New iron costs a lot of money. For evidence, you just had to walk around Canada’s Farm Progress Show and ask about pricing. However, for used equipment, monetary value has become a lot more complicated than just age and depreciation.
As technology changes, some equipment becomes nearly obsolete while other equipment retains more of its original value because it can be repurposed.
Most cereal grains in Western Canada were swathed not that many years ago. Everyone needed a swather, and pull-types were an economical option.
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Now, most cereal crops are straight combined. A swather is needed only for canola on most farms. In canola, a self-propelled swather is preferred. Pull types, many in good condition, have become cheap and plentiful.
It’s a similar story with sprayers, where there has been an accelerating move to high clearance self-propelled models that can cover a lot of acres.
Unlike the pull-types, they can be used much later in the season in standing crop for fungicides or insecticides. They also don’t tie up a tractor for much of the growing season.
That’s why older tractors retain much more of their value. There’s always a use for a tractor, be it large or small. Everyone can use a front-end loader around the farm. A tractor is needed to run an auger, pull a land roller or cut grass. Older four-wheel drives can be used on a grain cart at harvest time.
Combines, on the other hand, depreciate quickly. Repair bills on combines are huge. If you buy a used combine that’s more than a few years old, you can easily be faced with repair costs in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Many larger operators are flipping their combines every year or two, which generates an abundance of used machines with low hours. That has a ripple effect, cutting the value of older machines. There’s a much bigger market for a 15-year-old tractor than there is for a 15-year-old combine.
Field cultivators in near mint condition that were once bought for $1,000 a foot may now be worth $100 a foot because the industry has moved to minimum tillage and direct seeding. Cultivators are needed only on rare occasions.
On the other hand, small pull-type scrapers and land movers are in high demand, especially in regions where producers are always looking for ways to drain sloughs.
Auto steer has made foam markers for sprayers and mechanical markers for air seeders obsolete.
Sometimes equipment can be used for something entirely different than its original use. A small air seeder cart might be valuable to store leftover seed, particularly treated seed that no one likes to put into their regular grain bins. Or a rusty old grain trailer without a road safety certification might be pulled behind a tractor to bring grain in from the field.
Small equipment sells for nearly new prices at some auction sales. It’s like no one checked the price at the store or perhaps they need to buy something to justify spending a whole day attending a sale.
Other times, there are bargains if you’re in the right place at the right time.
Some producers have an aptitude for wheeling and dealing, finding the bargains while maximizing the value of whatever they’re selling.
Others find themselves on the wrong side of technology shifts trying to sell equipment when it’s no longer in demand, and that can be costly.
