There are lots of reasons why farm equipment is sold at auctions. One of the most common reasons is that there are sellers that need to sell fast and without a lot of hassle. Also, these sellers expect to get the best price for their equipment.
With plenty of choices in an auction, buyers are expected to do a little research of their own before going to an auction. This way, they can prepare themselves for what to expect when going to an agricultural equipment auction.
Before heading to any farming auction (look at our cattle auction guide), you may want to conduct a little research on the value of what you are planning to bid on. If you know the right market value of a particular item of equipment, you can establish a viable selling point based on the current industry trends. Look for a fair value and from there, you can negotiate your bids without going over your budget. These values fluctuate quite a bit from year to year and even from country to country!
Tractor auctions
Tractor is the main machine in many fields of activity and one of the most important parts of the farming equipment auctions. It can perform various tasks:
- Cargo transportation
- Territory cleaning
- Construction
- Earthmoving operations
This versatile vehicle performs many functions, simplifies many tasks, so the demand for it is constantly growing. Every year, more and more tractor models appear on the farming equipment market. So how to choose the best model for your industry? And what characteristics do you need to pay attention to?
The basic components of this technique are:
- Support frame used to couple or install a front loader.
- Four-wheel drive with the ability to shut off.
- Hydraulic system. Needed for attachments, front loader.
- Cabin. As a rule, with climate control, soundproofing and comfortable sitting.
An important criterion is ergonomics. The driver should be comfortable in the cockpit, the controls should be pleasant and convenient. Most tractor models are equipped with anatomical seats, which allows you to increase employee productivity, reduce the load on the spine.
Fuel consumption and operating costs are far from the last criterion. Models with minimal diesel consumption are an order of magnitude higher, but they pay off due to the low consumption. This is especially noticeable in large enterprises.
The acquisition of a tractor is not an easy task. Be sure to pay attention to the weight of the unit, the year of its release, equipment, and volume of the fuel tank. Depending on the required functions, it is worth choosing between full-size wheeled vehicles and mini devices. For example, one company will have enough small-sized tractor of the basic configuration, when other companies need a powerful unit with many options.
The dimensions of the tractor are also necessarily considered to provide it with a suitable storage location.
In any case, before such a serious purchase, it’s worth several times to carefully weigh everything and get a specialist consultation. You cannot miss a single little thing, because it is precisely because of them that problems and difficulties arise in the operation of equipment.
Combine harvesters
Combine harvesters are one of the main components of the farming equipment auctions. The result obtained by farmer for the whole year will depend on the correct choice of a combine harvester. During the harvesting campaign, this machine should work without failures, breakdowns and downtime.
The cultivation of grain, and especially wheat, in the world has long been traditionally considered one of the leading sectors of agriculture. The income and food well-being of most of the countries in general, and the successful business of farmers, largely depend on the grain harvest in the season. In the process of growing grain, the most important link is harvesting. Its success depends heavily on which combine harvesters are used.
To the question, which combine harvester is better – probably there is no clear unequivocal answer. Obviously, it is necessary to select them from the needs of each enterprise. But what you should pay close attention first – here are several recommendations for this.
Any combine harvester is a complex, multifunctional mechanism. It is very difficult to simply single out the only “optimal” characteristic of the unit, considering all the needs and production requirements. But you can select several technical characteristics that you need to pay attention to first when searching for a combine harvester.
One of the most important indicators is energy saving. This is justified by the constant increase in prices for all energy carriers. It is necessary to select the optimal ratio of engine power of the unit to the technological energy requirements for the operation of the machine.
At the same time, the main indicator of the performance of the combine is the size of the grain threshing per year. Just this indicator characterizes the capabilities of the harvester, and how well the work is organized.
Additional parameters that you should pay attention to when choosing a combine harvester:
- Capacity of the hopper,
- The width of the grind,
- Header width
- Relative average grain loss,
- Reliability and duration of work,
- Availability of spare parts for the combine,
- The estimated amount of work to harvest grain (depending on the degree of yield and size of the land).
