Do you buy new or used machinery?

Would you get a 20' twin axle off them for under 10k? Seems very reasonable to me

The only drawback I would see is if you had to load cattle on your own ,it is a tough job even with 2 people .If you have help to load it is a no brainer to buy a trailer for 10k

I've a very good chute system they go up into a trailer no bother. Haulier even commented on it last time he was here.

It's easy to get sucked into trying to save money by investing in machinery. Ya at present you are seeing inflation in Machinery. That can change very fast.

You are like myself hanging 60 cattle per year. Your present bill is 1200/ year. If you haul yourself it will be a three hour return journey with your present tractor. Will you tractor use 25-30L on a return journey

With sixty cattle to maximize profitability you need often to be only moving them in bunches of 4-6. 20 euro is nothing in a beast that grades or hangs wrong.

So will will assume 10 loads. 10 loads will be 250 euro in diesel. Add in wear and tear at another 150 euro/ year

Best case scenario is you get 7k for the trailer if you sell it in ten years time. So total cost of 800/ year.

For 400/ year you are doing 30 hours work.

I the opposite to you nearest factory is 10 miles marts that I usually buy out of are 30, 40 and 50 miles away. I usually use hauliers for bring home 8 or more stores and take them to the factory myself if it the nearest one in the 8X5 box. It takes 3.5 hours to haul 8 finished cattle up in the box behind the RAV.

Thinking about an 10X6 but the wear and tear on the RAV compared to the 8X5 is putting me off. I am sorting a 12X6 cattle box for behind the tractor for the factory.

Bought a heifer last Friday night in August, last year in Gortnalea mart. She was 290 kgs and cost 490+ fees. She was a plain narrow hungry heifer.

Hung her last week, she was an R-4- she hung 360 kg DW and came into 1565 euro.

Ya she was a July 19 calf and I bought her August 20, and hung her at 28 months

Did you explore the option of a handy lorry, Bass?

If you are finishing 60 cattle which I am off grass and a bit of ration you are trying to maximise output. 10-14 days can make a big difference to a bullock or a heifer.

If you get 60 cattle away in 6 loads there will be 1-4 in every load underfinished ( even dropping them off in smaller bunches I get caught now and again) unless you buy peas in a pod.

You will have a load you have to get away because there is one going over 30 months, getting 17% of you stock away in every load will not be possible. 10 loads is even optimistic IMO.

Edit Sorry CJ miss understood you post reading it but I agree about trailer

Not really we are supposed to be stockmen not machinery addicts. Posters were on about money out of machinery or it maintaining it value. 10k on machinery that maintains it value over 10 years is not adding wealth IMO.

Put 10k into a pension fund, draw the tax relief (if as many of us work and farm) could mean investing 16.5k in a pension fund over 4year(10+4+1.6+ 0.64+), in ten years you are probably looking at a 25k+ROI.

There is two points I was making first that the greater return was in stock and secondly that time is valuable. I would prefer to spend, extra hours at on line marts rather than on a tractor drawing a box at 15 euro/ hour which after tax may be saving you less than 10/ hour. That heifer left me1075 before costs or about 700 net. That is equivalent to 1.5 years savings doing your own hauling IMO

No the RAV is a lifestyle choice. Farm is 10-12 miles from.the house, I prefer the higher road position compared to a fuel efficient van or car. It double up as a quad ( I put a trailer behind it for fencing, and I use it for feeding ration in buckets in the trailer to cattle in the field) it will travel the land from Apr to October ( November this year) with a light load.

Tractor and box will take some time off the larger loads to the factory, haulier and jeep still to mart.

Indeed you would. I just enjoy some machinery work if I'm being honest. Can't really justify it all if I give up the hire work though

He's counting investing the 10k plus the 4k tax relief at the high rate (40%) and the tax relief on the tax relief as the 10k is coming from take home pay.

The 1.6k is 40% of 4k and the 0.64 40% of 1.6k . He could have gone further and added .256 and .102.

Off topic but are those spring fences good?

I turned Hay this summer...(not mad into tractor radio)..but heard the tick tock of the tines on the tedder and the sun blasting..I turned into lyric FM for the first time in my life and all the nosies were pure symphony!

If you can keep current on them they are handy. They are easy to hang when open. As well they are more visible and easier set up compared to a single strand of high tensile wire