive. Then Pap's barn that stood just fine since 1921 was destroyed in in a micro twister and I built a new building. Somewhere before retirement I found an incredible deal on a compact 4WD tractor which I have had for 29 years and is still the best tractor I ever saw. It has 545 hr on it. On price, 3 of the 4 tractors I own (not counting the glorified lawn mower here at home nor the family heirloom Pacer) averaged $5000 each, used. Will these things ever pay for themselves? Good heavens NO !

So how do you justify this? You can't and I don't have to. I leased out the 100 acre farm and I agreed to cut brush and pasture on 56 acres of it usually twice a year while the renters agreed to build fence, put in gates, do drainage ditches, etc. I can't do my part with an heirloom Pacer nor a garden tractor so I spent a fool's fortune on a new 81 hp tractor in 2011 plus half that much on attachments. "I needed it." Sure I did.

Every tractor I own is worth more now than when I bought it. My kids will not have to start from scratch when they take over.

Hours per year ? Who cares. Not a relevant variable in this equation.