# Small Farmer Mechanics



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Dan Anderson on the future of the small farmer(1000 ac. or less) mechanically.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/blog/in_the_shop/


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

This makes me wonder if I should sell my JD 6 row planter while the getting is good but then again, what would I buy? Right now, my JD 9500 will do everything I need and quickly. If I spend $10,000 a year to keep it up, so what? It's still a lot cheaper than owning a bigger and newer machine for the use it gets. Maybe upgrade to a rotary machine (used) and that should last as long as my farming career. I just keep my 7000 and upgrade components also. It's hard to justify new and bigger planters and combines so I will let someone else take tha big writeoffs. Mike


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

It will just create a niche for manufacturers of small combines. UK already has a problem as many of the new combines won't fit on their roads even with the headers towed.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Well look at it this was far as planters go, you're six row might be adequate for what you're doing, but if you went to a twelve and planted the same number of acres, you're getting twice as much done per hour and you're planter will last twice as long as each row unit is now covering half the acres. We found this to be true when we traded up to a 16 row from a 8 row.


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## kyfred (Dec 23, 2009)

Most of the farms here are less than 500ac. Maybe 3 or 4 farms that even use combines in our county. That's the problem with the farm machinery manufactures loosing contact with reality and a market for the smaller farms (nothing against big farms) but here where a lot of ground is to steep to use big equipment on. Equipment manufactures have put several farm equipment dealers out of business because the farm equipment dealers were told they had to have some equipment in their inventory for sale that they had no hope of ever selling. A neighbor of ours was told they were not moving enough product and lost the dealership when in fact not much of anything is selling here. Use to be 6 farm equipment dealers in our county now there is 2.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Fellas, there is alot to think about in this thread....this appears on the surface as a sure sign of the small farmer being squeezed out. What I cannot understand is that if the small farmers are fazed out over the next 50 years, there will be a major loss of equipment sales....i.e. mid-size tractors etc. that the small farmer uses. The dealers will eventually be selling just BTO equipment as far as the crop market goes. I suppose we will have to get involved in "niche" markets that the corn, wheat and bean farming will not bother with. I suppose the BTO's will have a more direct control on commodity pricing the more they can eliminate the number of suppliers. It would be a great time for a smaller, yet progressive enterprising outfit to get involved in planters and combines....someone like Pequea etc. that builds and stands behind excellent products.
There is strength in numbers.

Regards, Mike


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

The mention of remanufacturing whole pieces of farm equipment echoes what has been in my mind for several years already. I have a hard time thinking that a quarter million dollar (new) tractor or combine will be relegated to the scrap yard for the iron grinders. It just seems to me that there will be too much value in the basic components and that reman will be a viable option. Look at the class 8 truck industry as an example; is your truck tired? get a glider kit for it, add the needed reman axle/engine/trans and you are back on the road with what amounts to a new truck, minus the new price tag and the hated emissions crap.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Two other things I failed to mention:

1: Once you bite the bullet and go to larger machinery, it's much easier to ho ahead and expand when you get the opportunity as you already have the equipment.

2: Huge deciding factor for us on larger equipment. Seems the last ten years or so you have a very small window to get done in a timely manner before the next frog drowning rain comes in, or before it gets too dry for proper germination, doubling the size of the planter definitely helps. But to be honest we were to the point where a 8 row would have still worked, but it was being ran to death, wasn't much better for the operator either as a LOT of late nights were involved to get done.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

mlappin said:


> Two other things I failed to mention:
> 
> 1: Once you bite the bullet and go to larger machinery, it's much easier to ho ahead and expand when you get the opportunity as you already have the equipment.


Thats fine if you have expansion in your future, but its like KyFred said....alot of family farms are 4-500 acres...and they are content with that and have no intention of expanding. Alot of America would fall into this category.

Regards, Mike


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## Mike120 (May 4, 2009)

Vol said:


> Thats fine if you have expansion in your future, but its like KyFred said....alot of family farms are 4-500 acres...and they are content with that and have no intention of expanding. Alot of America would fall into this category.


The other issue is demographics...I suspect most of those family farms are operated by 60-70 year old farmers whose families don't have the desire or know how to operate it after they pass.


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## Fowllife (Sep 10, 2010)

This is actually a fairly complicated topic, and the last 2 post touch on some key issues. I think that demographics, and geographics will play a large roll in agriculture the next 20 years or so.

Mike120 has a very good point about the rising age of farmers.Who is going to step up and take over some of those 500 ac farms? Will a younger guy starting out be able to take on that 7 figure debt and keep the small farm alive? Or will a larger farmer, or corp. swallow it up and keep on trucking.

Geographics also play a large roll in this. A 500 ac farm in KY may be 20 different fields, where a 500 ac farm in IA may only be 4 fields. No matter what size equipment you run it will take more time to run the 500ac in KY. As KYFred mentioned, larger equipment may not ever fit in some of these fields. If there are not longer any options for smaller row crop machinery will these fields site fallow? All turn into hay fields? be livestock pasture? Will the guy who used to rowcrop that 500 ac switch to hay & livestock? Or find a small comany to make equipment he can use? Ot throw in the towl and let the land sit?


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

How many small farmers bought new threshing machines? The equipment companies will evolve to continue to make money. I talk to two neighbors working for local BTO. Sounds like JD comes to him every year. They have succeeded at least the past few on new combines. Two new again this year. I was told one new one w bean head was $340k. WOW! He bought two. But then again I think they cover 5-6k acres a year. The math works out for him. Must be losing less in the first year then keeping it a few more.


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