New combine cost

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
We have dropped from 2 combines to 1 across combinable 5000ac, freed up an extra person and lots of capital. More efficient and cost effective to extend the working day and use the dryer than run two machines. We would aim to start cutting by 8am and stop by 10pm, quick blow down and everyone home. Dryer can cope with taking out 5% at 93tph, less cost compared to a large combine, more versatile and more margin for any contract work, especially as we can dress malting barley etc so add value for the customer.

Now that is an impressive setup!! It would certainly be a sight to see.
 
i can easy justify the machine, it’s just a question of it creates the most efficient Labour profile for us. Only a fool puts temporary, lower skilled staff on modern expensive machinery these days and a business like ours has a high labour peak for just 6 weeks of the year that is becoming increasingly hard to fill

6 weeks of temporary Labour isn’t cheap / difficult to find work for when it rains all week and if students would be about to go back to uni soon despite a lot of harvest still to go here ! contractor rates for a big combine are not exactly including a big margin as already pointed out, why run your own if someone else is willing to work for not too dosimilr cost ? !

A good business should consider ALL options and not be driven by emotion
the issue is if in years down the line you have had enough of contractors letting you down or price rises and decide to go back to buying your own combine and have a huge amount of money to find
 
whats the point in getting a job done if the job isn’t viable ?

a contractor would be in the same position as any farmer in a tricky year - snatching when they can

key is surely having a contractor or maybe multiple contractors with enough capacity ?
is it viable to end up with sprouting or reduced quality wheat/barley because contractors havent been snatching away at it between showers in a tricky year? wheats potentially worth £800/acre income this year
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
is it viable to end up with sprouting or reduced quality wheat/barley because contractors havent been snatching away at it between showers in a tricky year? wheats potentially worth £800/acre income this year

all about the right contractor, I guess - "IF" I went that route I would probably be the only customer for at least 1 of their machines
 
all about the right contractor, I guess - "IF" I went that route I would probably be the only customer for at least 1 of their machines
not a decision to take lightly, you will already be working with large combines so you wont gain the benefit a guy switching from a beaten up 16fter gets switching to a contractor in terms of output, as said before switching back to your own combine in the future will be harder if your out for a while, inflations happening
 

Drillman

Member
Mixed Farmer
We’ve gone from having contractors cutting for us every year since harvest 87 to running our own machine on just over 200 acre of corn.

contractor we had used for a long time retired and I couldn’t see who else to ask that would get what we wanted done when we wanted it done so bit the bullet and bought a 20 year old single rotor machine.

Only wifey and me so couldn’t cope with a lot more acres but enjoying the flexibility it gives especially as we have a half decent mobile batch drier as well
 
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David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
I don't see why you'd spend 100k on what is a pretty small machine, when a nice 500 series 5 walker Lexion would be much less, and allow you to nip out and cut 30ac in a good afternoon.
I know a new one would be new, but I'd be slowly chewing up and down and thinking that for all this money I could be getting on.
 
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glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
i can easy justify the machine, it’s just a question of it creates the most efficient Labour profile for us. Only a fool puts temporary, lower skilled staff on modern expensive machinery these days and a business like ours has a high labour peak for just 6 weeks of the year that is becoming increasingly hard to fill

6 weeks of temporary Labour isn’t cheap / difficult to find work for when it rains all week and if students would be about to go back to uni soon despite a lot of harvest still to go here ! contractor rates for a big combine are not exactly including a big margin as already pointed out, why run your own if someone else is willing to work for not too dosimilr cost ? !

A good business should consider ALL options and not be driven by emotion
You need to hire a scottish combine for exclusive use till 1st sept
 

glasshouse

Member
Location
lothians
I don't see why you'd spend 100k on what is a pretty small machine, when a nice 500 series 5 walker Lexion would be much less, and allow you to nip out and cut 30ac in a good afternoon.
I know a new one would be new, but I'd be slowly chewing up and down and thinking that for all this money I could be getting on.
I want a trailed combine
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
the days of not running a farm 100% as a business are gone, i’m not wealthy enough do this for fun so will always make the best financial decision at the time - simply can’t afford not to in a unsubsidised future

“pride” “happiness” are personal values and aspirations, and whilst personally important such emotion should be separated from GOOD business decisions “pride comes before a fall” springs to mind!!


a lot of farmers have a massive financial reality check coming
Who mentioned anything about not running this farming business 100%?
However, If I can’t get the satisfaction I want from farming the way I want to farm it, I’ll get out of it fast.
Nobody is forcing me to farm and while I enjoy it, it is my personality preference to continue to do so.

Pride and happiness are personal values are indeed personal aspirations. But once they are gone, I’ll do something else.

There may be a lot of farmers heading for a massive financial reality check.
Some of us are way ahead in not only the planning stages, but putting it into action to alleviate such problems.
This can give us an even greater sense of pride in having done so.

If you aren’t wealthy enough to at least have some fun in what you do God help us all!


As for comparing using Contractors making Silage for Dairy farmers, I see little comparison in relying on them to get my arable harvest in!
When it comes down to it and our ultimate financial income, it’s like relying on the same contractor to do the milking too!

We don’t all have to run Combines less that 5 years old to get the harvest in. If we know our way around a tool box, they aren’t that difficult or expensive to fix and run. Mine is 10 years old and has only ever see a main dealer mechanic twice in its life. The Contracting it has earned makes it almost FOC to me.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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