Posted by JD Seller on February 09, 2014 at 15:28:01 from (208.126.196.144):
A good friend came over this afternoon. He was just visiting me as we both are baching it right now. With the women away we both thought we would see what kind of trouble we could get into. LMAO
He was upset with his sons. He has pulled out of the daily farming as his heath is failing pretty quick. Real bad declining eye sight being the most trouble.
The sons just took delivery on a new combine and three new tractors. The trade-ins where not four years old. He told me they gave more for the trade difference than he did for his farm. He bought the farm in 1978 so he did not steal it.
He wanted to go look at the equipment and drug me along. LOL I do like looking at "new" stuff. I just don't want to have to pay for it.
The combine is a JD 680R machine. We could not figure out half of the controls. We guess that you set the machine from the cab?? Any grain off the shoe is going right out the chopper/spreader. It looks like there are cameras to look into the shoe while it is running???? I am not sure.
The one tractor we got up in was a JD 8285R. There again we did not know what half the controls did. We just know that it cost BIG money. LOL
I have not sold "new" equipment since 2005. It surprised me how much the line has changed and how out of date I am on the systems/controls.
When we got back to my house we both where kind of bummed out. Here we where life long farmers and the new stuff would be hard for us to operate. That is hard to get your head around. I am not just talking about the GPS stuff. The general controls are confusing to me now. I am not sure how to get that tractor into a forward gear. I sure would not want to try to drive it out of the shed in close quarters. I would be terrified of hitting/running over something.
We both where talking about how we really wondered what the future would hold for our sons.
He is worried about his spending so much on equipment when prices are falling. They are farming about 3500 acres with some livestock. Can the two of them make a living on that without any outside income??? Are the high cash rents going to break them too???
I worry that I what I taught my sons may not be the best thing in todays world. I never have borrowed money for equipment. I started out with junk and worked my way up, always paying for it as I went. The newest thing we own in the equipment line is the two JD 9660 combines. They bought them wrecked so they do not have 50% of what they would have cost on a dealer's lot. Is this the right way to go??? Are the guys that are trading often doing better long term???
I have also leaned hard on the boys to not pay the high cash rents on crop land. I know this has chaffed them some and they have not been able to pickup acres like they wanted too. I am just concerned about the longer term cash flow per acre. The high rents only work with full corn, good yields, and higher prices. Anything else will not even show a profit on paper.
Three of the four have outside jobs. I told them to do that for now as they can build their balance sheet faster and safer this way. I would rather they not be farming at all compared to going bankrupt farming full time.
Just some thoughts.
1) The fact that the machinery has passed me by is unsettling to me.
2) The numbers are staggering on what it takes to farm these days.
3) How is this all going to play out??? Are we going to crash and burn like in the 1930s or 1980s in farming???
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