Number of tractors

[Boohoo]

Currently there's almost as many tractors as acres here, 3 tractors and 4 acres. Shed space is limiting tractor numbers at the moment unfortunately. Would like to get horsepower per acre above 65.

 

[David.]

5 tractors and 2 handlers 2 combines.
Hardly necessary on 220ac, now we've lost half the arable.
But there comes a time in your life when you've hooked enough machines on and off in a day.
6480
6180
3050 x 2
Ford 6600
Lex 460
Dom 98
Matbro 270
JCB 520-4.

 

[James]

3 here mix of beef and contracting.
Mf 5713S with loader for all handling jobs bale cart/feed loading fert spraying fert spreading spraying topping raking slurry mixing etc.
Mf 6480 hedge cutter always on.
Mf 7719S mowing baling tanker ploughing power harrow drill trailer work etc.
All driven by me other than for some of the raking.

 

[PI Stsker]

I’m currently pricing up a replacement for the 718. Part of me wants to keep the old 718 and trade the 7840 in but then the other part of me dosnt like the figures there quoting to change so the bigger the PX the better I need to humble myself sometimes and remind myself there’s only one full time employee and me, I only really get to play in the summer as the guy I employ has it well handled. Having two tractors does speed the job up even when he’s on his own as he can leave the plough on one and the drill on the other and jump between them.

 

[vantage]

I sometimes have to shake my head in disbelief at how I’ve gone from 3 tractors to 7 plus 2 manitous.
First additional tractor was a MF6245 2wd to go on the straw chopper, before that I used my main tractor on it most of the time but at busy times would either be unhooking daily to use it or using the loader tractor to both load and drive it, neither option ideal .
A change of dairy and handling set up meant a scraper tractor was needed, up until then we had auto scrapers right up to the back of the old parlour and anything else wr had managed fine with the loader bucket but that wasn’t at all suitaowith the new set up so bought a MF410 for scraper duties.
Next came a manitou, loader tractor was clocking up the hours and as it’s essential on a livestock farm it was time to think about changing it, it was cheaper to buy a second hand manitou and keep the tractor and loader.

The next series of deals got a bit complicated, with the manitou now doing the loader work I looked again at changing the loader tractor, but the one job the loader tractor does do daily in winter is bed the cubicowith a sawdust dispenser. I had found a good second hand MF5613 at the local dealers but it had no loader so I bought a rear linkage kit and a 30 year old MF3060 to do that job from a dealer from away with the intention of selling the loader tractor. Only had the 3060 a couple of days and there were some issues with it, dealer from away was excellent, they fetched it back to sort the issues out……..but the night they fetched it back I was browsing their website again and they’d just got an e very low houred 5613 in for not a lot more than the one I was intending to buy but hadn’t done a deal on at the local dealers, so had a word with the dealer from away and traded the 3060 straight back against their 5613. Dimensions and power wise it was just what I wanted but I couldn’t take to the cab layout or gearbox so after a lot of searching I traded it in for a Case MX 150, the first non MF tractor we’d Bought in 40 years. So in next to no tine I’d gone from buying a 30 year old extra small tractor to a 4 month old tractor as equal biggest alongside my 7480.
Then came another manitou, again clocking hours up and essential on a daily basis, although fairly reliable, should I change it? The rough figures were I could buy another one the same, a couple of years newer than the other with less hours for about 40k less than buying a new one, although older machines do have occasional issues, I will probably reach retirement before I spend 40k on repairs, and there was no absolute guarantee of reliability or no repairs with a new one.
The latest addition has been a Valtra N154, it really should have been a replacement for my 6270 but I couldn’t bare to part with her, I have now accepted the reality that my 3 remaining MF 6200 series are working classics and that one day……….if I live long enough to retire in some shape or form I would like to restore them to as new as possible/funds will allow.

Nothing is clocking too many hours now so shouldn’t need replacing for an awful long time………unless I get the itch……and if one gives issues there’s always another to stand in as replacement at the drop of a hat, apart from the 410 on the scraper……..with its obsolete front stub axles at 17 years old as I found out but we did find a solution to that in the end.

Having plenty of spare capacity does have its benefits, a lot less hooking and unhooking of implements, especially when you know yore going to be using that machine again in the not too distant future, as well as having a back up on hand in a breakdown.

