I'm with you on your points. My family never owned a combine. My father used to run one for a neighbor years ago and he knew a lot about them. Never wanted to own his one of his own, because he hated working on them. Two of his friends ran our crops over the years, but like dad they got old and just couldn't do it anymore. Dad had retired himself by that time. I asked a couple neighbors, if they could run my crops. They told me they didn't have time. They told me they could rent my ground. I would have laughed them out of the state, if that hadn't pissed me off. Instead, I told them,"I'm going to do you a favor and never rent my farm to you. You said it yourself,"I can't combine your stuff, I have too much of my own to do." If you can't make time to custom combine for me, you can't possibly have time to deal with planting my ground and everything else that goes into it." 

  I know a couple guys that do custom work, but I'm not dealing with that. I've seen what comes out of their trucks at the elevator and that's all I'll say about the job they do. I had one guy run corn for me in 17. He was all smiles until the second morning when I told him. The trash in the tank didn't work for me. Get it out, or I'll pay for what has been done and you can take the combine home." He adjusted it and did a beautiful job, but couldn't wait to get outta there. That's when I decided I'm buying my own. My father protested. I told him,"We are at the point where we aren't really big enough for a combine in today's world, but we're too big for someone to commit to doing it every year. The few around that do custom work are already buried. Who knows when they get here. Weather is a big factor. Sooner or later the weather will F us, if we're waiting on someone and they do a crap job."

  As you stated; I do it when I want to, how I want.