Parked In My Yard

Frank W. James, aka "Farmer Frank" wrote a pretty good post about why farmers tend to get more land and equipment called Economies of Scale and Cash Rent. I can't really add much to what he said about the subject other than it's a lot like the average consumer going to Costco or Sam's Club - the more you buy, the cheaper the unit price. If you contract fertilizer before you need it, you may lock in a price that is considerably cheaper than when it comes time to actually use it. If you buy diesel fuel by the truck load rather than just a few fill ups at a time, your fuel price will be less by a bit. If you have a huge tractor and appropriate implements to pull, you can get your ground worked with less labor, fuel, and equipment costs over the long run.



This is a picture of the model of tractor Dad used when he retired. I spent more than a couple hours running it as well. He had a John Deere 4430. It was very similar to this one - he had an auxiliary fuel tank mounted on the front. This one is missing the necessary front weights - Dad's fuel tank took the place of the weights. He also had a front end loader mounted. My neighbor who farms the family ground bought it from Dad, and as far as I know, he still has it. It is too small (109 drawbar horsepower) to work ground in the farm economy today in this area. It's duties were reduced to handling bales, mowing and other such work.



This is the only four wheel drive tractor I've ever run. It is a Case 1470 Traction King. My neighbor Nate had two - one like this with rear steering and one without. At 126 drawbar horsepower, it really wasn't that much stouter than Dad's JD. It would pull 6x5' (30' cut) sweeps while the 4430 liked 5x5' (25' cut) better. Dad actually only pulled 3x6' (18' cut) Noble sweeps - that is what he had before he bought the JD and he wasn't wild about upgrading. The rear steering was supposed to help reduce soil compaction. After a while, pulling the same implement in the same manner in the same field has the tractor running in the same spots every time. Tractors are not light, and the continuous weight pressing into soft ground results in compacted soil. This is really a pretty good picture showing how the rear wheels don't follow exactly in the front wheel tracks. So, the weight is spread around. Most farmers break up the compaction problem by working the ground differently each time - around and around, or back and forth at an angle chosen so the wind blows across the path you choose. Tracked tractors, such as the Challenger series, spread the weight around as well.




This is what has been parked in my yard for several weeks. It is a John Deere 9400. It is hardly the largest or newest John Deere four wheel drive model - that distinction belongs to the 9630. The 9400 is rated at 371 drawbar hp and 425 engine, and the 9630 is 530 engine hp (I couldn't find the drawbar rating). The 9400 is a far cry from what I've run in the past. When tractors get this big, they are pretty much specialized to the point where they are single purpose machines. You can mount a scraper blade on the front and use the hydraulics to adjust it, but there is no PTO (power take off) or three point hitch. A mower usually hooks up to the three point to raise and lower, and the PTO powers the rotating blades. This tractor would crumple the vegetation you wanted to mow before the mower got to it. So, this puppy sits idle when other tractor duties are required. Such is the cost of specialization. And what does this baby cost? Depends on the year and the hours used, but a worn out example might be found in the $75k area, and a decent long term investment type would be at least $120k. This model wasn't produced after 2002, so all the ones for sale out there are used.

Let's climb up and look in:



The steering column is tilted up out of the way to make entering and exiting the seat far easier. All the controls and instruments are on the right side of the cab.



Close up of the armrest. The vertical yellow knob at the end of the rest is to shift gears. There is a two stick gearbox we'll see a bit of in a moment that selects the range, then you have a choice of high or low in that range with the little knob. If the tractor is in the high range, and it starts to pull too hard you can shift down without clutching. The yellow/orange tab recessed on the arc is the throttle - turtle for slow, rabbit for fast. The hydraulics are to the right of the gearshift - they utilize rocker switches. The tractors I grew up with all had mechanical linkage to the hydraulic controls - so there were direct links to the outside of the cab, allowing noise and vibration into the operator area. These are electric over hydraulic - the "linkage" is wiring. Much quieter.



