As a lifelong Minnesotan, I know snowballs rolling downhill tend to do two things:
- They get bigger as they go.
- They pick up speed.
A snowball rolling downhill is about as apt of a description as I can provide on the current used farm equipment market. The values on good condition, used farm equipment are rising rapidly.
This snowball got bigger even as the temperatures began to climb in late February into March.
Timing of the Snow Storms
We are in one of the three hottest
periods I’ve seen in 31 years of tracking auction price data. Those include:
- November 2007 into early 2008.
- December 2012 to March 2013.
- Now (September 2020 to March 2021).
In this current period, I am seeing very strong auction prices on a variety of equipment categories — from tractors in good condition to hay equipment.
High Accumulation
To prove the point, check out these sale prices from a Feb. 27 farm auction in north-central Maryland:
- New Holland HW340 windrower with 1,373 hours; one owner; $56,000, which is a new record auction price by $7,000. The former high price was set almost seven years ago.
- New Holland 1069 stack cruiser with 5974 hours; gas; $32,500, the highest auction price in eight years.
- New Holland 260 hay rake; $4,500, which is the highest auction price in more than three years.
- International Harvester Hydro 186 tractor with 12,070 hours; $29,000, which is the highest price ever on that model sold without a loader.
During a Feb. 25 farm auction in northwest Missouri, two more record auction prices were set:
- 2015 Case IH Magnum 310 CVT tractor with 679 hours; $207,000. The previous record was $182,000, which was set exactly one year earlier on 2018 model Magnum 310 CVT with the exact same number of hours.
- 2017 Case IH 5140 combine with 616 engine hours; $189,500. The previous record was $165,000.
Snowball To Avalanche
Do you need more examples? OK. A 1998 John Deere 8400 with 4,033 hours sold for $100,000 on Feb. 8 at a farm auction in west-central Iowa. It tied the highest price on an 8400 in nine years.
Another example is the 2017 John Deere 9620RX with 1,255 hours that sold for $390,000 during an online dealer auction on Feb. 23 in southwest Ohio.
When I posted about the 9620RX sale price on our Machinery Pete Facebook page, a reader commented: “Pete, that’s a 4-year-old tractor!”
Yep. And it just sold for nearly $400,000. That’s a big snowball.
Greg Peterson Tap into the latest from Machinery Pete, the most trusted name in farm equipment. Access auction data for FREE at:
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