Do you buy new or used machinery?

Dunedin

My last tractor was bought for €20k and got €25k 8 years later.

Bass Reeves

Bought a heifer last Friday night in August, last year in Gortnalea mart. She was 290 kgs and cost 490+ fees. She was a plain narrow hungry heifer.

Hung her last week, she was an R-4- she hung 360 kg DW and came into 1565 euro.

kevthegaff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118156650#Comment_118156650

Last year?

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118156755#Comment_118156755

Ya she was a July 19 calf and I bought her August 20, and hung her at 28 months

blue5000

Sort of off topic there Bass, are you going to spend the money on a new cowbox?

White Clover

Did you explore the option of a handy lorry, Bass?

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118148587#Comment_118148587

The worst thing about getting a haulier to bring cattle to the factory is the time wasted waiting. Not necessarily his fault. If you’ve them gathered too early you are waiting for them to come, if they are late you are waiting. If they are going early in the morning you are gathering them the night before to bring them to a yard or land closer to the yard.

Spend about €3000 a year on bringing cattle to the factory. Wright it off against tax and it’s costing €1700. Not sure would 60 hrs a year draw them all with a trailer that’ll hold 10 cattle. 60 hours that I don’t really have. Then diesel and wear and tear on man and machine.

Don’t buy a trailer to bring cattle to a factory is my advice.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118157007#Comment_118157007

If you are finishing 60 cattle which I am off grass and a bit of ration you are trying to maximise output. 10-14 days can make a big difference to a bullock or a heifer.

If you get 60 cattle away in 6 loads there will be 1-4 in every load underfinished ( even dropping them off in smaller bunches I get caught now and again) unless you buy peas in a pod.

You will have a load you have to get away because there is one going over 30 months, getting 17% of you stock away in every load will not be possible. 10 loads is even optimistic IMO.

Edit Sorry CJ miss understood you post reading it but I agree about trailer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118156797#Comment_118156797

Not really we are supposed to be stockmen not machinery addicts. Posters were on about money out of machinery or it maintaining it value. 10k on machinery that maintains it value over 10 years is not adding wealth IMO.

Put 10k into a pension fund, draw the tax relief (if as many of us work and farm) could mean investing 16.5k in a pension fund over 4year(10+4+1.6+ 0.64+), in ten years you are probably looking at a 25k+ROI.

There is two points I was making first that the greater return was in stock and secondly that time is valuable. I would prefer to spend, extra hours at on line marts rather than on a tractor drawing a box at 15 euro/ hour which after tax may be saving you less than 10/ hour. That heifer left me1075 before costs or about 700 net. That is equivalent to 1.5 years savings doing your own hauling IMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118156805#Comment_118156805

No the RAV is a lifestyle choice. Farm is 10-12 miles from.the house, I prefer the higher road position compared to a fuel efficient van or car. It double up as a quad ( I put a trailer behind it for fencing, and I use it for feeding ration in buckets in the trailer to cattle in the field) it will travel the land from Apr to October ( November this year) with a light load.

Tractor and box will take some time off the larger loads to the factory, haulier and jeep still to mart.

divillybit

https://www.donedeal.ie/feedingequipment-for-sale/hustler-sl350-bale-feeder/29690066

Bought a used Hustler like this a few years ago, couldn't justify buying one new at the time but 2nd hand, it was good value and alot cleaner than the one in the link above.

Since I got it no other implement on the farm for the tractor (aside from the front loader) spends as much time on the tractor, and has cut out an awful lot of manual labour and there is very little waste silage anymore.

That said, I like to buy new too and recently bought a new log Splitter. Had looked at 2nd hand ones but they werent much cheaper than an equivalent new one so I was happy to pay the bit extra in that case.

Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten

K.G.

All ye lads that only buy new,how do ye pass the evening s and break times with no done deal to look at.

Freddie Mcinerney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118150786#Comment_118150786

Some day.

davidk1394

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118134314#Comment_118134314

Indeed you would. I just enjoy some machinery work if I'm being honest. Can't really justify it all if I give up the hire work though

greysides

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118160388#Comment_118160388

Same as here. If I had the choice of being on holiday somewhere or turning hay in good weather/topping/etc. I’d pick sitting on the tractor every time.

it’s magical coming home from work and getting straight on the tractor but only us part timers really understand that

in saying that there’s plenty of times I get a contractor to do things I could do myself because I have to bring the kids to a football match or some other family event but I’m ok with that too.

funkey_monkey

@Bass Reeves interesting take on the pension vs trailer. Usually a challenging viewpoint which is good to get. I'm not in the South so could you expand on the numbers behind the (10 + 4 + 1.6 + 0.64) for me?

What is your approach to maintenance of farm infrastructure and managing pasture?

In regards to buying machinery, you'd have to be truly in need of it to purchase at this current time as price of steel has gone through the roof. Some second hand cars are trading at prices above new due to the lack of availability - same with tractors. It ripples throughout the markets.

J.O. Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162429#Comment_118162429

He's counting investing the 10k plus the 4k tax relief at the high rate (40%) and the tax relief on the tax relief as the 10k is coming from take home pay.

The 1.6k is 40% of 4k and the 0.64 40% of 1.6k . He could have gone further and added .256 and .102.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162488#Comment_118162488

Ya exactly in a nutshell. The tax relief on reinvesting the tax relief. There is other option in investing outside agriculture, I would not be afraid of investing within agriculture either but trying to justify investment on residual value and carrying out work that gives a return of 10-15 euro/ hour is something I have serious reservations about.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162429#Comment_118162429

JO has explained the way tax on pension investment works. At times it can be much more beneficial than that where you may be able to use employer matched funds to your advantage as well.

On pasture management I use a paddock system. I have two pieces of land main farm about 60 acres split into 19 blocks of 2-5 acres. I even further split the larger blocks in two when grazing. I have 8 ish acres where I keep 8-10 cattle for the summer. It split into 6 blocks and again the two larger blocks are split during grazing.

Ya I have a fertlizer, spreader, sprayer,roller and chain harrow.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162420#Comment_118162420

I much prefer to spend 30-40 minutes going through my stock than doing work that ties up capital and where the saving are often limited to 10 euro per hour.

Now my farm is 10 miles from the house. Therefore I was always conscious of what was doable and not. As I bought the land this ment that I had to target investment. Fencing and sheds were priority as these drive profitability.

There is a huge difference between inheriting and buying. The smaller items that many take for granted I had to buy. It was not just fencing and housing. Water troughs, water pipe ( because I decided to run a paddock system) water fittings, meal troughs, pigtails, electric fence wire both string and HT wire. There is only four gates on the farm, the one coming into the farm and three into fields accross the road. Everything else is electric fence( I started buying fence springs for gaps).

However I always get back to stock as that is where profitability is decided and thing else is 10 euro/ hour.

kevthegaff

Off topic but are those spring fences good?

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162731#Comment_118162731

Did you sell the mower, Bass?

kk.man

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162420#Comment_118162420

I turned Hay this summer...(not mad into tractor radio)..but heard the tick tock of the tines on the tedder and the sun blasting..I turned into lyric FM for the first time in my life and all the nosies were pure symphony!

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118163070#Comment_118163070

No use it for topping or pre mowing heavy covers if I need to graze them. It an 8' disc cost me 3200 euro. Co tractor cuts most of the silage as he will cut it cleaner than I will but I still need to clean paddocks

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162972#Comment_118162972

If you can keep current on them they are handy. They are easy to hang when open. As well they are more visible and easier set up compared to a single strand of high tensile wire