I guess the alternative would be two main tractors, a scraper tractor and a handler but I’d want/need to keep 3 of them fairly new, I’m pretty sure that would cost me more and with the oldest being the 6270, it’s far from an unpleasant place to be, she’s still my favourite, just a shame I didn’t stump up the extra £1000 for closed center hydraulics when she was news’s she’s a bit slow tipping an 18 ton trailer but sounds great pulling it

Going the other way here!
Auto scrapers going into the cubicle sheds, they were both designed for them.
Both scraper tractor hydraulics died, so bought a Taylor Attachments plate to put the box scraper on the front of the Weidemann, will just scrape the exit and collecting yard when the auto scrapers arrive.
One NH autocommand tractor, which is a joy to drive , does fert, a bit of mowing and will go on the Keenan for the winter as the cows are in full time today.
The spare is a Maxxum 5140, which really only runs the slurry stirrer, about 50 hours a year. Clock still turns at 22k hours!
Obviously the bulk of the work, slurry, reseeding and silage is done by contractors, as it has been for 50 years. Interestingly, he’s moving rapidly back to JD, after a foray to MF.

 

[daveydiesel1]

How do you find tge 5713 on fuel

 

[daveydiesel1]

Going the other way here!
Auto scrapers going into the cubicle sheds, they were both designed for them.
Both scraper tractor hydraulics died, so bought a Taylor Attachments plate to put the box scraper on the front of the Weidemann, will just scrape the exit and collecting yard when the auto scrapers arrive.
One NH autocommand tractor, which is a joy to drive , does fert, a bit of mowing and will go on the Keenan for the winter as the cows are in full time today.
The spare is a Maxxum 5140, which really only runs the slurry stirrer, about 50 hours a year. Clock still turns at 22k hours!
Obviously the bulk of the work, slurry, reseeding and silage is done by contractors, as it has been for 50 years. Interestingly, he’s moving rapidly back to JD, after a foray to MF.

The jds seem to stick up to contractors better than the rest

 

[Tarw Coch]

We're about the same as you 2 put together. Running at 10+ buckets on various brackets. Into double figures of adapter plates too, and we're not even the same acreage as your grass margins and sfi sponsored weeds.

Ahh yes, attachments, got 5 bale spikes here, one for each loader, 5 buckets too, 2 bale squeezes, a muck grad, sawdust dispenser and silage pusher, 2 shear buckets, one in need of a bit of repair and a shear grab which is pretty much redundant now with two handlers and two shear buckets but you never know the Sunday, or bank holiday that everything goes wrong and it might be needed, oh and the man basket, wouldn’t want to be without that even though it doesn’t get a lot of use

 

[BuskhillFarm]

2 here, 1 driver, 1 nice tractor that does mostly everything others a back up and sprayer /grain dryer tractor. Get contractors for hedge, combine and baling as contractors are easier and (much cheaper due to repairs) to get than sh!t drivers letalone good ones.

 

[Nearly]

Ahh yes, attachments, got 5 bale spikes here, one for each loader, 5 buckets too, 2 bale squeezes, a muck grad, sawdust dispenser and silage pusher, 2 shear buckets, one in need of a bit of repair and a shear grab which is pretty much redundant now with two handlers and two shear buckets but you never know the Sunday, or bank holiday that everything goes wrong and it might be needed, oh and the man basket, wouldn’t want to be without that even though it doesn’t get a lot of use

Time to start another thread.
'The Bucket List'

 

[PI Stsker]

The jds seem to stick up to contractors better than the rest

It would be a Deere I go for next unless fendt can pull it out of the bag majorly on price. There’s not much money between the two, and the fuel saving fendt vs Deere is all a sales tactic, there’s no difference, the newer Deeres with command pro, a seccond slave screen and a dome is any match for a fendt. The operations centre is an amazing tool even on my scale and the GPS is much easier to use and seems more accurate. Would be nice to have both tractors using the same GPS system and able to jump out of one in to the other and the AB lines be the same, like they are with the Deere. The new 185 looks like a hell of a tool!
PS I’m a major fendt fan and will prefer a fendt but…

 

[daveydiesel1]

