Are Contractors rates having to go up.

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Do farmers think contractors coming in with new, big and shiny state of the art kit think they are getting a better job done? Contractors may think farmers are more impressed by turning up with this kit too.
Looking at the job realistically the contractor with well maintained twenty year old stuff could undercut the new kit man by probably 30% and have spare machine in the yard ready if needs be.
Depends what job you doing I would think , balers have advanced a lot as have drills
 

cvx175

Member
Location
cumbria
Do farmers think contractors coming in with new, big and shiny state of the art kit think they are getting a better job done? Contractors may think farmers are more impressed by turning up with this kit too.
Looking at the job realistically the contractor with well maintained twenty year old stuff could undercut the new kit man by probably 30% and have spare machine in the yard ready if needs be.
Well maintained 20yr old kit is all well and good but if youre doing a lot of work with it then it may be worn out to the point where maintenance ends costing as much as replacing it.
 
74p for red makes it £500 more in overheads for a few weeks. Def no changing tractors we are currently spending a lot on maintenance no way can we afford additional finance. Still cheaper to get contractors in than sitting on kit that only gets used a few weeks of the year.
 
Well maintained 20yr old kit is all well and good but if youre doing a lot of work with it then it may be worn out to the point where maintenance ends costing as much as replacing it.
Yes and no. Ive done my sums on this. We do a lot in construction so heavy hauling etc. Currently no finance. To change tractor be looking at min £650pm. To maintain it to overhaul parts, spruce up is not going to cost close to £7k in 12 months. The risk is too much - if we spend £5k thats acceptable. Im not taking financial risks this coming year sitting on the safe side. No room for finance. With the mortgage. Luckily paid back the £50k safety loan. The mobile tractor mechanic is going to be the one smiling here.
 

cvx175

Member
Location
cumbria
Yes and no. Ive done my sums on this. We do a lot in construction so heavy hauling etc. Currently no finance. To change tractor be looking at min £650pm. To maintain it to overhaul parts, spruce up is not going to cost close to £7k in 12 months. The risk is too much - if we spend £5k thats acceptable. Im not taking financial risks this coming year sitting on the safe side. No room for finance. With the mortgage. Luckily paid back the £50k safety loan. The mobile tractor mechanic is going to be the one smiling here.
Basing your figures on how many hours a year? A contractor doing 2500-3000 hours a year might not spend as much in the first few years on repairs and maintenance but by the time it's 20yrs old?
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
Lot depends on what type of contracting you are doing
Ploughing and combi drilling tends to eat into the £££ leaving very little behind per acre.
Again silage fuel and running costs v high.
(Margins are tight on most jobs these days though)
 

Tubbylew

Member
Location
Herefordshire
Well maintained 20yr old kit is all well and good but if youre doing a lot of work with it then it may be worn out to the point where maintenance ends costing as much as replacing it.
I've a forestry contractor friend who had a run in with some planning officials, who told him his business couldn't be viable as his (very tidy) kit was over 20yrs old, things must be different in townie land.
 

vinnie123

Member
Location
dorset
Do farmers think contractors coming in with new, big and shiny state of the art kit think they are getting a better job done? Contractors may think farmers are more impressed by turning up with this kit too.
Looking at the job realistically the contractor with well maintained twenty year old stuff could undercut the new kit man by probably 30% and have spare machine in the yard ready if needs be.
Its hard enough to get all the workload done (in the weather windows we appear to be having regularly ) with new kit let ! Never mind with 20 yr old stuff .

Plenty people round here doing charity work, hedge trimming and dung spreading and slurry tank8ng are far too cheap, there’s next to nothing in it when nothing goes wrong and when it does your out of the yard losing money.
 

Ali_Maxxum

Member
Location
Chepstow, Wales
Some very basic and quick maths and it's quite frightening how much extra we could potentially extra spend on diesel at the price it is, we can't stomach it, something will have to change or we will simply have to put the price up almost several pounds an hour.

Would many accept that? Or simply just not get the work done, and I'm talking topping, trimming, spring work, hay, etc.....
 

B'o'B

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Rutland
Some very basic and quick maths and it's quite frightening how much extra we could potentially extra spend on diesel at the price it is, we can't stomach it, something will have to change or we will simply have to put the price up almost several pounds an hour.

Would many accept that? Or simply just not get the work done, and I'm talking topping, trimming, spring work, hay, etc.....
You can’t work at a loss.
Either most of work gets done or other businesses can’t function (Unless another local operator wants to do the work at a loss).
There is only so far you can cut corners before things start to fall apart.
This year is going to be a bumpy ride for many of us (and that is about the only prediction I feel any confidence in making right now!)
Good luck
 

Highashgrange

Member
Arable Farmer
Due to the hike in machinery and fuel costs along with the increase price in electricity and the standard of living.We do a small amount of contracting and grain drying and I feel we will have to charge more to make it worthwhile. Thoughts ?

We use a contractor for some jobs. It’s a big outfit running 3 foragers, 3 combines, 30+ tractors. He told me the other day he’s having to absorb it all except fuel costs. Apparently there’s so much under cutting going on from smaller startup farmers sons.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Of course they need to start somewhere but a tractor, man and fuel at £24/hour or combine with fuel at £25/ac doesn’t help existing established contractors does it?
Not seen anyone that low but they don't have the costs , if they have a hedge cutter bought and paid and have no staff to pay then then they will be cheaper, it's not really an issue around here as farmers tend to be loyal to who they have always used, but my issue was some use the term Farmers Son as if he's some kind of moron who does not know what he's doing ,,,,,,😂
 

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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