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Panhandle of Ne. | We don't run new machinery but low houred/acre machinery. When it is time for us to go, it is time to go, especially during planting and harvest. Our window of opportunity is very small. Can't afford breakdowns. We normally put 800-1000 hrs. per year per tractor. We trade 6-8k houred tractors that have a lot of equity in them for 600 to 2k houred tractors. Lately, we can use a tractor 2-3k hours and get more money on trade-in than what we gave for it originally. I understand that price of the newer ones is getting higher, so the higher price for our trade-ins is probably a wash, but at least the used is staying in line with the newer. Running old, worn equipment meant we spent a lot of time with breakdowns which is costly and time consuming not to mention non-productive time.
Last but not least, been farming for 45+ years to make this work also. We haven't always been able to do this, but our repair bills used to run over 100k per year also. Not nearly that much now. | |
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How do you afford expensive tractors / machinery?