Grain drills
Sometimes buying grain drills on the farming equipment market can be very problematic, because this product needs to be chosen very carefully. As a rule, improving the quality of sowing, simplifying operation entails the use of auxiliary mechanisms and electronic systems. On the one hand, their use greatly simplifies the operation of the grain drills, and on the other, it complicates.
The current ideas of modern farmers about sowing have changed dramatically: the sowing process, which the farmers previously perceived only as the normalized distribution of seeds across the field, has ceased to be so simplified.
Agricultural producers began to pay attention to the design features of grain drills, which can improve the quality of seedlings, their uniformity. Usually these are small structural improvements and improvements, and each manufacturer has their own. However, these technical “little things” are worthy of attention.
As for the use of auxiliary electronic systems, here the opinions of farmers differ. One – with two hands for their use, others – against, they say, this electronics does not affect the quality of sowing at all, but only complicates the unit and only leads to an increase in its cost of the grain drill and further operation. Which of them is right?
It is no secret that to replenish their own machine and tractor fleet, domestic farmers go to the farming equipment auctions, where, if you are lucky, you can purchase a practically “new” unit at a reasonable price, the operating time of which, for example, is only 300 hectares. Someone really manages to buy the right agricultural machine, and for someone, a new acquisition turns into a real headache. After all, the appearance of the machine, which, at first glance, seemed new, in fact, may turn out to be an unpleasant error.
In addition, the electronics for some reason begins to fail at work. However, cunning sellers skilfully hush up the existing shortcomings of the proposed equipment, which are so far behind the scenes for the buyer. Farmers should always check the quality of the product before blindly buying them.
Tillage equipment
Before going to the farming equipment auction and updating the fleet, a good farmer carefully examines all manufacturers of tillage machines. This is an important process that requires time and attention, on which the effectiveness of further tillage depends.
It is important to consider not only the technical parameters of a particular model, but also its prevalence, for example, because finding a part for an unpopular manufacturer is much more difficult and expensive. Therefore, before you purchase tillage equipment, it is necessary to clarify some issues:
- Read and analyse reviews of farmers who have already acquired this technique. At the same time, you need to avoid purchased comments, which, however, are easy to recognize. As a rule, there is not a word in them about practical operating experience, and the entire content is reduced to a list of advantages. To verify the authenticity of the review, ask its author about unforeseen circumstances or problems that occurred during the use of the equipment. Expect a response from the author of a suspicious post is not worth it.
- Be sure to examine the issue of repairing a particular model. If the network has created many forums dedicated to the repair of this equipment, then most likely expect frequent breakdowns.
An important step is the choice of the seller. It is worth considering all the market players. The most obvious evidence of reliability is working with multiple manufacturers. This means that the company plans to gain a foothold in the market for a long time, and for this purpose it has concluded an agreement on the supply of machinery from abroad with many companies.
The level of the store may be evidenced by the support of relationships with the customer even after the purchase has been made, in the form of maintenance of equipment. Therefore, find out if the seller provides equipment tuning services before the first tillage;
- Can they educate your staff on how to operate?
- Do they offer the help of field teams?
Please note whether the provider is selling spare parts and consumables, if so, repairing the purchased units will take much less time. Many farmers prefer European firms because of the quality and versatility of the proposed models. A well-thought-out control system allows you to control the work without leaving the cab. Transfer to transportation mode also does not take much time and is carried out automatically.
Fertilizer applicators
Fertilizers are one of the less popular products on the farming equipment market are fertilizer applicators. Mainly there are two kind of fertilizers – mineral and organic. An excellent result can be achieved on both options, if you know how to use them properly.
- Mineral fertilizer is a balanced nutrient solution of ions of all necessary elements, which is absorbed directly by the plant. The main advantage of using mineral fertilizers is simplicity and convenience. But in case of overdose, the risk of getting a negative reaction of plants is higher, because the fertilizer gets into it instantly.
