Too much machinery may strangle profits
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By JERRY WEBB
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. - Whether
a farmer can hire custom
work cheaper than he can
tool up and do it himself is
questionable. Most farmers
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say they can’t stand the
inconvenience of waiting for
a custom operator even if
owning does cost more.
As a result, we have a few
million farms m this country
- each with a complete line of
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machinery. What a great
economic waste.
In fact, this could well be
what is driving farmers off
the land - the high cost of
operating a fully equipped
factory with so much idle
machinery.
The combine has come to
be the classic in any
discussion of custom vs.
owning. And the question
that is asked - can a typical
farmer afford to own one?
The fixed cost to a farmer
who uses it a couple of
hundred hours a year could
easily be $l5 per hour of use.
Operating costs could add at
least $3 more.
It’s obvious that from a
purely economic point of
view most farmers just can’t
afford the cost of owning
these machines. They could
well be the millstones that
make farming unprofitable -
the status symbols that
destroy the business.
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Going back 30 years to a
time when there were very
few combines and most
small grain went through a
threshing machine, it was a
different situation. Very few
farmers owned threshers.
Custom work was the
common practice with one
machine handling hundreds
of acres.
The McCafferty brothers
did the threshing in my
boyhood home community.
They were good farmers who
knew their machine and how
to get every bushel of grain
that was possible. No one
else in the neighborhood had
the skill and mechanical
know-how to operate that
machine at peak efficiency
and it would have been
foolish for a farmer to try on
his own.
The McCafferty brothers
would usually do their own
fields first, then start down
the road from one farm to
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 15,1978
the next threshing oats,
barley, wheat, and rye. The
season ran from early July
until September, with the
last farm as much as 20
miles from where it all
started.
Gram was cut with a
bmder and shocked, so
leavmg it in the field an
extra month was no
problem. A farmer usually
had his own binder - or
maybe he teamed up with a
neighbor so he could get the
gram cut when it was right.
He also needed a fairly large
crew for shocking if there
were many acres.
Work swappmg was more
important when threshing
machines were used. It took
a lot of hands to keep the big
machine running at full
capacity. It wasn’t unusual
to see as many as a dozen
farmers, plus their hired
hands, working together at
threshing time.
Those were the days when
a man could start fanning
with a team of horses, an old
tractor, plow, cultivator,
disc, harrow, and a wagon. If
he lacked a gram drill or
com planter, he swapped
work with a nieghbor. It
wasn’t unusual for a fellow
to start farming on no more
than a thousand bucks. That
was enough for a down
payment on some used
equipment and seed and
fertilizer money. But then
times changed - new
machines came along that
farmers could operate and
tuning became more im
portant. Fellows who had
always relied on the Mc-
Cafferty brothers suddenly
felt the need to own and
operate combines.
Uw COME TO THE <5
JULY 19,20.21 & 22
Plainfield Farmers Fair
Rt. 191,5 miles South of Bangor, PA.
JULY 19-7:00 PM
4x4 Wheel Truck Pull
$ l *OO admission
JULY 20 - 7:00 PM
Class C PTPA Sanction Tractor Pull
*2.00 admission
JULY 21 -7:00 PM
Class B PTPA Sanction Mini Rail
and Garden Tractor Pull
*2.00 admission
JULY 22 - 5:30-7:00 PM
Antique Farm Equipment
and Motor Exhibit
6:00 PM
Tug-of-War and day for fun contest.
*l.OO admission
There will be exhibits of
cattle, vegetables, clothing,
farm equipment, etc.
ENTERTAINMENT EACH NIGHT.
Parking $l.OO
Being held by:
The Plainfield Fanners Assoc.
J
Tunes have changed and
obviously there is no way to
go back to the work swap
ping, custom threshing days
of the 1940’5. But there must
be some way to cat down a
$lOO,OOO machinery in
ventory on a 320 acre farm
and still get the job done.
One idea that might work
involves joint ownership -
not the usual neighborhood
partners however. How
about a mid-Atlantic farmer
teaming up with a Western
farmer on the ownership of a
combine? A Kansas wheat
fanner needs his machine
for a few weeks in mid
summer. A Delmarva com
and soybean farmer doesn’t
harvest an acre much before
Labor Day. Plenty of tune to
truck a combine East and
make sure it’s working
properly. It can be trucked
West again next spring
before it’s time to start field
work. Ownership and
operating costs could be
shared and the combine’s
usefulness could be doubled.
Here’s an added benefit -
hitch a small car behind the
truckload and the Mrs. in the
cab and take a vacation at
the end of the delivery.
Leave the truck with the
combine and return by car,
taking advantage of the
tourist attractions along the
way.
This system could work to
the advantage of both far
mers with no more in
convenience than hauling a
combine 1500 miles once a
year. It would take some
consideration and some
careful matching of far
mers. But the economic gain
could make the effort quite
worthwhile.
107