It would be a Deere I go for next unless fendt can pull it out of the bag majorly on price. There’s not much money between the two, and the fuel saving fendt vs Deere is all a sales tactic, there’s no difference, the newer Deeres with command pro, a seccond slave screen and a dome is any match for a fendt. The operations centre is an amazing tool even on my scale and the GPS is much easier to use and seems more accurate. Would be nice to have both tractors using the same GPS system and able to jump out of one in to the other and the AB lines be the same, like they are with the Deere. The new 185 looks like a hell of a tool!
PS I’m a major fendt fan and will prefer a fendt but…

There will be a difference in fuel consumption, iv heard of 3 locals complaining that theyr new 6r tractors are considerably more thirsty than the older 6005r tractors in the fleet, and member paulandmandy on here was complaining about fuel usage on a 6r150

 

[Drillman]

3 tractors here, 110hp, (30 year old) 165hp (6 year old) and 240hp.(10 year old) Bit too much of a jump between sizes currently. but As long as I don’t buy anything the 165hp one won’t pull at a pinch we’re ok. Tractor number 4 is something we’ve never got to so it’s my aim as long as I can get the scary finance lady to agree to it

2 telehandlers, we’ve jumped between one and 2 loaders for years but it is much better with 2.

self propelled sprayer.

full set of stuff to drag behind them for 300 acre mixed farm

nothing apart from the newest loader does more than 300hr a year. Most are sub 200hr a year.

 

[Pukekohe_Grower]

Got 18 tractors here from a JD 1640 to a 8r340 and hire a 6215r and 6125m in every summer.

 

[egbert]

4 JD (old) 6000 series here....add another when I feel like it, as that's tonnes cheaper nowadays than renewing them.
Buying another one costs less than the annual depreciation on a new one, and the veteran will do pretty much the same work, with appreciation more likely than depreciation.
It's just a no brainer.

One telehandler from new, into its teens now. Exact same maths...far cheaper to keep it than replace.
As and when it's cooked, will be looking at an older one again...can't see the new price as viable.

oh, and 2x 45 year old 995/6 browners as stationery engines, one on a rock splitter, and one* driving a 1950s sawmill....most profitable set-up on the place!
*mind the one on the mill is on it's second donk. A 1290 engine came out of Greets yard 30 years ago to reanimate a 1212 which couldn't keep it's crank in one piece. Then later that burnt out, and we bought the wreck back from the insurers....engine was OK, and now in service for 20 odd years where it sits, nailed to a 996.

 

[BBC]

Always the case that the number of tractors available equals the number of tractors required - minus one!

 

[Manney]

300 acres all grass dairy farm.

4 tractors + 1 handler
1979 Fiat 780 scrapper tractor
1995 MF 6150 does feeder wagon in winter and fert spreader rest of the year.
2004 Fendt 711 does slurry pump, tanker, trailer work, topping, general field work.
2006 Fendt 818 with loader does umbilical trailing shoe, tanker, sprayer, trailer work, direct drill, pulling round bales.
2016 Kramer 8095T

On the lookout for another tractor possibly next year if I have some spare cash. Thinking MF 62** or early 64**, NH TM***, Valtra T*** or something from the mid 2000's that has enough toys to be nice to drive but I can still fix it most of the time.

 

[balerman]

Four modernish tractors here,on 200 acres plus some contract work.
2021 Case Maxxum 125 baling,mowing,plough,combi drill and trailer work.
NH T5070 main loader tractor
NH T5040 fert spreader,rotaspreader and hedge trimmer.
McCormick CX85 12m sprayer and balewrapper.
1200 hours a year between them with just me and some casual help.
Also have an IH 414 bought new by my grandfather and an IH 444 4wd made from a manitou forklift by my father,these 2 will be passed to next generation again.

 

[Wheatonrotty]

Currently 3 and a telehamdler, the 3rd is basically backup with a loader on it and has the hedge cutter left on through Jan and Feb so my mainly retired Dad can do bits in between the usual hectic life that pensioners have!
Cut back a bit from when I was growing up and we were running a 4240s, 3130, 3 x 2130s a 1630, a couple of fordsons and a pair of MF 65s. Alongside these were 3 fiat crawlers (120,100 and 805) a Universal crawler and a Track Marshall 70 that did all the land work. Dad spent most of his time servicing/repairing!

 

[Hampton]

7S 190 (23) that’s on combi drill, quadrant baler, muck spreader mainly

7718 (16) plough or shakerator, spraying with trailed sprayer, corn carting, muck spreading.

6480 (12) relief spraying, corn carting hedge cutting
3085 (L reg) Teagle straw chopper,