Justifying a second tractor......

[OklaBrangusBreeder]

I have a 30 mother cow herd and a 50 acre hay farm that I cut 3 times a year.

I have two tractors. I probably put maybe 300 hours a year total between them.
* I bought my first tractor in 2004. A new 65 HP Farmtrac 80. I still have it, and it is my tractor of choice for my 10 foot brush hog and my 10 wheel hay rake.
* I bought my second tractor in 2009. A new JD 5093E with cab and loader. I use it for hay cutting, hay baling, and hay loading/feeding.

When you are a person doing all the tractor work yourself during hay season, having multiple tractors is really useful. I have even tried to make sense enough to have three tractors, but I haven't been able to make the logic work on that yet.

As was mentioned above, an inline bale trailer eliminates the need for more than one loader tractor. I have one of those that I bought in 2011 and cannot believe I got by without it all those years. I hauled 128 round bales by myself last July 4th from my hay field 7 miles to my farm. No way I could have hauled that many bales that quick with about any other bale hauling set up. I only paid $4,000 for my bale trailer at a farm sale.

It kinda goes back to what others have said. If you can afford it and feel the convenience justifies the purchase, than no reason to have to think real hard on the decision. It's not like you would be the only guy to have two tractors

 

[Nesikep]

I guess I got you all beat... for my 25 cow setup, I have a 1972 Leyland 154 gasser (25-30hp), a 1975 MF 165 that does 90% of the work (100-150hrs/yr), rowcrop and haying (baler has it's own engine), a 1980 IH 684 for things that need a little more grunt (~100hrs/yr), hauling bale wagon, plowing, discing.. then there's the 1966 Ford County 'Super 6', that does the REAL grunt work.. nothing else compares when you gotta scrape manure and it's wet.. it's got the weight (about 7 ton) and traction that goes along with it.. it pulls the 9ft blade with manure uphill and doesn't spin.. it also does the subsoiling with the 3 shank ripper.. it probably sees about 40 hrs/year. For loader work, we have the 1978 JD350B crawler.. works good in slick manure once again, but it's slow.. Also has backhoe attachement... Lastly, for the earthmoving, we have a 1956 Allis HD6 dozer.. needs a couple final drive bearings I think.. sure pushes though
We're looking at ANOTHER tractor, but with a loader... a 50-70hp IH would be perfect.. big enough to load a manure spreader with, and a little faster turn around time than the crawler.

The benefit to having MANY tractors, other than not needing to hitch and unhitch all the time (goes without saying), is you can use the right size tractor for the job... To pull a little trailer, the Leyland does just fine, but it's too light and would get beat up doing fieldwork, while it would be ridiculous to pull my 7.5ft swather with the 70hp IH 684 that only needs 35hp.. besides the IH684 has nowhere NEAR as tight a turning radius as the Massey. So while I do have a lot of things to keep maintained, if something breaks, I've always got something else close enough to the right size to do the job, and I don't accumulate any hours on any one machine... We bought the Massey in about 1998 or so with 1800 hours (really low!), it has 3200 on it now, and when I see what comes along at auctions, it's about the lowest hour machine I've ever seen.

Lastly, since everything is old, nothing has any electronics and is pretty darned reliable, and if it breaks, I can fix it.

 

[Bigfoot]

My daddy's favorite saying-------The more you have, the more you have to maintain.

 

[Jogeephus]

It is hard to justify a lot of things on the farm, but necessity and convenience can help justify. A few years ago, I found what I think was a good deal on a used but well kept Case with a loader. I have found that having more than one tractor comes in handy, not having to unhook and switch equipment, also there is backup when one is in need of repair.

My name is John, and I hate having to unhook and switch equipment.

My name is Joe and I like the way John thinks.

 

[tom4018]

As mentioned earlier......if moving hay from one place to another is your biggest issue, look at one of those inline hay haulers where you don't need a tractor on the other end.
I may get one of those myself.

You can buy a good used tractor cheaper than some of those hay haulers. ;-)

Trailer would be single purpose at least a tractor to rake. With the cheaper markets I worry if I should even consider it. Wife tells we to do it, guess I worry enough for both of us. I can't do without a loan as I don't want to touch long term investments.

