[ebertfarms]

we'd like to, but are tryign to figure out how much better the bullet rotor is. We run over 140,000 bushel of corn through our walker every year and it just seems like its getting to the point of major repair.

our 9600 has 2610engine hours and 1590sep hrs

 

[ebertfarms]

Hey guys and gals,

so my dad is talking about paying off the 9600 we got 3 years ago and trading it off so we don't trade up with an even larger deere note.

He talked to the local dealer we bought it and have it serviced at and they were talkin about giving us $55K for it.

We were wondering though...a local "i have to have the newest machinery avaiable" type of guy we're decent friends with said there's no comparison betweent he bullet rotor and regular rotor.

We we're eventually looking at 800hr 9650STS combines for next year while keeping the same heads so we can fly through the fields and so we dont have to upgrade planters and such to accomodate a larger than 6 row head.

so is the bullet rotor really worth that much more money to invest in? We figured with the 70series becoming more available for next year we should be able to pickup a nice low hour 9660STS for pretty cheap and all the kinks/glitches would be worked out of it.


So...is it worth the money for a 60 series bullet rotor compared to a conventional rotor 50/60 series STS? Also...did they make a 9560/9660 bullet rotor?


Main reason i ask, is we can pickup a 9650STS with 800hrs for $99,000 out the door, and was wondering if the bullet rotor is worth the $140,000 price tag they all seem to carry? Does it just have more cleaning area and seperate the trash better and allow for faster field speeds? Rotors are all new to us...we've been walker machines for the past 3 generations and i this is really the first we've talked about them since we're slowed down doing green stem soybeans....

Thanks,
Dave

 

[ebertfarms]

we just can't justify a $60,000 used price tag on 12 row heads and dont like the idea of 8row's with the field being planted in 12rows. If we had a 24row we wouldn't mind, and we're tossing the idea around, but im sure it'll be a couple years..

we really like the 6row because we never have to take it off for transport...8row's and 12 rows you' pretty much have to around here because the roadsides aren't big enough to accomodate two farmers going opposite directions on the same road.

 

[ebertfarms]

cuz we'd rather feel like we're doing something, only one guy in our entire county has autosteer (not counting the fertilizer companies) and he said he just reads the newspaper all day.

I'm not bashing anyone, but to me, thats not farming. If i spend an extra $20 in wasted fuel because i overlap 4" on average throughout a whole field, then so be it...atleast im staying alert to the objects ahead of me, and when something breaks because of looking back all the time.

The 9600 is a sound machine, but with it nearing 2000hrs, its getting time to trade it off relatively soon like we've done with all of our other combines (9500, 9510, whatever we had before i was born). We never plan on owning a "new" combine as theres really no need for them unless your a custom harvester or like to "show-off" but we'd like to step into a newer model with more capability and is still relatively current. Yea the hours might seem relatively low, but its been through ALOT of corn most of it being low 20% moisture corn which adds a little more wear from what we've seen. Also, our 9600 is 10years old and we can't use for as big of a tax-break anymore since we'll only have one payment left after this year is over. We just paid off 4 fields we purchased 6 years ago and have a little extra money we need to see gone so uncle sam doesn't get greedy for next years taxes. Like most farmers, we don't buy new/newer machinery because we need it, but because the more we buy, the less taxes we have to pay and the more net worth we have overall, so the larger bank amounts we can borrow for buying more land.

It's getting time to sharpen the pencil and go through figures again and see where we can cut expenses to make more money, but keep it away from uncle sam if you see what im saying.

 

[ebertfarms]

do you run corn through yours? The friend of ours runs a 1294 and i guess i could see where he thinks its amazing for him with so much corn coming in at one time. I wasn't sure if there was other opinions or not.

Did the later model 50/60 series STS have any major issues we should be concerned about, and is there any difference in performance between both series? Sorry for all the questions, we'd just rather make the right choice the first time and have a solid combine for the next 6-7 years.

 

[ebertfarms]

big..i think you just have a grudge because of comments i've made concerning you.

From what the local deere dealer has told us we're looking at a hefty repair bill...they welded a bunch of stuff this summer so we can get by this year and bring it in this winter so they can start working on it. I know your probably thinking "save money and do it yourself"...the problem is we dont have a forklift, overhead crane, the specialty tools im sure you'd use 1 time if you did it yourself, etc. So we just pay the dealer we've done business with for the past 60years to do it for us, and they take care of us when we have problems.

The 19 thing, it seems like everyone thinks that someone who is younger than, lets say 25 has no clue what their doing. I love it personally, im not saying i know everything about farming...i know more than probably most my age do for spring/fall seasons, but as the business aspect goes i'm clueless which is why im still working full-time under my dad and not him working for me. he's teaching me a certain area every year, and in 5-6 years when he hands the farm over, i'll have a solid idea of what it takes to run an operation and the financial responsibility that goes along with it.

