Big Green Combine

What do farmers do in the winter?

Before I talked about farm shows and cleaning out bins. Another thing farmers do in winter is go to farm auctions. They go with the idea of picking up a bargain for something they need/like to have. Farm auctions are usually for some retired farmer selling out his life-long accumulation of stuff. Generally 4 rack wagons of junk: gas cans, rusted tools, ect. Then his old equipment and tractors. But this farm sale that we went to was extremely unique. The guy wasn’t retired. He just quit farming and rented out the ground. His tractors and equipment were disgustingly new. (no twinge of envy here) You don’t see auctions like this in a coons age.

You may remember my predictions for this year about a purchase of a tractor in our future. We were looking at a couple of tractors on the sale. But we did not end up going home with one. The prices went too high for what we were willing to pay. Our search continues. Below is a quick video of the sale. The last tractor shown is the one we bid on. The last bid on it was $151,000. Like I said. We’re still looking.

[youtube width="540" height="385"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE6FnbQcr98[/youtube]

One more thing. Do you recall in my Carhartt review about what I said about the Carhartt conventions at farm sales? Oh, yeah.

In the comments, tell me if you would have bought that big green machine.

At a photography class, a friend asked me, “What do farmers do in the winter?” An excellent question. I proceeded to give her a list of work and activities that are accomplished on our farm in the cold winter months. This must be a burning question for others who lack a farm acquaintance to ask. All farms are different. I can only speak for what happens on our grain and livestock farm.

One thing farmers do in the winter is go to farm shows. I’ll say right up front. I am not a looker. (Did I just say that?) I don’t like to look at farm equipment, just to look. Big yawner. Now if we are looking to buy, I’m there. When funds are to be exchanged, that turns my head. Farm Shows are held in convention halls to exhibit what’s great and new. We had not been to one in a while so, I tagged along.  This one was not a big show like the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville. But it is big enough that it took 4 hours to wander around the halls. We did purchase brush clippers and a grappler. The clippers hook on to a loader tractor and cut off trees up to 9″ round at the ground. The grappler fits over the bucket of a loader and helps stack the wood. We always have brush to clear.

So to sum it up, we looked at tractors, atvs, trucks, trailers, cattle chutes and sundry equipment. We talked to a few friends we ran into. A few unexpected exhibits were jewelry and back massage people.

Keep checking back to see what a frigid farmer does all winter long.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URGnl0Sx3rQ[/youtube]