This week's classic tractor I'm not buying

I bought my 1st tractor a 390 for 14k punts in 2000 has put up 6k hours surely worth 16/17 k now

I bought my 2nd tractor a 399 for 20k in 2010 has put up 5 k hours worth 20 k still ,no depreciation on good 2nd tractors

Most machinery that is anyway minded has not depreciated much in 20 years ,biggest problem is if you sell it ,you give back half in tax!!

In my experience yes you do need to take care....how much depends on the weight of the bale, how fast you are travelling and/or if you are turning and how sharply, the loader itself and if it's the right size for the machine and how high/extended it is etc.......go overboard on any of these areas and it'll tip (probably not seriously) if it has no counterweight at the back....it does exert very significant leverage on that bracket of tractors ......but if you take it handy, lower it when you need to and keep the speed reasonable and it will be fine.....you'll get a feel for it in no time if you are at it and your not an impatient sort.......

Lad locally filled a blue barrel with cement and it has a three point linkage sticking out of it...uses that as his counter weight

I never bother with that with a light enough fairly modern 95hp yard tractor feeding bales during the winter on less than ideal surface. I Just take it handy......if I was transporting an odd few bales on the road..a double Bale handler on the back would be the counter weight.

I am assuming here. I think its a place you are going to inherit from an aunt or uncle. You still have to look at it as a business. A lot depends on the farm. Is it a 20-25 cow suckler farm or a calf to beef or store to beef farm or a calf to beef farm.

A lot of lads end up with land and have no vision of where they are going. Do a green cert, form a partnership basically work the system. This is a tough game its dog eat dog at times. It's business at its rawest especially as a small farmer.

I have being there wore the jersey and from an arrogant point of view walked out the other end.

@Pussyhands be careful about buying a tractor that is too big/tall as it may not fit into some of the existing sheds etc.

Did you think about buying a good second hand telehandler/loader instead of a tractor, they come with all the attachments that any farmer needs. If I had the money I would buy myself a nice tidy pivot loader with the boom out the front as opposed to it on the side.

Realistically no small farmers can justify a dedicated materials handler.

You'll pay as much for a telehandler as a fresh tractor

What about something like a clean Matbro TR200. If they are only feeding a few hundred bales a year it would more than suffice. I used to have a second hand one a lifetime ago and other than the power transport box for the tractor it was the most used implement on the farm.

Not in that stable. They had a fiat 88-94 at €28000 iirc a while back. At least they will put up a price.

On the money at €28k

It’d be more nightmare of the year if all you ended up with was an old 5000 and €28k gone from your bank account!

It’s not even particularly well done either.

I’m not a Ford man but a few things stand out at first glance..,,the one piece side windows, I’m pretty sure these were split windows with one half sliding. The tail lights are not the correct ones either. The front weights are all over the shop. There are probably a good few other details that I can’t spot.

Edit to add that the Left hand door is a disgrace and the head lights are gammy too!

https://www.donedeal.ie/view/31552615

Massey Ferguson 188

😅😅😅