October 7, 2016
CapitalPress.com
3
Deciding whether to ix or replace equipment
For the Capital Press
Winter repairs are brisk
business at Ag West Supply in
Harrisburg, Ore., where farmers
tend to keep machinery longer.
This is largely due to the large
number of smaller acreages in
the area.
“Around here they basically
run them until they absolute-
ly die,” service manager Larry
Austin said. “About 17 out of
every 20 combines we see in a
year are 20-plus years old.”
Every repair estimate begs
the question: Fix or replace?
“In 2014 I put in $7,000
worth of repairs on a combine,”
Austin said. “In 2016 it was
$5,000 on the same one. The
customer could get a new one
for $300,000 or perhaps buy
a used one for half that, but
$5,000-$6,000 a year versus
$150,000?”
Older models bring greater
risk of untimely problems and
are not typically under warranty.
Courtesy Ag West Supply
A decades-old combine meets
an Ag West service truck near
Harrisburg, Ore. Many area
farmers choose to ix rather than
replace older farm machines.
“If you break a chain on your
combine and it goes through
your auger system, you’re up
the creek because you’ve just
destroyed everything inside,”
Austin said. “That’s a $15,000
to $20,000 repair, but they’ll
ix it because they can’t afford a
new one.
“One customer had a $4,000
repair but opted to buy a new
one because he’d had so many
problems with it and was just
done with it,” Austin said. “He
traded in and was happy going
down the road. We ixed it, sold
it, and the guy who bought it
was happy, too.”
Sometimes choice is taken
out of the equation.
“The cost of a new baler’s
about $35,000,” Austin said.
“Last year a customer brought
his old baler in and spent
$15,000 because he loved it. He
went out and baled for a week,
put 2,000 bales through that ma-
chine. It was the best thing he
ever had.
“He was going down the
road with it and turned in front
of a logging truck,” Austin said.
“To repair the baler was about
$17,000 and when the bill is
75 percent of a replacement the
insurance company totaled it
out. On his own dime he paid
the $15,000 to repair it but when
there’s an accident and they total
it out what are you doing to do?”
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