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Machinery Pete Goes Deep on Retro Farm Equipment With Pick of the Week

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 18:47:31 GMT

Whether it’s an old John Deere combine that grandpa ran for decades or a shiny orange Allis-Chalmers tractor that’s been in the family for generations, vintage farm equipment is a big draw on the auction circuit. The appeal of classic machinery is equal parts nostalgia, old-school craftsmanship and practicality.

This week’s Pete’s “Pick of the Week” selection is a pair of notable classic iron deals:

(Machinery Pete Facebook)

At a Rich & Rich Auctioneers sale in North Carolina, a narrow-front Farmall 806 tractor sold for a remarkable $16,000. That’s almost $10,000 over the average auction price, although Pete does mention that two similar 806s (one a rare front-assist model) sold for over $24,000 in recent months.

At the same Tar Heel State auction, a 1988 International Harvester 4586 four-wheel drive tractor sold for $24,250, which Pete says is the second-highest auction price of all time.

And most people that have been to a farm equipment auction know there are all sorts of machinery types that land on the docket apart from your usual mix of tractors, combines and sprayers.

(Machinery Pete Facebook)

At a Richie Bros Auction in Tennessee, a 1923 Ford Model T Snowmobile farm truck, which Pete called a “quirky unit” due to it having front skis and rear tracks, sold for $30,000.

And a pre-1920s (Pete wasn’t sure on the exact year) Buckeye 1081 Traction Ditcher sold for $10,500 in St. Charles, Mich., last Tuesday.

Oct. 1 Auction

Pete says the Kiko Auctions “Clean Late Model Equipment” sale in Ohio on Wednesday, Oct. 1, has a solid mix of heavy construction and farm equipment from Case IH, John Deere and New Holland available to bid on. You can check that sale out here.

Pete's Pick: 29-Year-Old Used Case IH Skid Steer, 2000 John Deere 8310 Draw Strong Bids

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 18:19:57 GMT

This week’s Machinery Pete “Pete’s Pick of The Week” comes to us from the world of construction equipment.

On Thursday, Sept. 11, at a retirement auction in Gaines, Mich., a 1996 Case IH 1845 C skid steer with 1,745 hours (see Facebook post below) sold for $20,700. Xyz Auction Service handled the bidding.

“Now, if I had a nickel for every time someone told me: ‘Hey, Pete, my favorite skid steer model is an 1845 C’ I’d have a lot of nickels, [and] this one was nice,” Pete says. “I thought, you know, getting up almost over $21K for an almost 30-year-old skid steer, [that’s] pretty good stuff.”

Last Thursday must have been a good day in the used equipment auction world, because another transaction that day also caught Pete’s attention.

At the Tom Mix farm retirement auction near Clay City, Ill., a well-maintained 2000 John Deere 8310 tractor with 4,222 hours (see Facebook post below) sold for $111,200. According to MachineryPete.com sales data, that is the fourth-highest price all time on a used 8310. Schmid Auction handled the bidding there.

Upcoming auctions
On Tuesday, Steffes Auction Group is hosting the Rost Farms Retirement Auction in Ivanhoe, Minn. Bidding for that sale (see Facebook post below) closes tomorrow at 8 p.m. CT.

And on Wednesday, in Dyersville, Iowa, the Alex Lyon and Son Auction Co. Rental Fleet Construction & Utility Equipment auction will feature a healthy selection of heavy duty machines pulled from rental fleets from around the country. Pete will be attending that sale in person, so be sure to say hello if you’re also checking out the auction in person.

“There are 13 skid steers on the docket, 17 excavators, 13 wheel loaders, and eight tractor loaders/backhoes,” Pete says. “I love covering all types of auctions and any chance I get to hang out with Jack Lyon and his son, Alex, I’ll take. They have sales all over the U.S. and the world, and it will be fun to have him in Iowa.”

Your next read: Navigate The Used Farm Equipment Market With 5 Smart Buyer Hacks

Kelly Hills Pushes the AgTech R&D Envelope with Driverless Tractor Pilot, Fungicide Spray Timing Tool

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 19:05:56 GMT

Emerging from its annual summer field day , Kelly Hills Unmanned announces the launch of two interesting endeavors that will surely move the needle forward on smart farming technology R&D:

The outfit is co-launching what it is calling the Rural Autonomous Mobility Program (RAMP), a pioneering public-private initiative to bring autonomous farm equipment onto public roads for the first time in the U.S.
Kelly Hills is also launching SpraySense, an AI-powered, autonomous application intelligence product developed through the company’s accelerator program, The Forge.

We’ll start with RAMP

Sabanto, founded in 2018, is working to allow farmers and ag retailers to convert any make and model into an autonomous tractor through an equipment retrofit kit.

(Sabanto)

RAMP, or the Rural Autonomous Mobility Program, was born from the vision of Kelly Hills CEO Lukas Koch and was made possible by the Kansas Department of Transportation’s (KDOT) Innovative Technology Program.

RAMP’s mission is to enable autonomous tractors and farm machinery to safely and legally operate on rural public roads, solving logistical bottlenecks and revitalizing rural economies.

Initial RAMP collaborators include:

Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems (Program Manager)
Sabanto (Autonomous Tractor Manufacturer)
Nemaha County in Kansas (Local Partner)
KDOT
Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA)
Kansas State University (K-State)

According to a press release, the partners aim to develop policy, infrastructure and safety protocols to allow fully autonomous tractors to move between fields and operational bases without human drivers.

RAMP will operate within a pilot phase in Kansas through 2026, collecting data on autonomous road operations, engaging with local communities and working with regulators to build a scalable model for other states and agricultural regions.

Let’s learn about SpraySense

(Heinen Brothers)

The inaugural 2025 cohort of The Forge, which we wrote about back in June, brought together ag tech and drone technology companies like Yamaha Precision Agriculture, Pyka, Precision AI, Scanit Technologies, Heinen Brothers Agra Services, and Taranis to co-develop solutions that address one of farming’s most persistent questions: When is the right time to apply fungicide?

According to Koch, the group was originally focused on optimizing fungicide application for corn and soybean growers, but the collaborative efforts exceeded expectations, resulting in the creation of SpraySense.

The platform, an end-to-end AI-driven recommendation and application system, brings together aerial imagery, weather and environmental conditions, disease risk models and traditional agronomy data sets to deliver real-time recommendations on whether, when, where and how to spray.

While its debut application targets fungicide optimization, SpraySense is designed as a modular, flexible platform. Kelly Hills plans to adapt the technology to other crop inputs including fertilizer, biologicals, herbicides and insecticides.

There’s a lot of cool, innovative stuff happening in those gently rolling, emerald green north Kansas hills. Check out KellyHills.us to learn more.

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