Combines just wondering

Dan, how far south would your Mate Come!!!!!!!!

First of all Rolf I no you don't need help for you have things well under control. Well maybe not the price of the goods you produce. Second I'm not sure they will let him out of the states. Well I have to be carefull here for I am tring to get him online to check out this site. Third I get everything south of Texas from December to March. I had though about coming down to see you but I hate them snakes you grow down there. I saw them on the Discovery Channel where some crazy man was hunting them down. Yuk I hate them things. Have a good one. Dan

95women

There are several reasons and I'll tell you a few off the top of my head. First off alot of those bigger operations that run over 10,000 acres to harvest do not have time to screw around with a used machine and deal with downtime if they want to get the harvest done and within the two week_10 day window. Then there a some that Trade in every year. Yes, they must have the bucks to trade every year but they are getting a tax write-off doing it and they are getting more hours of use out of the machine for the dollar amount vs. leasing it for the harvest........so I've been told. There is also the area of GPS. I do not know of any 8820's that have it on them. I'm sure there are but the newer machines are designed for the latest technology "add-to's" and are backed with a warranty from the company. Custom harvestors run into the trouble of getting help. They cannot get someone to run a 5 year old machine when the guy down the road has a brand new one and offers the same pay. PlUS......try to get one of those high school kids to get dirty wrenching on a machine that shot the wad with something and watch them just slingshot off the field and there you are left shorthanded. like you....I find it hard to fathom as many new machines being bought as there are. I talked to a mechanic this evening at the deere dealership and asked him who got the new 9750 sts sitting out front. He told me the name of the custom cutter and that fellow had ordered two of them but supposedly there is a 3rd one coming in for a farmer. For 2 dollar wheat and 2.53 a hundred milo in this countryIJIJIJ I don't get it either. I'm going to play hell this next year making the payment on the 9600 and it's 6 years old. Trust me....it's a big field and some of the players have been at this so long that no matter how good, bad, dirty or honest it is the better part of them will come ahead in the game. like you I don't know how but they will. Deerebines

deerebines-

You need to separate the combines sold to farmers, and those to custom cutters. I heard once that 70% of all new combine sales are to custom cutters. I don't know if its true, but judging by the number of used 2-3 year old combines in the country, its probably close. If you look at it from the custom cutter perspective, new is the only way to go if they can afford it. They don't have unexpected maintenance costs- most run the machines through the warranty period (two or three years)and then trade off. Easier to budget, plus financing terms on new stuff is usually better than used. New machines are typically more reliable, which is important since time is money to them. If a machine sits a few hours, the owner loses more money in lost opportunity costs and labor than the repair itself. A new machine also has the added benefit of attracting potential customers- the guy with new iron looks more successful and capable of delivering the work than somebody running older stuff. The bottom line is that custom combining is not farming- its an ag service business. More similar to construction in the management of labor and equipment costs- most important thing is not the cost of the wheels, but to keep them turning.

roster-

There is a time and a place for both new and used kit. In some cases it is cheaper to run a new one because of the cost of down time and repairs. 1 big reliable one is better than a selection of small ones for if nothing else the saving in labour. But I rekon you'd better sit down and work it out very carefully. If you had the 200k to buy a new machine given to you in a lump sum what would you do with itIJ I can't see a combine being a better investment than the stock market or even the bank. There are a lot of farmers here that have big new cars and machines just because they always have. They think it looks bad to have old stuff. But not as bad as kidding yourself that you need it then can't afford the fuel to run it.

The custom cutters also probabaly lease the machines and that is a 100% write off in the tax year as opposed to depreciation over time.That lowers their income in the tax year which reduces their tax exposure.

There is lots of good points to the newer the bigger machines, If your a custom cutter like myself you need them to keep up with the JONES as you could say. If you have older smaller machines and the fellow next to you has new big ones he is more then likely to get the job before you. And when the crop is ready the farmers want it out and in the bin. I agree totally that the older machines can do just as good of a job as the new ones and sometimes i think maybe better. We ran two 915 international harvesters for 23yrs and in the windrowed barley I think they done a better job then our 2388 because you dont have to run your pickup attachment so fast to match the ground speed, everything was slower and not as aggresive.