 

[JMJ Farms]

My daddy's favorite saying-------The more you have, the more you have to maintain.

Amen to that. Hit the nail on the head.

I have 60 momma cows, about 30 acres of cultivated land, and bale around 130 acres of hay every year. (Around 1000 rolls) And I consider myself fairly intelligent, but I still can't make buying a second tractor and hay equipment pencil out. FWIW, I don't draw one penny out of my farm account. I guess I'm just stuck with my old 5510. At least it has a loader :lol2:

 

[1982vett]

It is hard to justify a lot of things on the farm, but necessity and convenience can help justify. A few years ago, I found what I think was a good deal on a used but well kept Case with a loader. I have found that having more than one tractor comes in handy, not having to unhook and switch equipment, also there is backup when one is in need of repair.

My name is John, and I hate having to unhook and switch equipment.

My name is Joe and I like the way John thinks.

I do too.... :lol2: after Dad passed away, it gave me an extra truck for a while..... I left the gooseneck hooked up.

 

[littletom]

Look into leaseing one. Would not work for a loader tractor. But here last year you could lease a new john deere 50 hp for 600 bucks for a year. Just another option to consider. Not sure where in ky you are but pretty sure limestone flw is doing it now,last fall it was wright imp.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Look into leaseing one. Would not work for a loader tractor. But here last year you could lease a new john deere 50 hp for 600 bucks for a year. Just another option to consider. Not sure where in ky you are but pretty sure limestone flw is doing it now,last fall it was wright imp.

$600? Really? Can't go wrong there. How much is a 125-150 HP renting for?

 

[tom4018]

Look into leaseing one. Would not work for a loader tractor. But here last year you could lease a new john deere 50 hp for 600 bucks for a year. Just another option to consider. Not sure where in ky you are but pretty sure limestone flw is doing it now,last fall it was wright imp.

Wright told me John Deere stopped that last year, even on some dealers had already signed the papers on but not ordered yet. I wish I would have got in on that.

 

[John SD]

Look into leaseing one. Would not work for a loader tractor. But here last year you could lease a new john deere 50 hp for 600 bucks for a year. Just another option to consider. Not sure where in ky you are but pretty sure limestone flw is doing it now,last fall it was wright imp.

$600? Really? Can't go wrong there. How much is a 125-150 HP renting for?

Why would leasing not work for a loader tractor? Seems I have seen tractor/loader combinations advertised for lease. Though I admit I am not a fan of leasing and have never really considered it. I'd rather put the $$$ into purchase and own the tractor when it is all said and done. Maybe there is some tax angle I'm missing :???:

Here is an outdated link I found from 2013 from a NH dealer in Charles City IA. Still should be somewhat valid for comparison.

At that time a 600 hour lease on a NH T5070 (96HP) and loader was priced at $5534/yr or $9.20/hr.

A 600 hour lease on a NH T6.175 (154HP) and loader was priced at $8445/yr or $14.08/hr.

http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread ... 6#M3047976

I purchased a new 105HP Kubota with loader in summer 2012 and financed at 0% for 5 yrs with Kubota. For some reason I don't remember, I had to pay a certain amount down which I believe covered the loader and some down on tractor itself. In round numbers, I wrote a check for $16K that day and have been making monthly payments since. I'm a bit over halfway through it now. I try to keep a couple months ahead of schedule in case I forget

 

[Brute 23]

Most leases have a deal where they get their money out of you one way or another. It's not like renting where you can walk away at any point, no strings attached.

 

[John SD]

Most leases have a deal where they get their money out of you one way or another. It's not like renting where you can walk away at any point, no strings attached.

Exactly. That is why I prefer to purchase instead of lease. Then I own the machine and can do as I see fit with it :idea:

 

[littletom]

Look into leaseing one. Would not work for a loader tractor. But here last year you could lease a new john deere 50 hp for 600 bucks for a year. Just another option to consider. Not sure where in ky you are but pretty sure limestone flw is doing it now,last fall it was wright imp.

$600? Really? Can't go wrong there. How much is a 125-150 HP renting for?