One of the manual gearshift knobs and two of the computer displays. The speed chart for the different gears is pasted on the right window. I could jump in this tractor and get it to go down the road, but I couldn't take advantage of the various technologies shown here. I don't think this tractor is equipped with GPS, but to be honest, I just don't know. The new tractors with GPS can take over the driving as far as proper spacing is concerned. When you are pulling an implement, you have to overlap a bit so you don't skip - or miss some weeds. With the GPS systems, you can program in the width of the implement and how much overlap you want, and the system will track accordingly. I understand this is really helpful when planting.



This is the instrument panel on the far right side. The far right shows the cigarette lighter and the data ports for diagnostic equipment. What I, II, III, IV, and V are for is beyond me. The display to the left has wheel slip, acres worked and a bunch of other stuff to play with. You can see the headlights, A/C and heat controls, windshield wipers and hazard lights are controlled from this panel.



This is the view looking over the left front wheels. My butt has to be at least eight or nine feet from the ground.



The view from behind the wheel straight ahead. I could crush that granary. But, since it's mine and the neighbors like using it, I'll forgo that pleasure at the moment. I'm sure I'd scratch the front of this green machine, too. Better not.



The loose nut behind the wheel.

Okay, so what does this hunk of iron and plastic pull?



This is a Flex King 9x6' (56' cut) sweep plow with the hydraulic rotary harrow option. The flat disk blade (rolling coulter) in front of the sweep blade cuts a slot for the vertical shank that holds the sweep blade (frog). The sweep blade runs underneath the surface of the ground, cutting the roots of the weeds without disturbing the ground cover very much, as opposed to a moldboard plow or offset disks, which roll the earth over and bury the ground cover. The rotary harrows (chicken pickers) break up clods and stir the topsoil up a bit, improving moisture retention. This implement is designed for farmers who have to leave their ground in fallow every other year or so. The ground cannot take continuous cropping and has to rest, but if you don't keep the weeds down, there will be no moisture for a crop later on. Most farmers who irrigate are more concerned with getting rid of the plant residue from the previous crop so that their drills can work properly. If there is a bunch of wheat straw left over on top when drilling, the drills often catch it and ball up. For a farmer who summer fallows, this isn't as much as a problem because the old crop cover deteriorates quite a bit over the year the ground rests.

How does the farmer get this down the road to the field? Roads aren't sixty feet wide, dern it. If you look closely, you can see the frame is put together in hinged sections, and there are long throw hydraulic cylinders mounted transversely. There are also support beams along the way. The outer "wings" fold in first, then the next wing folds up, then the wing after that. You can see holes in the support beams - they match up with brackets on the wings so that they can be pinned. There have been instances where the hydraulics failed and the implement unfolded during transport. These babies are heavy enough that when the implement is parked, it is a good idea to unfold the thing. The wheel bearings in the inner wheel hubs that support the whole shebang during transport will fail more frequently if the implement is left folded.

When I look back at what Dad and I farmed with, this sort of equipment just blows me away. When a farmer makes the commitment to economies of scale, just buying a bigger tractor and implements isn't the only step. Dad and I pumped our fuel by hand out of a tank in the bed of his pickup. It took about twenty minutes to pump thirty or forty gallons - the tank held forty seven. This puppy? 270 gallons. This means a dedicated fuel trailer or truck with an electric pump. You don't buy engine oil in plastic one gallon containers for this tractor. You have to have a place to keep old engine oil. When Dad's 3x6' Noble needed new blades, he bought three. This implement requires nine. With no power tools, it took a day to change out blades on Dad's Noble. It was a good idea to have a bearing or two, some seals, and maybe an extra hydraulic cylinder or line "in stock." Now, one or two won't get you very far. Better have plenty of that stuff on hand. You need a pretty decent sized and equipped shop to work on this stuff. Dad and I? Outside. In both cases, calling up someone to work on whatever is wrong will break a farmer in a hurry. There are times when the specialists are required, but minor stuff needs to be handled by the farmer. Economy of scale applies to the support services the large equipment requires.

This tractor isn't very versatile, so smaller tractors are needed for other tasks.
This means more parts in the shop, more fuel and more oil, more implements and attachments, and people to run them. If you get a large combine, then you need more parts, trucks, grain carts and labor. You could purchase a similar tractor and implement for $150 - 160k, but that is only a tiny part of the picture.

I'm pretty tickled I'm just a rich landlord.