Hi, My brothers and I have recently inherited a 80 acre farm. It is currently being half leased but we would like to assume the responsibility and do it ourselves. We have little or no expereience in farming but are good learners. We want to invest in good used equipment, but are unsure of the size we need , especially in tractors. The farm produces corn and soybeans. Any suggestions on tractor size and options we should look for and pricing would be much appreciated. Thanks...

Bill

-- Bill Avery (airbusdriver@earthlink.net), April 06, 2002

Answers

I would look closely at equipment cost and product cost. Is it worth farming 40 acres of corn or beans? Would a hay field produce a more valueable crop? would leasing the rest of the land be a better deal.

Tractor size is a trade off of time vs cost. Do you have more money or time to waste? An old farmall will handle the tilling, disking and planting of the crop. Harvesting could be expensive unless you can find and old pull behind havester. Might want to hire out the combine work.

Look at all the numbers before you do anything. Start from scratch may not be cost effective.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), April 06, 2002.

Never mind what it's BEEN growing what do YOU want to do with it??? The crop you grow or the farming you want to try will determine the equipment you need

-- Ross (amulet@istar.ca), April 06, 2002.

OK, my husband has been farming all his life (he is 57). We farm in NE Colorado. He suggested at least a 100 horsepower tractor, they usually go for 15,000 to 20,000 dollars, this is a 15 year old tractor. A used 6 row planter would go for about $3,000 at an auction, a 15' disc would go for about $2,000, and a used 6 row cultivator mimium-till would go for $5,000. He also suggested to have the crop custom harvested As you can see it will take an investment on your part. If you try to do it with really old junky machinery, you will have more problems than it is worth, unless you don't mind constantly being broke down and are of machanical minds.

We have a 500 acre farm, but I inherited an 80 acre farm about 20 miles away and we also farm it. It was always in corn but I always wanted to try organic, so we keep it clean for 2 years and planted it to organic white wheat. It is contracted for $6 a bushel which is a really good price. This will make more than corn ever would at today's prices. You might look into organic grains, they are MUCH cheaper to grow and MUCH less work and EXPENSE than corn. Corn is outrageously expense to grow for the price you get, especially on a small 80 acres. Good Luck and God Bless.

-- Marilyn in CO (www.tomeatbeef@aol.com), April 06, 2002.

I have an 87 acre farm in upstate N.Y. I use 2 different tractors, both old and both very serviceable. A 1951 Ford 8N for light work and hauling wagons that arn't very heavy. A 57 Massey Fergison 85 which I use for plowing and heavy hauling. I got both tractors for under $4000 and have had to put A few $ into them. Total invested in the two is about $700 to put them into good shape. I can think of no reason you need a 100 hp tractor on an 80 acre farm. The Ford I use has about 27 hp and the Massey is about 70 hp. I've never needed more than that.

-- Paul (treewizard@buffalo.com), April 07, 2002.

I would suggest before you buy anything decide what you are going to farm.Then you can decide what you need in a tractor and equipment,raising cattle and making a little hay means totally different tractor and equipment than crop farming.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), April 07, 2002.

As others have said, 80 acres of corn & beans will hardly pay the machinery & taxes. You will be better of $$$$ just renting it out. If you wish to try different crops, or if you just want to farm, that's great. But if you are depending on it for income, cash rent it!

There could be far better choices for crop rotation depending on where you live, if you want to fool around more with marketing. However, there is more risk & more management needed.

You would need a 60 hp tractor, something closer to 100-135hp would get things done better. Really you would want something 100-135, and a smaller utility tractor around 20-50hp. One would be more utility (wagon pulling, planting, loader work) and one would be tillage (heavy pulling).

Are you into plowing, no-till, something in between? That would make a difference on what you really need. I would plan on hiring the harvesting done, combines are _very_ expensive to operate & maintain. If you decide to continue on with this, in a few years you can find an older combine for under $5000, but they cost almost that much every year to fuel & repair - be sure you understand there is NO cheap combine to operate, and if you get it for free!

A big part of corn/soybean farming these days is government games. They control what land you can clear, how you can farm hillsides, and what prices you get for your crops (indirectly with world politics & manipulating the value of the USA dollar). There are many complicated issues with this, and some folks around here don't take kindly to this issue because they don't understand it. But if you are serious about corn/soybean farming you _MUST_ understand how that all works - it's $40 or more an acre of your income. Also you need to understand the business and income tax part of it all. You shouldn't buy more than about $20,000 of machinery in any one year, and if you have other occupations you will need to show a profit about 50% of the time to continue taking the farm costs as deductions - most of the time for best tax benifits. Frankly, all of this is very complicated, you should check it over with someone who understands it before spending a lot of money. You are going into a venture with very large expenses, and very small (or no) profit margins. It can quickly take a pile of money away, and you would do well to understand the government's roll in your business.

For farm machinery questions, www.ytmag.com has wonderful folks to help with older stuff & ideas, while http://talk.newagtalk.com has folks with more current farm machinery.

I run a small farm, feel free to email if you wish.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), April 07, 2002.

You dont need a big tractor to farm 80A. Heck Dad farmed 600A with an old Farmall SuperM. Back when people made a living off 80A they used such as Allis WC, around a 30HP tractor. Of course they used less expensive techniques. You used a cultivator instead of herbicides, you used a manure spreader and didnt buy chemical fertilizer. You picked ear corn, stored it in a corncrib to air dry over winter(instead of modern use of propane to quick dry combine shelled corn), then hired it shelled in spring if you had surplus to sell.

Debt is the real big bugaboo with modern farming. If you own the land outright, are real inventive at keeping old machinery functional, and are just plain lucky, you might pay the taxes and a slight profit. Lot easier ways to make simular return on your money with lot less labor and hair pulling. Buying land and trying to pay it off from grain farming forget it. Commodity prices are still simular to those in the early 1950's. Also if you are in debt, the banker is going to tell you how to farm. He wants you to buy all the chemicals, etc that his other customers sell. Numbers just dont crunch. If and big IF, you can find an niche specialty crop bringing a price inline with other modern prices, you might do alright. Still not an easy occupation.

-- HermitJohn (hermit@hilltop_homestead.zzn.com), April 07, 2002.

thanks to everyone who took the time to reply...I appreciate it very much

-- Bill Avery (airbusdriver@earthlink.net), April 07, 2002.