Why would leasing not work for a loader tractor? Seems I have seen tractor/loader combinations advertised for lease. Though I admit I am not a fan of leasing and have never really considered it. I'd rather put the $$$ into purchase and own the tractor when it is all said and done. Maybe there is some tax angle I'm missing :???:

Here is an outdated link I found from 2013 from a NH dealer in Charles City IA. Still should be somewhat valid for comparison.

At that time a 600 hour lease on a NH T5070 (96HP) and loader was priced at $5534/yr or $9.20/hr.

A 600 hour lease on a NH T6.175 (154HP) and loader was priced at $8445/yr or $14.08/hr.

http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread ... 6#M3047976

I purchased a new 105HP Kubota with loader in summer 2012 and financed at 0% for 5 yrs with Kubota. For some reason I don't remember, I had to pay a certain amount down which I believe covered the loader and some down on tractor itself. In round numbers, I wrote a check for $16K that day and have been making monthly payments since. I'm a bit over halfway through it now. I try to keep a couple months ahead of schedule in case I forget

I did not mean it would not work for a lease. But, some folks would say a 50hp 2wd is a bit light for a loader tractor.

 

[John SD]

:nod: I agree 50HP is a bit light for loader work with most modern bales. Would probably work fine if the bales weigh 1000 lbs or less. Such as bales from an older belt baler, NH chain baler, or a soft core OMC/Gehl/NI fixed chamber type baler :idea:

My Hesston 5500 made 800 lb bales. Super M with a F11 or Case DC with a F10 handled them very comfortably on the loader. I still make the same size bales now with my 856A baler, but these bales weigh 1300 lbs. Same tractors/loaders can still do it, but it's pushing their limitations, and can only do it on dry ground.

 

[tnwalkingred]

I have two loader tractors and wonder how I got by without them. One is a larger (75 HP) cab tractor and the other is a open station smaller (45 HP). It really comes in handy to have one in the field loading hay and the other at the barn stacking it. I also have multiple farms rented so I keep one at each farm in the winter to feed hay.

KW

 

[hurleyjd]

I have eight tractors of various brands and sizes cannot justify any of them except for the fact that I wanted them.

 

[Cabo]

I have batted the idea around off and on for a several years. How many people can justify 2 tractors for a small cow calf operation? 30 cows or so and doing all your own hay Last year did 40 acres or so of hay off the farm and sold some. When it comes to baling it would be nice to have 2, one hooked to the baler and the other to rake even if I am by myself. One issue I have had when doing hay off the farm is loading at one farm and unloading at home, been doing some hay with a neighbor so had his tractor to help with that some, but this year I think he wants to give up a farm we had leased together for hay. I have averaged about 200 hours a year on one tractor, borrowed one a few times to help out. Really would be convenient but not sure I can make it pencil out even on a used tractor.
Any thoughts or advice?

In my opinion, if you are having to borrow one regularly then you need to buy another one. Borrowing can get really expensive in more ways than one.

 

[Cdeyton]

My dad and I run three tractors doing dry hay and three tractors and a skid steer doing haylage. We have two tractors that are newer (early 2000's) that are 4wd with loaders and one that is older (1973) that is 2wd and no loader. Doing dry hay we ted and rake with the 2wd, roll and load trailer with the bigger 4wd and unload back at our farms with the smaller 4wd. Doing haylage we rake and load hay on the trailer with the smaller 4wd, bale and load hay in the trailer with the bigger 4wd and then once the wet hay is hauled to the pasture it is going to be wrapped, the 2wd tractor is sitting there hooked to the wrapper and we unload the trailers and load the wrapper with the skid steer. Again, this is with two people, so it makes it much more efficient. When I do fields by myself, I usually pull rake, bale and load with the bigger 4wd then unload at the farm with the smaller 4wd. We do about 150 acres of hay and only 5 acres of it is at my dads farm, none at mine. Not a lot of flat land where we are, so bale trailers don't work well as there is not many safe places to dump them that they won't go rolling down a mountain. It saves so much time having two loader tractors that there is no way I could go to one. It is also nice to have another tractor that you can hook to a baler if something goes wrong to your other one and you have hay on the ground.