Optimum hours to change

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Has any proper research ever been done into the optimum hours to change a frontline tractor at ?

I know there is a lot of split opinion on TFF over this but has it ever been quantified by any studies or research ? Or do we only have gut feel and past experience (or good / bad luck) to rely upon ?

At some point used value vs repair cost must cross over so there must be a sweet spot but how can we predict that point better than just gut feel ?

Getting decision to change timing right has potential to save farms a lot of money potentially so surely if no such studies exist this is the kind of thing levy money etc should be used to fund ?
 
Has any proper research ever been done into the optimum hours to change a frontline tractor at ?

I know there is a lot of split opinion on TFF over this but has it ever been quantified by any studies or research ?

At some point used value vs repair cost must cross over so there must be a sweet spot ?

Somewhere, hopefully on a book shelf (from college days) I have a book called “Choosing and Using Farm Machinery”

It’s full of equations and graphs which I reckon would answer your question.

Digging it out will be the hard bit.....

TSS
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Somewhere, hopefully on a book shelf (from college days) I have a book called “Choosing and Using Farm Machinery”

It’s full of equations and graphs which I reckon would answer your question.

Digging it out will be the hard bit.....

TSS

Would be interesting to see if goal post have moved as modem kit got more expensive and in theory capable of more hours before major bill ?
 
Would be interesting to see if goal post have moved as modem kit got more expensive and in theory capable of more hours before major bill ?

I seem to recall an argument at the time that there would be / are so many variables and that reliability is difficult to predict.

Let me see what I can find after supper.

TSS
 
Ok. According to Mr Brian Witney:

“For forward planning purposes, the optimum time for replacing a machine is when the annual ownership cost reaches a minimum.”

“The minimum point on the annual cost curve is located at its intersection with the marginal holding cost curve.....”

He goes into great depth as to how to calculate costs, reliability etc - including some serious serious equations.

I really would recommend the book.

TSS
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Ok. According to Mr Brian Witney:

“For forward planning purposes, the optimum time for replacing a machine is when the annual ownership cost reaches a minimum.”

“The minimum point on the annual cost curve is located at its intersection with the marginal holding cost curve.....”

He goes into great depth as to how to calculate costs, reliability etc - including some serious serious equations.

I really would recommend the book.

TSS

Sounds like a book that needs turning into a spreadsheet !
 

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Has any proper research ever been done into the optimum hours to change a frontline tractor at ?

I know there is a lot of split opinion on TFF over this but has it ever been quantified by any studies or research ? Or do we only have gut feel and past experience (or good / bad luck) to rely upon ?

At some point used value vs repair cost must cross over so there must be a sweet spot but how can we predict that point better than just gut feel ?

Getting decision to change timing right has potential to save farms a lot of money potentially so surely if no such studies exist this is the kind of thing levy money etc should be used to fund ?

Profit over and above the cash demand of the business, plus the potential tax due on profit must have a massive influence on the timing of major machinery purchases. Or it certainly should do.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Still think a machine you take to 10-12k hours yourself will still be the cheapest ownership even if there are repairs. The issue of course is stepping up again next time

It depends upon how many hours we all think major componants like engine or gearbox are good for before likely failure ?

Either could cost 20k plus on a modern tractor

In the aircraft world expected life of components is published and manufacturers must have data on how long they expect components to last ?
 

Ducati899

Member
Location
north dorset
Always been 4 years here and they go,only ever have standard 1 year warranty with all machines and never been any issue with this,cost to change has always been kept down to a good figure but every tractor that has left me has been sold locally and have gone on for years virtually trouble free so I’m thinking I should keep them longer myself but I don’t want to keep them too long and then having a ridiculously high cost to change
 
It depends upon how many hours we all think major componants like engine or gearbox are good for before likely failure ?

Either could cost 20k plus on a modern tractor

In the aircraft world expected life of components is published and manufacturers must have data on how long they expect components to last ?

As does the day the new one arrives on the yard. So whats the probability of having 3 £20k breakdowns every 3000 hours? If it driven well, serviced well and checked over regularly. When you go through how many major repairs you've forked out for over the years how many have been component failure with no fault of operators? Certainly I can look back and realise some of the major repairs I've paid for could have been prevented.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Blimey,some of you lads don't have spend some time worrying about very little.
Depreciation this, optimum that , cost to change the other.
Relax and run your business according to its needs , why try to make everything fit everything .?

Running a business is making everything fit as efficiently as possible surely ?

Depreciation / repair cost can be very significant numbers so surely they are worthy of consideration ?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
As does the day the new one arrives on the yard. So whats the probability of having 3 £20k breakdowns every 3000 hours? If it driven well, serviced well and checked over regularly. When you go through how many major repairs you've forked out for over the years how many have been component failure with no fault of operators? Certainly I can look back and realise some of the major repairs I've paid for could have been prevented.

I would agree - if you own from new and service exactly as schedule etc not much should go wrong fir a long time that isn’t down to operator

However it doesn’t always follow like that
 

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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