5000ac Farm won’t buy new

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
So bees wax can be clever, but no one else....all I was saying was we do not know any thing about this far other than they don’t want to buy new. I say fair play to them other farms can be equally as good as bees wax. Anyone can throw money at anything if you have enough..

That’s not what I said

If you don’t understand I really can’t be bothered explaining.

Seems to be a big chip on your shoulder
 

D14

Member
I was at a farm walk yesterday on a 5000 ac diversified farm. All the land is owned and farmed in house. The farm owner and manager were saying that their machinery replacement policy will stay in place but they now can’t see buying new as an option. They changed both combines last year and with prices of new ones at £350,000 each they were forced into buying one ex demo and one at a year old and saved themselves a cool £120,000 over the pair. They are on tractors presently and instead of buying 3 new ones at £115,000 each they were opting for 800 hr versions at £80,000 each. Next autumn their current drill is due to be replaced but having a loose verbal quote of £50,000 to change out of the existing one they said that buying a second used drill is probably the way they will go and then run them both for another 10 years thus taking themselves out of the market.
This a very diverse operation with a big property portfolio, some renewable energy things and also a big farm shop/restaurant. If these guys don’t see the value in new equipment then how do the rest of us stand a chance.
When they did the combine deal the farm owner said he had a call the next day from the UK M.D. of the chosen brand asking why hadn’t they bought new.

A bit more information was that each diversification had its own set of accounts as everything has to stand up on its own feet so nothing was supporting anything else. I got the impression this was more a value for money decision as they no longer see new machinery as value for money. Their view was that they’d rather end up with multiple items running them on reduced annual hours rather than running things hard on slim numbers.
There was about 30 of us at this farm walk and the general consensus was they were right with the decision process.
 

tw15

Member
Location
DORSET
In my mind kit is just kit does not matter if new or old as long as it is reliable and does the job efficiently and how you want it done it don't matter. Sure it may look good having all new kit but don't loose sight that it is a business that has to make a profit not just to give it to finance guys and manufacture's .
See it all the time big shinny kit private number plates etc and all the flash but don't make them any more a better farmer than anyone else . Most get too big that attention to detail goes and they end up like a hamster on a wheel. just got to get bigger so they can justify the kit in there minds . Big isn't all its cracked up to be being efficient and making a big profit is what's best.
 

Richard Smyth

Member
Arable Farmer
I'll play devil's advocate here. The main reason many buy new is reliability, or the perception of reliability. In Australia you have 6 months to prepare a seedbed between the harvest of one crop and the sowing of the next so can afford a breakdown or two. Here we have around 1 month on average.

Not necessarily case. 4 months between harvest and seeding but with direct drilling which virtually everyone is doing we still only have a 4 week period to get the crop in.

Breakdowns are not an option.
 

Renaultman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
I’m a long way past caring what anyone thinks of me !

We buy new because it works out cheapest way to get the job done within our business structure - but we keep stuff and don’t change it every year like some seem to !

I’ve tried most ways and the way we do it today seems to be the best way so far for our situation

Different solutions suit different businesses, I don’t have an in house fitter, we don’t have spare capacity in our machines or staff and we get the best from latest tech. Buying new, running warranty first 3 years to iron out bugs then servicing religiouly and looking after stuff pays well, storing it undercover etc and rarely produces unexpected bills etc

No offence but, from my perspective, your business model is constantly changing. By no means a bad thing IMO. I certainly can't afford new and cant bring myself to change or add to my teenage tractors, so am hiring a tractor for harvest and drilling. It will cost me £2000 less than a tidy 130hp Landini that is also available. Am I being daft? No idea, all I know is that for 10 months of the year 2 tractors is more than enough and I have managed the whole year with the same two for the last 3 years, I am just a little more nervous as they and I get older.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
No offence but, from my perspective, your business model is constantly changing. By no means a bad thing IMO. I certainly can't afford new and cant bring myself to change or add to my teenage tractors, so am hiring a tractor for harvest and drilling. It will cost me £2000 less than a tidy 130hp Landini that is also available. Am I being daft? No idea, all I know is that for 10 months of the year 2 tractors is more than enough and I have managed the whole year with the same two for the last 3 years, I am just a little more nervous as they and I get older.

My model only changes when the goal posts move - we used to contract hire tractors as that was the cheaper option, the last 5 years we have bought new as now that’s cheaper

Things change and you have to change with them. Who knows what I might be doing 5 years from now !

As in an earlier post there is no single right / wrong answer to machinery policy - everyone’s circumstance is different
 

Renaultman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Darlington
My model only changes when the goal posts move - we used to contract hire tractors as that was the cheaper option, the last 5 years we have bought new as now that’s cheaper

Things change and you have to change with them. Who knows what I might be doing 5 years from now !

As in an earlier post there is no single right / wrong answer to machinery policy - everyone’s circumstance is different
Exactly the point I was trying to make.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
A contract farmer on lots of short term deals might not want to own their fleet. If they lost 1/3 of the area overnight hiring is wise so they could shed a combine and tractor less painfully. At a cost less than being left with years to run on a finance scheme and no use for the asset. For a well established unit with no forecast changes in area and a long term view buying new and keeping for a long time might be more cost effective. Horses for courses & down to the deal on the day. I've usually bought new and kept for 7,000 - 11,000 hours. My last sprayer tractor left the farm a few weeks ago with 11,500 hours on the clock at 8 years old. The replacement is contract hired on a 5 year cycle.

IME the break even point between hiring and owning is around 1000 hours/year. Over this you may want to turn over gear more frequently for the reliability of a front line machine like a sprayer tractor. For a less used tractor doing 500 hours/year either seasonal hire or buy second hand and keep.
 

Ali_Maxxum

Member
Location
Chepstow, Wales
All our kit is bought new nowadays, due to amount of work we are doing now, still trying to work out some sort of 'model' however, I'm not sure we'll ever get to one. Contracting and kit is a vicious cycle, as soon as one thing is paid for something else is worn out and needs changing or upgrading.

As a growing business as well we're still on the way to getting to where we will start to level out if that makes any sense, get as big as we think we will get and size of kit will get as big as it will get. Was looking at changing our 2 main tractors every 6 years, which isn't going to happen now thanks to changing other different bits of kit and wanting to add another.

It's difficult to know how to go about the job a lot of the time. With the way it's going it is very much a case of buy it, keep it, look after it until it starts costing too much to keep or becomes unreliable. The kit is about right on the money but the tractors themselves are seriously getting out of hand, all you will find yourself doing is having to work harder and longer just to pay for more expensive kit, but then you can't do that job without it.... :scratchhead:

Used to have 2nd hand gear and keep kit too long and it just ended in unbelievable down time, big bills and arguments.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

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

  • 1,286
  • 1
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/
Top