Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | What tractor would you sell, and what's it worth?
The sprayer upgrade debate was weighing hard on my mind until I made my decision last month. How many acres to justify a SP sprayer is dependent on so many things mentioned above, and there is no simple equation that accounts for equipment costs, timeliness, various opportunity costs, etc. I'll just tell you what I decided and why.
For me, I only plan to cover 2000 acres for the next couple years and then more acres after that, mosly corn with some other crops, with most spraying being done in the same 4 week window. We have been running a small homemade SP for 13 years. It has saved us a pile of money in custom fees over the years, but it is showing some age and a tax exemption for sprayers is going to expire December 31 so now was the time to buy. I had a few options:
Option 1 Just hire it done: The problem with this is that the custom guys are always booked solid in those 4 weeks of the year, and I can't stand the thought of weeds in my corn as I wait for the sprayer to arrive. Also I don't know that I would be very high on their list, being the new guy. I like to do my own spraying so I know it is done right, or at least so I can redo it immediately if there's a problem, as I have seen a couple wrecks in fields we have custom chopped- that can justify your own sprayer real fast. Custom rates are about $9 per acre here. That's $18K in annual custom bills for spraying that may or may not be done on time, depending on the weather.
Option 2 Get a pull type: They don't exactly give away new PT sprayers, and there are pretty much no used row crop ones here. Also, our tractor with autosteer is busy planting or packing silage at the same time, so I would have had to add a tractor and maybe an autosteer system. This all adds up REAL fast, and I just can't stand the idea of going back to spraying with a tractor after running a SP.
Option 3 Get an older SP: The late 90's machines are getting pretty reasonable in the used market, if you can stand up to the constant bad press they get on here about reliability and maintenance costs. However, everyone agrees that you can cover acres in a big hurry with one when all is running right.
I nearly got a coop owned $38,000 Rogator with 4500 hours that needed a lot of work (maybe as much as $17K), but chickened out at the last minute because of the fear of big repair bills, rough ride over our rock ground, and the inability to easily run our Deere RTK autosteer system. If we got it, didn't like it, and traded it, we would have lost the opportunity to save the sales tax. We opted for a farmer owned Deere 4700 with 2500 hours that was GS ready for $69000, which is still probably less than it would have cost to get a good tractor + PT sprayer + autosteer. There are those that will say we spent way too much, but I will be able to get the spraying done on time quickly so I can get to the irrigation, planting, and custom chopping that is going on in the same time window.
It really depends on your very specific needs, current equipment, what you can afford, and what your time is worth. Hope this helped. |
How many acres to justify a self propelled sprayer?
