Old equipment

[tessiers]

How many of you guys actually farm with old equipment?

I hay with a 41' Farmall, 53 Ford and an assortment of equipment most of which was made before I was born. I am wondering how many people still use this stuff, I'm not talking parades and hayrides, I'm talking work. I can not for the life or me figure out why people rake hay with bar rakes behind 100 hp tractors when there are about half a million Ford N's out there that could handle them easily and probably a tandem hook. Costs more in fuel to start them big tractors than a N could burn all day. I also run a 17' 4 basket hydraulic fold tedder behind a Farmall H, hardley even kicks in the governer, why burn 5 gallons per hour with a big tractor?

Just wondering if I am out to lunch or what?

 

[flusher]

I use an old 6.5 ft wide Towner offset disc (a gift from a neighbor) for primary tillage on my 6-acre hayfield (I'm a pure haying hobbiest). For planting I use an old Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drill (10 ft wide, 20 hoes, single disc openers) that I restored.



I used my 2008 Mahindra 5525 to plant Kanota oats in 2009.
I'm restoring several old tractors: 1945 Oliver 60 Row Crop (doing brake job now), a 1948 Farmall Cub (low compression, valve job in work now), a 1951 Minneapolis Moline BF High Crop (complete restoration). One of these days I'll have one of these oldies running so I can farm with them.

 

[wolc123]

I do all I can with the old iron. There actually are some jobs, such as log skidding and cultivationg, for which no modern tractor can do as well as an old trike tractor. You cant buy a new trike these days. I always like to use the best available tool for the job, even if that tool is older than me.

 

[Snaker]

The small tractors took a pretty good jump in price. Around here, everyone and their brother moved out of the suburbs, built their little mansion, and bought a small tractor to clean snow off the driveway. Often the 100hp tractors were/are cheaper than the little Fords.

As for the equipment, stuff is getting worn out, parts are hard to find, and scrappers scoop it up wheather it is in good shape or junk.

Speed and size is very important with equipment also.

I have renters farm my place, grains and hay, using some big equipment. Using some wild eye estimates I compare time spent on the hayfield:

mowing 7' sickle bar= 12 hr; big discbine=3 hr
conditioning=8 hr; not needed
raking with bar rake=12hr; double row V wheel rake=2 hr
baling small bales= 16hr; big bales=3 hr

old school=48hr
new school=8hr

I don't have any real facts or stats, but with such a difference in engine run time, I'm not so sure that the large stuff uses as much fuel as you may think.

 

[ultrarunner]

My Grandfather was still doing everything with his one and only tractor bought 50 years ago...

Then my cousin took over the farm and bought lots of new equipment saying the old stuff is too slow, no cab, etc...

And then my cousin shut down farming saying there was no money in it...

 

[SSdoxie]

I brother is running the family farm and still has a couple of Dad's older tractors, a Super H & 656. He uses these on first crop of hay because the bigger tractors are still hooked up ready for cultivating, chemical applications, etc. Second hay crop he uses the newr stuff. Why? Comfort and Air Conditioning.

 

[Soundguy]

mines pretty much only a hobby farm.. some cows, chickens, pigs, turkey horses and mules.. but most of my machines are fords from the 50's.

love em.

easy to work on.. and decently cheap.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

mowing 7' sickle bar= 12 hr; big discbine=3 hr
conditioning=8 hr; not needed
raking with bar rake=12hr; double row V wheel rake=2 hr
baling small bales= 16hr; big bales=3 hr

old school=48hr
new school=8hr

Times do change. The acreage todays farmer has to cover has also changed from the old days. At least in many areas.

The return on the product has not kept pace with inflation just about forcing a farmer into getting more for his hour of work. Then comes the little cycle of more land, larger equipment, more land and so on.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

With new equipment comes big price tags. They MAY save you time (per acre) but require more acres (ie, more time) to break even/come out ahead. In a smaller operation, efficiency in the form of time management usually wins out over high speed/high production equipment. The former is simply a matter of personal effort, where the latter is simply a matter of spending money BEFORE you earn it. (aka...DEBT)

Then we need to define "farm".... It seems there are a large number of people who buy 15 or 20 acres, a tractor, get farm tags on their pick up and call themselves farmers. That ain't "farmin" to me, that's just "Livin' in the country". "Farming" is production agriculture as a self supporting source of income....It's a lifestyle that feeds the family....

That said, I've made a living with a mix of old equipment. Some of it started out as "new equipment" back in the early 70's. (a couple tractors) Nearly all my implements were used, some even OLD used...I bought stuff that was considered good models, but had "issues", then made repairs. (Hence, my screen name) Or equipment that was considered outdated or too small for some of the big time operators in the area. In the past 3 years, I've started adding a few "new" pieces to the puzzle. (ie a new round baler, new planter, new sprayer) and a few "newer" pieces (ie 80's and 90's stuff...ie a cab tractor, combine, moco, grain cart)

Farming, if you're interested in actually making money, has to pencil out. That rules out new tractors, combines, ect, unless you're farming hundreds, if not thousands of acres. I'm working more land now than at any point in my career, but still under 500 acres total.....And I made a decent profit last year. Looks to be a decent one this year. (keeping fingers crossed) Again, the ONLY way that can be done on a small scale is with low overhead and low/no debt. And that begins and ends with low equipment cost.

Plan is to increase acreage significantly next season. (lease on 430 acres in addition to what I already have) That'll take me to just under 900 acres total. (under 100 in hay/pasture, 450/500 in corn, balance in soy beans/wheat-soy bean double crop.)

 

[ultrarunner]

The family dairy farm is only 44 acres with 30 milk cows plus the usual assortment of farm animals... mostly chickens and pigs honey bees... it was fully self-sustaining for generations and was organic before they had heard the term...

The farm was free and clear until my cousin took over and bought all new equipment and then found he couldn't make a go of it...

I have several cousins that Dairy farm and the largest is only 60 milk cows with additional leased fields from dairy farms the called it quits... seems it is easy to spend on equipment without improving the bottom line.

Most have a mix of old and new... most equipment is well used and not abused... greased, oiled and sharpened without fail... nothing sits outside