Inputs , machinery

[agstar77]

There is a lot of greed and ego out there. Until reality sets in , there will be more pain. If you have been around long enough , you have seen the cyclical nature of ag.

[goalieguy847]

I always laugh when I see 800 k tractors running harrows.. or high speed discs. It's a silly thing for those sort of hourly costs to be doing.... but if the hours aren't put on the machines then the costs become too high at seeding. Sort of the tail wagging the dog..
I get it though because to have these big drills we need big power and hydraulics and that comes with a horrid cost.
perfect world we are all still running 9400s with bigger hydraulic pumps..


But it's true nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head forcing them to buy at these ridiculous prices.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

perfect world we are all still running 9400s with bigger hydraulic pumps..

We do all our seeding with a 46 year old tractor with much bigger hydraulic pump and system, upgraded tires, engine, and no upgraded creature comforts.

All our auger tractors are 50 and 51 years old this year. The 3 well used 13" augers cost far more than the tractors cost.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I was just getting a foot in the door of the cattle business when the 02/03 droughts, and BSE hit. Having bought my first land and cattle in the late 90's. That leaves a lasting impression. I always budget with the assumption that terrible weather along with terrible prices are a very real possibility. I consider the past few years of good weather (in the cold wet swamp), and good prices( these are still very good prices historically), to be a gift. I'm not about to start spending as if this is the new normal.

[fjlip]

Local BTO monster outfit has 4 new 290HP MFWD JD on 105' x16" augers all harvest...Those only do rockpicking with 4 Degelmans brand in 2024...$1million+ those in tractors only...$200K in pickers. HTF?

Every field spray planed fungicides etc, every field preharvest by plane...new airport this summer...

[cropgrower]

We do all our seeding with a 46 year old tractor with much bigger hydraulic pump and system, upgraded tires, engine, and no upgraded creature comforts.

All our auger tractors are 50 and 51 years old this year. The 3 well used 13" augers cost far more than the tractors cost.

would be interested to know what is the 46 year old seeding tractor ?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

would be interested to know what is the 46 year old seeding tractor ?

Steiger Panther. @ 400 HP on Michelin radials.

[cropgrower]

superb tractors , i know of one with over 40,000 hours done

[furrowtickler]

My big upgrade this year ..

[furrowtickler]

Sold the 1850 gal 100 ft
found this 2400 gal 135 ft
cost $20,000
pull with an ole 9270 case with 12,000 plus hours

my ego was checked at the door after 2000 to 2005
and again recently. Been there

[AlbertaFarmer5]

superb tractors , i know of one with over 40,000 hours done

I'm told there are plenty of these in Australia with tens of thousands of hours still going.

[ajl]

Steiger Panther. @ 400 HP on Michelin radials.

What did you do to the hydraulic pumps to get a 1978 tractor to run an airdrill? I run a 40 yr old AC 8070 on mine but any upgrade to the seeder will take more power. Steigers and Versatile of that era, which otherwise would be fine, are all open center.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

What did you do to the hydraulic pumps to get a 1978 tractor to run an airdrill? I run a 40 yr old AC 8070 on mine but any upgrade to the seeder will take more power. Steigers and Versatile of that era, which otherwise would be fine, are all open center.

Still open center gear pump. Flexicoil variable rate cart, which supposedly only works on closed center. But in reality the only time it matters is lowering and lifting the manifold, the tractor has to go over relief for a few seconds when moving the manifold, otherwise no issues.
The upgraded pump was taking too much HP to run off the back of the engine oil pump, kept twisting the shaft off. Upgraded the timing case/cover to drive the pump off the front directly. Required some modification to the fan shroud.

All flow directly into the flow control, where we split it between the fan and the SCV's. 1" hoses and 3/4" flat face couplers on fan to minimize resistance/heat.

Added an oil cooler in front of the rad and a belt driven pump just for that.

Next step might be to add a separate pump where the factory hyd pump used to mount, just for steering, since steering having priority really slows down the fan.

[cropgrower]

is that on a cummins engine ? atom jet has closed centre kits , but not small money !

[AlbertaFarmer5]

is that on a cummins engine ? atom jet has closed centre kits , but not small money !

Yes. 400 855 big cam.

Nothing proprietary about the Atom jet kit that couldn't be put together with off the shelf components.