Tractor purchasing

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
Like i say every one are different, i am owner driver, if a vault does not appear in the 1st year from new, 99% sure it will be ok.
A 5 tractor outfit on a spud farm, yes you will need a lot of cover(y)

You'd think so, but bar the hours worked, the image of 'spud men hammer tractors' doesnt really apply:

2015 MF 7620 - (3000hrs) Ridging in spring, land work and drilling at back end, driven mostly by the same man (1200/yr)
2013 MF7620 - (4600hrs) Landwork in spring, quad baler then potato harvester - again, one man does the majority (1300/yr)
2010 MF6480 - (3000 hrs) - recent replacement for a 6180 - trailer work mostly - one main driver (800/yr)
2006 MF 7480 (12300hrs) - spraying and potato planting - mostly driven by me (800/yr)
1994 MF 3075 (10200hrs) - turning straw, rolling, drain jetting, irrigation. Anybody tractor (300hrs/yr)

Rare these days for any to leave under 6000hrs.

We have several excellent self employed men that come with their own tractors who do various things, desoning and windrowing, landwork and trailer work.

So largely we avoid the 'hero' mentality associated with potato haulage particularly.
 

icanshootwell

Member
Location
Ross-on-wye
To me, new tractors are justified on usage. I can't justify buying them new if they're doing less than 1000hrs/year. That said, on 1250hrs/yr, if I bought them at say 4000hrs, theyd quickly have 10,000 on, and we'd be forever changing, increasing the chance of a lemon.
Tractors here with 500hr/yr and less workloads tend to stay long term, and might get changed if we have a good year, or a particularly suitable replacement appears.
It does depend on what your doing with the tractor, I am doing less than 1000 hrs a year, but my lions share of hrs are clocked up baling, so the money earned every hr is £70/hr plus, a big difference to £25 to £30 say on trailer work for someone. If its for on your own farm use, then yes it would need to be busy to justified, but most owners today are hanging on to there tractors longer,better the devil you know and all that, and so the gap widens.
 

icanshootwell

Member
Location
Ross-on-wye
You'd think so, but bar the hours worked, the image of 'spud men hammer tractors' doesnt really apply:

2015 MF 7620 - (3000hrs) Ridging in spring, land work and drilling at back end, driven mostly by the same man (1200/yr)
2013 MF7620 - (4600hrs) Landwork in spring, quad baler then potato harvester - again, one man does the majority (1300/yr)
2010 MF6480 - (3000 hrs) - recent replacement for a 6180 - trailer work mostly - one main driver (800/yr)
2006 MF 7480 (12300hrs) - spraying and potato planting - mostly driven by me (800/yr)
1994 MF 3075 (10200hrs) - turning straw, rolling, drain jetting, irrigation. Anybody tractor (300hrs/yr)

Rare these days for any to leave under 6000hrs.

We have several excellent self employed men that come with their own tractors who do various things, desoning and windrowing, landwork and trailer work.

So largely we avoid the 'hero' mentality associated with potato haulage particularly.
If there coming in with there own tractors, there not going to ramp them, are those your mf,s ?
 
You'd think so, but bar the hours worked, the image of 'spud men hammer tractors' doesnt really apply:

2015 MF 7620 - (3000hrs) Ridging in spring, land work and drilling at back end, driven mostly by the same man (1200/yr)
2013 MF7620 - (4600hrs) Landwork in spring, quad baler then potato harvester - again, one man does the majority (1300/yr)
2010 MF6480 - (3000 hrs) - recent replacement for a 6180 - trailer work mostly - one main driver (800/yr)
2006 MF 7480 (12300hrs) - spraying and potato planting - mostly driven by me (800/yr)
1994 MF 3075 (10200hrs) - turning straw, rolling, drain jetting, irrigation. Anybody tractor (300hrs/yr)

Rare these days for any to leave under 6000hrs.

We have several excellent self employed men that come with their own tractors who do various things, desoning and windrowing, landwork and trailer work.

So largely we avoid the 'hero' mentality associated with potato haulage particularly.
12k hours is good going for vario tractor
 

Muck Spreader

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Limousin
A friend of mine in the construction industry said the uk is the cheapest place in Europe to buy new machines not sure if it's the same for agri but have another friend in France who buys in Wales and takes it back to France

I usually buy in the UK, dependent on the pound to an extent. However some makes can be a bit tricky to get registered here just depends on the manufacturers willingness and the French bureaucracy. Interestingly Ifor Williams are one of the most protectionist companies as they make it very difficult to get a UK trailer registered here.
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
You never been tempted by a fendt ?
Occasionally, yes. The +30% price tag, driver reluctance and fleet complication put me off somewhat though. We demoed a 720 before we bought the 63 reg 7620. Lovely tractor, but overly complicated and very expensive. As my driver said "you just have to think too much, nothing seems natural, like not having a neutral position on the shuttle" MF Exclusive spec DynaVT much easier to drive.
 
Occasionally, yes. The +30% price tag, driver reluctance and fleet complication put me off somewhat though. We demoed a 720 before we bought the 63 reg 7620. Lovely tractor, but overly complicated and very expensive. As my driver said "you just have to think too much, nothing seems natural, like not having a neutral position on the shuttle" MF Exclusive spec DynaVT much easier to drive.
With your 7480 will change that or hang on to it
 

Spud

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
YO62
With your 7480 will change that or hang on to it
Good question. It'll probably stay another 2-3yrs, unless we have a really good year, or an unmissable replacement comes up.
Its been impeccably reliable, still very good, and its very handy having it virtually fixed to the sprayer in peak times. I've driven it from new, and will likely of driven 80% of its hours. If it was a staff members tractor, it would probably of gone by now, as it is, I don't mind so much it parked on the sprayer and be paying for a hire tractor and a self employed operator at certain times, it helps get jobs done on time, is a lot cheaper and nicer to drive than a hydro sp.
 
Good question. It'll probably stay another 2-3yrs, unless we have a really good year, or an unmissable replacement comes up.
Its been impeccably reliable, still very good, and its very handy having it virtually fixed to the sprayer in peak times. I've driven it from new, and will likely of driven 80% of its hours. If it was a staff members tractor, it would probably of gone by now, as it is, I don't mind so much it parked on the sprayer and be paying for a hire tractor and a self employed operator at certain times, it helps get jobs done on time, is a lot cheaper and nicer to drive than a hydro sp.
I was chatting to mate recently about tractors and hours, he is often cautious of buying anything high houred but said most problems on high hours machine can be fixed
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
My main drilling tractor and spraying tractor are contract hired. The sprayer tractor is best hired for the large number of hours it will do.

The 8370R pulling the drill has recently left the farm on a low loader and is down for 2 weeks in the middle of drilling with a major transmission fault - luckily it is owned by someone with a few JDs in his fleet so within 36 hours of it going JD UK delivered an identical machine to keep me going. Top marks to Colin Smart, Dryland Hire and John Deere! I doubt I'd have got the same service if I'd bought the tractor...

Hire is fine but unless they've bought lots of machines with a big discount you're paying a middleman a margin so I doubt it will be cheaper unless their calculator is faulty.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 43.2%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.4%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.4%
  • 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