Stephen Spohn hawks used equipment all over the Midwest for Heritage Tractor, a 40-outlet John Deere dealer with retail stores in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri.
He says now is as good a time as any to be a buyer in the used farm equipment market. Prices have pretty much hit their bottom and will most likely only go up from here, but for now, he’s pretty confident another jump in prices won’t hit until 2027, unless something changes drastically.
“There will be opportunities for guys that maybe have [always] purchased new, but now they can buy some lightly used equipment at a good discount compared to new prices,” he says. “And there’s just a lot of good equipment [out there], and it’s probably [already setup] the way they want it, so just lots of opportunities right now.”
Big Iron’s Kurt Campbell, national account manager – dealer partnerships, agrees with that take. On the auction side, he shares that Big Iron has listed more late-model machines on its online auction platform in the past 24 months than it has in many, many years.
“If you’re thinking about updating and you find the piece of equipment that you’re looking for, I would encourage you to take advantage and buy it,” he advises.
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Spohn says Heritage Tractor is one of the most active sellers of used hay tools and baling machinery in the lower 48. And just as Machinery Pete and Casey Seymour have said for months now on the “Moving Iron Podcast,” he agrees the price of a new hay rake or big square baler is driving buying activity on the used side.
“[The] cattle market is strong like we’ve never seen it before, and it doesn’t show any signs of letting up; it just keeps getting stronger and stronger. So [used] hay equipment is at a premium, and we do have a lot of equipment ready to sell, ready to go to the field right now,” Spohn says, adding that demand is also strong for mid-sized utility tractors and windrowers.
“As long as we get the rain, we need to put the hay or the alfalfa out there for the guy to get it pulled in, and then we’re good to go,” he adds. “But yeah, that market is just incredible.”
Both Spohn and Campbell, who we spoke with at the Moving Iron Summit this week in Austin, Texas, are seeing a supply gap come into play across one machinery category: new high horsepower combines.
“I think most dealers of all makes, [John] Deere included, and the red and the yellow combines, too, there’s limited production and limited orders on new machines right now,” Spohn says. “I think everybody’s cutting that back, but there’s plenty of lightly used combines that can fill in that gap. To me that’s going to be a really good opportunity for the farmer to maybe get that price break on that lightly used combine compared to the new.”
“In ‘20, ‘21, ‘22, and into ‘23, the supply [of used machinery] was very limited, which obviously created demand,” Campbell adds. “We’re in a position now, we’re trying to get that back under control. The decrease in production from the OEMs is helping. So, to our dealer partner’s point, if you’re looking, there’s a good selection to look. And of course, when you’re shopping online or you’re using an auction company such as Big Iron, there’s always good inventory.”
Spohn says there’s enough good machinery in both the retail and auction worlds for everybody to eat this winter. Again, a win-win for buyers.
“I think the retail market is priced right,” he says. “Yeah, there’ll be some [nice deals] at auction, too, but I think the retail opportunity is there to get a good price on a combine. And then of course the benefit to the farmer is if they buy from the retail side, then you get dealer support.”
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