Machinery costs: then and now
Whether a farmer can hire
custom work cheaper than he can
tool up and do it himself is
questionable. Most farmers 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 in this country-each
KEN CLUGSTON VERNON SEIBEL
665-6775 665-2782
CRAFT-BILT
CONSTRUCTION INC.
FARM-HOME BUILDING
R.DJ2 MANHEIM, PA.
PH: 665-4372
BUILDING & REMODELING FOR
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SWINE POLE BUILDINGS
BEEF STORAGE
A Cage isn't enough
Farm
Talk
Jerry Webb
with a complete line of machinery.
This has to be a great economic
waste.
In fact, this could be what is
driving farmers off the land—the
high cost of owning all that
equipment that really isn’t that
busy
The combine has come to be the
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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 $2O or $3O per hour of use.
Operating costs could add at least
$5 more.
It’s obvious in this cost analysis
that many farmers just can’t stand
the cost of owning their own
machines.
Going back more than 40 years to
a time when there were very'few
combines and most small gram
went through a threshing machine,
it was a different situation. Very
few farmers owned threshers.
Custom work was the common
practice with one machine han
dling hundreds of acres.
I remember the McCafferty
brothers, who did the threshing in
our 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
320 King St
It takes more than wire
to make a cage system. More
than anything else it takes
a feeder.
Sure, other components
are important, but mainly
it’s the feeder that makes the
system. That's why Big
Dutchman’s Systems are
equipped with a SPEED
FEED chain feeder that
feeds every bird the right
amount at the right time,
without waste.
When you compare
poultry equipment remem
ber that the real test of a
cage system is its feeder
Big Dutchman is ready for
the test.
Big Dutchman, where
proven ideas are put
into action
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HKRSHEY EQUIPMENT
[““! [COMPANY, INC.
S / N
SYCAMORE IND. PARK
255 PLANE TREE DRIVE,
LANCASTER. PA. 17603
(717)393-5807
Route 30 West at the Centerville Exit
Dutchman.
own,
The McCafferty brothers would
usually do their own fields first,
then start down the road from one
farm to the next threshing oats,
barley, wheat and rye. The season
ran from early July until Sep
tember, with the last farm as much
as 20 miles from where it all
started.
Grain was cut with a binder and
shocked, so leaving it in the field
an extra month was no problem. A
farmer usually had his own bmder
-or maybe he teamed up with a
neighbor so he could get the grain
cut when it was right. He also
needed a fairly large crew for
shocking if there many acres.
Work swapping was more im
portant 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.
My first real job, beyond
carrying water jugs, was driving a
team of Percheron horses pulling a
bundle wagon. This rig belonged to
a neighbor who could see the
wisdom of getting an eight-year
old kid to do for pennies what he
would otherwise have to pay a man
to do.
We’d work five or six farms
before it was his turn and maybe a
AUTHORIZED
DISTRIBUTOR
Lancaster Farming Saturday, May 18,1985-D23
half-dozen more after his grain
was in the bind. There was hardly
ever any exchange of money
between the farmers. If a man
wound up owing at the end of the
threshing season, he made it up
picking corn.
Those were the days when a man
could start farming 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 with a
neighbor. 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.
That was during World War 11.
By the time the war was over
threshing machines were being
rapidly replaced by combines.
Fellows who had always relied on
the McCafferty brothers suddenly
felt the need to own and operate
combines. I suspect they paid
dearly for the privilege.
Times have changed and ob
viously there is no way to go back
to the work swapping, custom
threshing days of the early 19405.
But there must be some way to cut
down a $200,000 machinery in
ventory on a 320 acre Delmarva
farm and still get the job done.
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1 iTX ■ T l '
NK AHEAD...
)ur«s Market! on Pag* 3.
THII
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