Machinery Pete: Red-Hot Tractor Market
How hot is the market for good condition used tractors? Travel back with me to a July 8, 2021, farm retirement auction for Leon and Susan Hoffman in southwest Minnesota for your answer.
We filmed the sale, hosted by Henslin Auctions Inc., for the Machinery Pete TV Show. Picture this: A row of six tractors, five green and one red. Now let’s watch them sell:
1. First up, a sharp 2003 John Deere 8420 with only 1,760 hours. Leon bought it with 90 hours on it. Sold: $167,000. That is a new record high auction price. The previous record price was $157,000 from December 2012.
2. Next up, a sweet 2009 John Deere 7430 Premium with no loader, 933 hours and one owner. Sold: $139,000. It became another new record high auction price for a 7430 sold without a loader. The previous high was $107,000 from November 2012.
3. Next was a 2009 John Deere 6430 Premium with loader, only 988 hours and one owner. Sold: $114,000. Wow. Enter the third straight record price by a mile. The former high auction price on a 6430 with a loader was $98,750 from December 2012.
See the pattern? Each former record high auction sale price from back in late 2012.
4. Moving on down our tractor line, we find a 1978 John Deere 4640 with 8,122 hours, power shift and one owner. Sold: $35,250. That was the third highest auction price ever on a 4640 at the time. Two days later at a Nebraska auction, a 4640 with 3,273 hours went for $50,000.
5. Next up was a 2009 John Deere 5095M with just 139 hours and no loader. Sold: $58,500. The previous record price (without a loader) was $45,900.
6. Last in line was a piece of history: a 1963 Farmall 806 diesel with one owner. Leon bought it new when he was junior in high school. It was the first 806 sold in Minnesota and the dealer didn’t have truck big enough to transport it. Sold: $11,250.
The used tractor inventory on dealer lots is way down. We are talking tight. And the price of new tractors (all equipment, really) continues to skyrocket. Computer chip issues are limiting production and the availability of new. This is all with the backdrop of strong commodity prices.
If you think used tractor values are heated now, just wait until November and December, when year-end tax-motivated buyers pile into the market looking to minimize the tax bite via iron purchases prior to expected higher taxes to come in 2022.
Hear Machinery Pete share the latest trends in used machinery at the online Farm Journal Field Days.
