16 replies to this topic

[Machinery Pete]

Just posted Youtube video of the 2010 Caterpillar MT865C tractor with 557 hours (2nd owner), 525 HP, 36" tracks, sold on July 25, 2012 AgIron 61 consignment auction I covered up in West Fargo, ND this week:



Pete
www.machinerypete.com

[Vol]

Makes me wonder about the tractor going on 3rd owner now and 2 years old....that many ponies would make me weak in the knees keeping them fed....

Regards, Mike

[ARD Farm]

Especially a Caterpillar with Car's poor EGR system (why Cat got out of the on-road diesel engine market entirely, poor fuel efficiency and decreased engine life). The older engines were long lasting. The newer ones aren't.

I'd take a Cummins ISX-C engine over a Cat, anyday. If you removed the pan on an ISX and a early 3406 (which is the refined version of the 1693 BTW, minus twin overhead cams and pre-chamber ignition) and inverted the engines and looked inside, they would appear identical.

When I see yellow anything today, I see poor factory support, offshore outsourcing and high initial cost. Those things don't add up in my ledger.

[Teslan]

When I was looking for a used tractor last fall I saw several of these Cat track tractors for seemingly low prices for the HP they were, hours, and the age compared to a similar powered John Deere wheeled tractor. Or any other brand for that matter. It made me think that they must not be that good. Maybe the tracs wear out easily? And are super expensive to replace?

[askinner]

Wow, I thought the Cat name had just been tarnished in Australia. Such a shame to see that it's worldwide, Cat was such a great product up until the late 90's, early 00's, whether it be truck engines, up to the largest off highway gear. As an apprentice with a Cat dealer, I remember Cat customers that would have bought underwear from them if it had that logo on them. Goes to show what Corporatisation of dealerships, and rediculous emissions control can do to an astonishing company, again, such a shame.

[Mike120]

....that many ponies would make me weak in the knees keeping them fed....

It's got a 330 gallon fuel tank....My farm tank is only 500 gallon and I cry everytime I have to fill it up.

[mlappin]

Well, around here at least people that had the tracked machines have eventually gotten rid of them. Not so much mechanical problems or anything, but think about it, it's a tracked machine, when you turn on end rows you make ruts or berms. If you get one stuck, it's STUCK. Have one guy in the area still using a Cat row crop version for applying 28%, wipes out a lot of corn on the end rows while our four wheel drives with the tires tracking one another when you turn wipes out very little.

Fuel tank is impressive, wish our big four wheel drive had a 330 gal tank instead of a 200.

[ARD Farm]

Frankly, I'm not impressed with the new green powerplants either. Fuel efficiency on par with the yellow and life expectancy about the same..... or about half of a pre-emissions diesel. The exception again is Cummins Engine with better fuel efficiency, less emissions related parts to go south and Cummins didn't degrade the warranty either. Life expectancy went down because they run so hot. Heat=less engine component life.

Big replacement item on a Tier 3-4 Cummins is the turbocharger.

[LeadFarmer]

Well, around here at least people that had the tracked machines have eventually gotten rid of them. Not so much mechanical problems or anything, but think about it, it's a tracked machine, when you turn on end rows you make ruts or berms. If you get one stuck, it's STUCK. Have one guy in the area still using a Cat row crop version for applying 28%, wipes out a lot of corn on the end rows while our four wheel drives with the tires tracking one another when you turn wipes out very little.

Fuel tank is impressive, wish our big four wheel drive had a 330 gal tank instead of a 200.

It takes a skilled operator to turn on the ends of the fields correctly. Most people get in the track machines and think they can drive them like a mechanical tractor. I actually read the owners manual (Gasp!) that came with my 8310 RT, and it fully explains the need to ratchet turn the machine in the corners. The newer tracked tractors don't get stuck like the old ones would. They would get stuck in their own ruts while turning at the end of the field! I am extremely happy with my 8310 RT, especially after learning how to properly turn/operate it. It does an AWESOME job on the Koenig sub-soiler, and there is absolutely nothing that can touch me, speed-wise, pulling a plow. We also really like to pull a disk with it, especially when doing custom tillage for lettuce ground, and there is ZERO compaction from the tracks.

[LeadFarmer]

that many ponies would make me weak in the knees keeping them fed....

Regards, Mike

I run a Case Quadtrac 535. When pulling hard (100% power and above) I am using between 26 and 30 gallons per hour. Of course, I am also covering about 11 or 12 acres an hour. I normally put between 150-200 gallons in it every morning.

[Vol]

LeadFarmer, Tell us what you grow in Arizona and a little more about your operation.

Regards, Mike

[LeadFarmer]

LeadFarmer, Tell us what you grow in Arizona and a little more about your operation.

Regards, Mike

Hails!

I am a fourth generation family farmer from the southwestern part of Arizona, between Yuma and Phoenix. I am currently farming 1650 acres in a variety of crops. I am always checking this board and I am always very thankful to live where I do. I constantly remind my Dad how spoiled we are, with our big laser-leveled fields and flood irrigation. Some of you guys have to bust your ass! Much respect!

Well I consider myself an alfalfa farmer. I currently am haying a little over 600 acres. I can't even remember what # cutting I am on right now, it seems like we are always making hay! I run two swathers, a NH HW345 and a Case 2303, and two big balers, NH BB9080 and another NH a few years older whose model number always escapes me (BB960?). Love to make hay, but honestly, by the end of the year/season I am so freakin' worn out. We will cut our hay probably 9 times this year. Been loving the insane hay market out West. Dairy hay(1st 3 cuttings) was moving for $250+ and right now I am selling to a local JBS yard for $185.

