Right now is the time to sell used hay equipment and versatile loader tractors at auction. That’s because farmer interest in both of those machine segments has likely hit its ceiling for the year, according to a recent episode of the “Moving Iron” podcast.
Another trend in the market is spiking farmer demand for economically priced machines.
“You’re looking at that $50,000 to $150,000 [range], that’s like the peak thing right now,” says Casey Seymour, host of the podcast. ”And you know, if you look at the cattle side of the business, there’s a lot of cash out there right now and a lot of things moving.”
With fall auction season right around the corner, Machinery Pete thinks dealers should monitor the volume of units that flow into the auction world, because he thinks the used market can go either way at this point.
“I wonder if there’s going to be some dealers that wish they would have sold at the end of the first quarter, or early second quarter,” Pete says. “We’ll see how the market holds up for the rest of the summer here.”
Seymour expects we’ll see a lot of auctions booked for November and December, and Pete agrees.
“Q4 has been an optimal time since 2003 or 2004 basically, with the Bush tax cuts that happened so long ago,” Pete says. “Last year was only the second year I saw a dip in the fourth quarter, and the only reason it dipped was sheer volume. That’s why I still think it pays to steer clear of when everybody else is selling.”
And all of you classic tractor fans out there will just love this fun little story that Machinery Pete shared on Facebook:
The rest of the episode
Rich Posson, business cycles analyst, Critical Point, joins the podcast to talk about implications of a recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation report and Federal Reserve meeting.
“The CPI came out at 2.7% this morning annualized, and that was shocking to Wall Street. First they bought and then sold, and now they’re back buying today under the idea that it’s lower than what we thought – therefore lower interest rates are coming,” he says. “But that 2.7% was actually unchanged (from last month). Years ago I learned from watching USDA data that when the government gives you an unchanged number, it basically means they don’t know what to do next.”
Aaron Fintel, used equipment specialist, 21st Century Equipment, also joins this week to talk about how unique, specialty used farm equipment, like sugar beet harvesters, dry bean Pickett headers and hay steamers, are all “right on the cusp” of taking off on the High Plains.
“My biggest thing with keeping machinery moving is ‘Lot Rot’. On the sugar beet equipment, that’s the beauty – it’s nonexistent,” Fintel says. “In that specialty equipment (market) it’s pretty much ‘We’re upgrading to get bigger.’ or ‘We’re upgrading because we have to.’ That’s a world where a bigger percentage of your trade-ins are past their (useful) life.”
Head over to YouTube to watch the full episode. Hit the “Thumbs Up” button to “Like” the video and click on the “Subscribe” button to get a notification when a new episode drops.
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