First comment about 6 months ago the company I work for in ND sent me to Blacklick Pa to pick some oil field equipment, on this trip it allowed me to drive throw some Amish community's in Pa, and Ohio. It was a shock to see some of the ground that they actually farm, it is pretty amazing what the get done. In the article by Stephen Leslie he stated that the equipment that he got for free, he did not put the cost of repairs done on the as a cost. For someone trying to get started this could be a major problem. In my experience the repairs can really add up, example JD HH manures spreader that I bought for 100 that looked in fair condition will cost me about 400 for I was unable to see the damage that was in a gear box, this is not a big deal to me, but it could be to someone else that is using his article help get them started. Just my personal thought.

That's true of a lot of used farm machinery in general. Buying it is the easy part.

I've bought a lot of junk over the years and made it work. Around me good horsedrawn stuff was bought up by the Amish 20-40 years back. Now we import stuff from Ontario and Quebec and even that is dying. Trying to explain to someone that not all "great deals" are what they seem can be difficult. The "free" stuff that required 15 hours of tinkering to get it to work, $20.00 worth of oil, grease, nuts and bolts and $50.00 worth of brazing and oxy-scetylene work...how do you quantify it all? I seriously doubt anyone figures their time into most farming figures. Why? Becasue it's always a losing proposition for 99.9999% of us! You get by and not much more.

part of the art of farming is adapting and building homemade equipment. I always have a wish list of something new and eventually im able to figure how to build something for one tenth of the price... ie just finished building a set of horse stocks just like the yoder ones and it cost me 25 dollars out of pocket.

Sometimes you make your money on what you don't spend, sometimes you save money by not buying cheap. You work at developing an ear for the music.

Well put, Thomas!

MY dad claimed he mmade his money in the shop. MY GRANDpa made his breaking and trading horses. I never did find a sure way to make it. Machinery was the downfall of every body in this area. it just kept getting bigger and more expensive. Have one neighbor that has a huge sockfull of momey and he says he can't afford to buy a combine and it takes 4 of the biggest to get his grain in the bin.

It's like that here too, Dale. I think a young guy or gal starting out is better off figuring out how to scrounge around for equipment without getting on the treadmill. :-)

We have simple rules here ; never buy what you can build ,never replace what can be repaired,never pay someone else to do what can be done in house ,and if we don't know how to do it and have to pay to have it done ,watch how they do it so we can do it next time,and never EVER borrow more than 50% of the cost of machinery

The money to be made in Agriculture is in what one does not spend.