I'm not saying more farmers aren't switching over to autosteer either, but im dead serious that only one person in our county currently uses an autosteer device. There are alot of lightbars out there, i have one on order that will hopefully come in before tillage starts in 2 weeks. I understand that sub-inch accuracy is great, especially for larger operations because it saves alot more time and fuel (the king ranch for example)...but what does it mean at the end of the field? you got to plant 3 more rows of corn and saved $15 in diesel?

Maybe its because i am a young farmer and have more energy, but with fall tillage i'm out there until 3-4am slowly but surely making my 18' passes one at a time until the fields are done. I find it more peaceful to run that late at night, as soon as 8pm comes the phone calls finally seem to stop and its just the tractor, 3/4mile rows, and my ipod tearing up the earth. Sure i get out of the tractor to give me a bit of a wakeup of the frigid yet soothing air and relieve myself

but i dont mind.

I input average costs...with my labor, overlapping 4ft in the spring, and 2ft in the fall (the crumbler is 1.5ft shorter than the farthest disc leveler, so i know if it was next to the already tillaed ground its overlapped roughly 2ft. With the last tank of diesel we had filled at $2.40/gallon it came out to an annual savings of $677 and 8hrs of labor.

I'm not sure about seed cost, and we don't put any of our own chemicals on except for aztec in the spring when we plant.

 

[ebertfarms]

thats the thing, i put it into the site don posted and it said it'd only save $677 in fuel and 8hrs of labor.

 

[ebertfarms]

nothing happened, i've realized alot lately that iowa/illinois is completely different even though we are both the highest producing corn states in the US.

Our friend who lives near cedar rapids says he has multiple possible tenants willing to give $250/acre to farm his ground. Around here $200 is about as high as people will go with the occassional $215 or so.

Why buy a new combine though? We farm enough acres we could afford one after we paid off our multiple deere notes...but is there really a reason for it other than showing off if your an under 3000acre farmer? Why spend $60,000 more on a brand new machine that could have multiple flaws in the design, when you could put that $60,000 towards other new machinery, drainage tile, payments, fuel, etc. and you still end up with the same machine?

 

[ebertfarms]

Quote:I guess your theory and mine are completely different. There are two main machines that I would want to maintain in new operating condition on our farm, a combine and a planter. Without those two machines doing their jobs flawlessly you might as well not be out there. We farm 2500 acres and trade combines every 3 or 4 years. We ALWAYS pay for our equipment, there is no need to buy something you can't afford. I guess since our stuff is paid for we can buy a new combine if we want. I would not want to buy a used combine, you never know how it has been cared for, at least the new one has a year warranty to get the bugs out.

That's fine, our dealer has been around a long time and is one of the top deere dealers for customer service and reliability in the state...when we buy used machines we make sure its been through there combine clinic every year (pretty much 95% of the farmers in our area take the combine through manufacturer clinics to get them checked). If its been through their clinic, its good to go in a field.

While i agree with you to some point, if a combine breaks down its not goign to hurt the crops any besides knock a couple tenths of a percent off moisture. In my opinion, you have to have a good tractor and a solid planter. If you can't get the crop in within the window, a combine isn't going to help you get good yields.

We buy what we can afford, but with life nowadays, its not how much money you have, its your credit score that matters to lending companies. We used to buy machinery with straight cash, but when the times switched and credit really mattered, we just started leasing to own which allows us to have much newer machinery for less cost, and if we decide to not own it, instead of paying the payout after the 5yr lease, we can just trade it off for something new(er)

 

[ebertfarms]

Quote:mmmmmmmm ebert you must know my brother near Donovan which is in your county. he has autosteer. i am pretty sure there are more than just him in that county that have it

i might, im not close to donovan at all...on our side (the east side of the county) only 1 person has autosteer...everyone else still uses markers and flags at the ends of rows.

 

[ebertfarms]

like i said smooth, its not that they don't teach it, i just don't pay attention, im sure if i start driving i'd find it quickly....but i don't. i usually spend quite a few weekends out on the country roads...i just can't remember right now. I don't know anyone from donovan so i can't really place it right away.

We'll see what happens, we're talking about keeping the combine for a couple more years until we get some more deere notes paid off, or waiting a couple years so we can go buy a semi for next year.


I said i didn't mean to offend anyone when i made that comment about autosteer guidance systems TX. We have the fertilizer company come out and do strip till on some bean fields, then we just go over it with the soil finisher in the spring. My dad has tried to follow them before and said the heck with it. I know about planting, but he just won't let me get in his seat yet since thats his "spot" We don't apply our own fertilizer, just have the local company do it...saves us a ton of time. I don't even know how they'd work if we had a terragator...i usually keep one sprayer operator pretty busy when he's putting down 28 for us.