I just don't care!

Got my first "up close and personal" peek at a 30 foot, $250K combine at work yesterday. Owner told me that he trades every year and the "difference" comes to $40K for each of four machines at every trade and that he never stops making payments.

Don't care what ya say, I'm still gonna land me an old L2 Gleaner diesel.

My old pee brain can't deal with the kinds of numbers these boys are playin' with nowadays. :>)

Allan

Then you told us that you were just an old man waiting to die but the great folks on this board made a new man out of you.

Then you tell us that you just closed on a 320 acre "hobby" farm "to keep you busy".

Then you spend half a day every day on the computer writing and showing pictures of what you are doing.

Then in these pictures we see that you are working 200 acres of hay.

Now you tell us "..... combine at WORK yesterday". So now we are to believe that you work a steady, non-farm job too?

What are you superman?..... ..... LMAO

Mark

I think the real thing is reliability. If you are following the harvest, on the road, with a time table, you don't want, nor can you afford to break down....so you get the best equipment you can.

Makes sense to me.

Mark

I always used to say that if it had been in the wheat fields, if had at least been "predeliverd". Wheat doesn't hurt a thing.

One that has lived in the bean fields might be another story, tho.

Allan

I always used to say that if it had been in the wheat fields, if had at least been "predeliverd". Wheat doesn't hurt a thing.

One that has lived in the bean fields might be another story, tho.

Allan

Wish mother deere and co would have used galvanized metal. Woulda helped a lot.

Mark

Wish mother deere and co would have used galvanized metal. Woulda helped a lot.

Mark

Dug

I've always assumed when people talk about buying equipment for one/two/three seasons and trading it...

They were doing it as a lease.

First, that's 100% tax deductible as a business expense. I don't know about farm-specific provisions, but in general industry you'd have to put it on a depreciation schedule if you owned it...and your deductions due to depreciation isn't necessarily what your payments are.

Second, if it is a lease...you never build up equity, but you never have to buy a machine in the end either.

I can see how both business models work.

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On a side-note...

At my fire company we buy our apparatus -- Town every five years or so will issue a bond to cover a fire truck along with a bunch of other items for fire/highway/schools/etc that add up to a little more than $1 million. Fire Company chips in 10-20% of the cost from our BBQ fundraising and such.

But we lease our ambulances.

The way the State regulations are for ambulance billing, we can't "save" enough to buy a new ambulance every 4 years. That "savings" would be "excess profits" and we risk having our rate cut. By leasing, it's expense and doesn't risk our billing rate.

Financially, if you took the long term view, saving up would be cheaper. But the regulations don't allow / make it very risky to do.

Interesting the can of worms that financing & rules can open up!

Sad but true.

Mark

That"s just what I"m a gonna do. Gonna find me an old $1400 L2 and it"ll probalby be my last. :>)

Allan

Got to feeling pretty low being I've been ridiculing you and just having a jolly good time at your expense.....so I went a lookin for you a Gleaner L2.

But we have a problem. You need to see an optometrist before we talk as your pencil slipped over a decimal place and you are about $13k low on your bid. This is $14,000, not $1,400.

I found one at Specialty NC, net equipment sales. It's a 1982, 2200 hrs, mint, 24' header, always shedded, one owner, in Syracuse, Kansas (right down the street-right). (620) 384-7584. They will throw in chrome hub caps and whitewalls for free.....for that price. Har Har.

Now don't get mad at me. I'm just trying to help an old friend fill out his remaining days. Grin.

Mark

If I have to go thru a dealer, I wanna stay under $10K.

Think if I hit the farm sales this winter, I can do way better than that.

I passed that derned $1400 guy here about 2 months ago and it was under 20 miles from me. Should have had my head examined on that one!

Heck, for no more than I'm gonna use it for ('bout 50 acres a year), I could go clear down to an F2. They work just as well as long as ya get the 6 cylinder diesel 'stead of the four.

Allan

Thought you were in church all day or sumpin.

Whoppin big difference in the two prices; course haven't seen the machines.

I had a JD 95 and a newer MF 760D. The two were miles apart in all respects.

My problem here is that we are not in NE and all the roads are narrow and trees everywhere and fences and small plots and you get the idea.

Mark

Thanks,

Mark

I dunno for sure, but you're probably right.

I remember the guys that had those 4 pop diesels always were a smokin' fer a living. I mean lots and lots of black smoke.

I really liked the 6 I had, never did push it to the black smoke point tho and it got along just fine.

Allan

Also are the hoppers and chutes galvanized?

Mark

I really get hyped when I get to goin' on Gleaners.

Every derned thing on 'em is galvanized. Plus, when it is time to repair, you walk up to 'em from the outside instead of crawlin' up into the belly of the beasts. :>)

AGCO now, I'm thinkin'.

Allan

With all the shiny metal I sorta figured they were galvanized. I really like that. Never saw one up close however.
----- ----- ----

Do you really have a job in town too? Grin
Mark

With all the shiny metal I sorta figured they were galvanized. I really like that. Never saw one up close however.
----- ----- ----

Do you really have a job in town too? Grin
Mark

I'm still kickin' myself over losin' that last machine I had. Wrote the check for $53K (at that time, I thought that was a lot of money).

Wasn't a monster sized machine, but just kept going and going and going.

Had a straight F before that and it was the same way only it was a gasser. Had to fill it every darned day, but it too just went on and on. :>)

Only lost one darned bearing in 14 years with those two machines.

Allan

There was a story circulated around here about 3 years ago, I suspect source was Deere dealers, " Deere 9650 becomes first combine in history to do a million bushels of corn in a single season. " Corn around here was a poor crop that year. My neighbor had a relatively new 9650 at the time. He suggested his 9650 would have been on the road 90% of the time just getting to that much corn.

How true this story is I have no way of knowing. However if combines are approaching the million buhsel per year mark, they will soon become old machines. Allan's going to have a hard time matching that cost of production with a 30 year old Gleaner.

Since I am on the southern end of the harvest chain, when the guys come by here they are first class all the way. Everything is new, shiny, and first class.

Mark

casey