Lots of produce out this way, as I am close to Yuma, AZ, which is the winter produce capital of the U.S. (World too? idk) Very thankful to have rented out over 500 acres this winter for lettuce and melons. Keeps us in an awesome rotation (lettuce, wheat, lettuce, wheat, hay) that maximizes crops per acre per season. One big upside is that the lettuce boys run LOTS of UN-32, so it's not unheard of to have a wheat crop that never requires fertilizer! They also pay us to do the tillage, and I take great pride in the dirt work I do for them. I picked up the big Case Quad 535 and a 9 shank, S-Model Koenig subsoiler in order to do the deep, deep ripping these guys always want done. It really opens up my ground. The 20 acre blocks around my shop took over 10 hours a piece to water behind the laser!

Besides alfalfa and produce, we grow wheat (always behind winter lettuce ground), and I currently have 250 acres of cotton. I converted to Phytogen seed exclusively last season. We had used Deltapine seed for years before, but the Phytogen variety 375 is just an absolute beast. Here an excellent yield is 3 bales, and we were averaging 3.5 and above, even 4 bales in some areas.

Some other crops I am currently growing are Bermuda grass, for seed exclusively. We grow several "trendy", very high-demand type varieties for Central Garden & Pet (Pennington Seed). I have fields of Sultan, Sahara and Princess varieties. Cool fact: all Princess currently in production comes from a little 3 acre field right in front of my Dad's house. It is the "mother" field, and ALL Princess grass is first transplanted from this field. I also have another small 3 acre nursery field for them, of a variety called 1070.

A new project for me is switch grass. Ceres transplanted 2 varieties, for a total of about 14 acres on my land this past spring. These are new, foundation varieties. I just began to notice seed heads when I drove by this morning. Very excited about this project and it's future potential.

That's a little bit about our operation, and what we are currently working on. Possibly going to try chopping some hay for the first time next month, but other than that it is business as usual!

[downtownjr]

LeadFarmer,
I stop into Yuma and Tucson every once in awhile with the day job. Like to stop in and visit sometime if that is OK. Do you know the guy that has the Marwin Best Hay Savers there in Yuma. I stopped in and met him when I was in Yuma a year or so ago. Very nice machine shop. Beautiful fields there, I also seen some nice fields out near Willcox and Kansas Settlement when out there.

Regards Jim

[LeadFarmer]

LeadFarmer,
I stop into Yuma and Tucson every once in awhile with the day job. Like to stop in and visit sometime if that is OK. Do you know the guy that has the Marwin Best Hay Savers there in Yuma. I stopped in and met him when I was in Yuma a year or so ago. Very nice machine shop. Beautiful fields there, I also seen some nice fields out near Willcox and Kansas Settlement when out there.

Regards Jim

We would absolutely enjoy it if you stopped by! I really love to show people our area/operation.

My Dad knew the man Hank who ran Marwin Best, but he believes that Hank has passed away. It may be one of his sons, or family running it now,not too sure.

[Teslan]

Leadfarmer where do you folks get all the water to irrigate all that? Wells, river? I don't know how you can get through 9 cuttings of alfalfa. That would be too long of a season for me I think. So much respect to you. At least you can keep farm employees working on meaningful work year round there.

[LeadFarmer]

Leadfarmer where do you folks get all the water to irrigate all that? Wells, river? I don't know how you can get through 9 cuttings of alfalfa. That would be too long of a season for me I think. So much respect to you. At least you can keep farm employees working on meaningful work year round there.

All of our water comes from the Colorado River! We have some of the oldest water rights around, therefore we SHOULD be some of the last people in the United States to have water someday. Let us hope that day never comes though.

I have one small ranch that is irrigated by a well with a pump on it. It has been bare for about a year now though. The fields are very small, and have lots of gravel in them. I would love to plant cotton here, as the Phytogen loves sandy ground, but the fields are so small that my picker man wouldnt even be able to turn his machines around (new 6 row John Deere's - MASSIVE!)

9 cuttings of hay is brutal, just absolutely brutal. I finish haying and devote more time to other projects, and just when it feels like I am getting caught up, it's time to start cutting, raking, baling again! This time of year is relatively easy though, aside from inclement weather conditions, the hay dries out in about two days and we can usually bale a couple hours behind the rakes.

Massive yields right now. Over 2 tons per acre. When raked together I am having problems because the windrows are so big they are balling up underneath my baler tractors. Periodically it plugs up the back wheels on my DARF rakes too. These are good problems to have!

Teslan, most people don't even consider how crucial it is to be able to provide a steady job for my employees. But you are right, it is SUCH a huge benefit to me, to be able to keep the same guys around all year long, and keep them relatively busy!

[Teslan]

Yes if you have old water rights you SHOULD be able to have water, but we have old water rights also, but cities seem to get first choice on the water and also cities and environmental groups keep trying and finding out ways to dilute our water rights to being worth less. . I hear there is another water project here in Colorado to bring more Colorado river water over to the east side. Should be a nice legal battle about that.

My operation isn't large enough to hire employees so it's just me and my dad (but he is slowing down and only does light tractor work). My cousin employs about 2 guys, but only during the hay cuttings 3-4 times a year for about two weeks each. He has a hard time keeping good help because the good ones find more steady work and then he has to train new guys who don't want to work more then 6 hours a day or aren't willing to come out at night to bale hay. When my cousin isn't actually doing hay he's just pushing buttons to irrigate so he doesn't need help. So it is a real benefit to be so busy to keep guys employed all year round or nearly so.