Posted by Hogleg on January 22, 2010 at 05:50:25 from (38.114.82.65):
In Reply to: 706 gas posted by Lary on January 21, 2010 at 16:09:41:
Was wondering the same thing. so let's do some math here to see how much per round bale is the difference. Lots of gas 706 tractors in pretty good shape vs. diesels with a lot more hours at roughly $2K more (plus or minus). I have seen good, solid 706G tractors here going for $3K (plus or minus).
I am assuming my situation - I need to do some small operation baling to feed my own cattle and horses. I just got done spending $1400 in hay costs this year. I need around 60-70 1000 lb bales to meet my own needs. I have access to the land for free.
Help me out here if my numbers are not right (I am guessing a lot!)
How many 4x4 1000lb bales can you get off of a 40 acre field? My guess is around 7 bales per acre for first cutting so 280 bales for this field.
I would guess you can cut it in 3 hours with a disc mower, rake it in 2 hours with a v-rake and bale it in 4 hours. so a total of 9 hours to produce 280 bales. (I am really guessing here).
So, 9hours of gas tractor at 6 gal per hour is 56 gals of gas, at $3.00 per gal gives $168. So each bale cost 60 cents in gas.
Same 9 hours of diesel, at 2 gal per hours is 18 gals, at $2.00 per gal (off road assume) is $36. So each bale cost 13 cents in fuel.
So, 47 cents per bale difference. If I divide that into the $2K cost difference, I need to make over 4200 bales of hay to make this cost effective.
And I am not even including maint items. Even if I am off by a factor of 2, I still have to make a heck of a lot of hay to make the cost diff pay. And I would guess that most folks in the larger hay biz would be going after a 100hp newer tractor than a 706. At 100 bales a year, and assuming that I am way off and I need 2000 bales to close the gap, it woult take me 20 years to recover the costs.
Am I all wet here?
John
PS - yes I did not include equipment. But the equipment is capital, not expense. That $1400 is out the door, gone bye-bye, and hits my bottom line costs directly. Purchasing good used equip (3K for a 706G, 3K for a 504G vermeer baler, $1K for a gehl v-rake and maybe 3K for a disc mower) gives me a capital depreciation item, instead of an expense. There is the risk of maint on the equip, but that may be harder to quantify. Bet I could sell a few round bales to cover the maint. though. No guarantees, however.
This post was edited by Hogleg at 06:07:50 01/22/10 2 times.
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