- Organic fertilizer contains nutrients in the form of complexes that become available for absorption by plants only through decomposition by microorganisms. That is, regardless of the method of cultivation, you will need to monitor and maintain favourable conditions for the development of these very microorganisms, otherwise the fertilizer will not work. However, the undoubted advantage of using organic fertilizers is a brighter aroma and rich taste of the crop, due to just the same organic molecules.
There are also organic-mineral fertilizers that combine the advantages of mineral nutrition and the positive effect of organic additives (vitamins, organic acids, amino acids, extracts, etc.).
Due to the chemical nature of the substance, they constantly interact with each other, enter into reactions, and are transformed from one compound to another. For this reason, manufacturers often divide mineral fertilizers into several containers (components). This allows you to create more complex and highly effective nutritional formulas for plants. Indeed, in this case, the compounds remain in stable complexes without precipitating, for example.
An increase in the number of components (capacities) in the food system allows you to create the widest possible range of nutrient sources – nitrogen can be in several forms at once, and not just in the form of nitrate, iron can be chelated in more than one way, etc.
At each stage of growth, the plant has certain needs for various elements.
- At the vegetation phase, when there is an active formation of the plant structure, nitrogen gain plays a leading role in deciduous mass gain.
- At the stage of flowering and fruiting, the plant needs a large amount of potassium and phosphorus, as well as magnesium, sulphur.
This, of course, does not mean that nitrogen alone will be enough for the plant on the veg. No, it needs a whole range of nutrients, including trace elements. But in percentage of nitrogen, it will need the most. Therefore, when choosing a food system, pay attention to whether the manufacturer of the fertilizer in your hands has taken this feature into account.
Manure Handling Equipment
According to experts of the agro-industrial complex, pet food is digested and assimilated only by 35–40%. The rest of this expensive plant mass goes into manure. There are several ways to process manure: composting manure;
- Microbiological method;
- Processing using larvae of flies and worms.
- Separation of liquid and solid manure.
When composting, solid manure is used (for bedding), liquid manure or a solid fraction of separated liquid manure (for bedding). When composting, various additives such as peat or chopped straw are added to the manure, all this is mixed with bulldozers at special sites and put into piles. In the process of composting, humus forms, and an increase in the temperature of the shoulder leads to the destruction of helminth eggs and weed seeds in the manure. After that, composts can be used as fertilizer for plants.
Depending on the technology used for manure processing, various types of equipment can be used. In the composting process, even layers of manure must be turned over for uniform digestion. There are a large number of such units on the farming equipment market. Some of them are designed for farms of various sizes and have a capacity of 700 to 1200 cubic meters per hour. Beside the American and Chinese ones, a large number of different compost agitators are offered by European manufacturers are offered on the farming equipment market as well. Their cost ranges from 1500 to 5500 euros.
The technology for processing manure in a liquid state involves its initial separation into liquid and solid fractions. Separators are used for this operation. With the help of a grate, which is part of the separator, liquid manure is divided into liquid and solid components. Liquid is used for fertilizer, with more complex cleaning it can be used for watering fields. The solid fraction is used for composting.
The design of the separator includes the following main elements:
- Electric motor;
- Cast iron housing;
- Steel screw;
- Steel working cylinder;
- A sieve with various mesh sizes;
- Frame for mounting the device.
When going on the farming equipment markets, you should already know which type of manure handling you are going to work with and therefore choose the equipment properly.
Specialty Crop Equipment
Long ago, those times were gone when the sowing of grain crops was carried out, if not manually, then using the most primitive agricultural machinery. Because of this, the seedling quality and the total yield were predictably small – now there is a row seeder to solve this issue, which allows you to perform all sowing work not only as accurately as possible, but also in the shortest possible time. Most farmers are in need of specialty crop equipment. These products are one of the popular choices of the farming equipment market as well.
Before going to the farming equipment market, a farmer should know what kind of specialty crop equipment he is looking for. First one is a seeder. The main design feature of any seeder is its row. At the moment, there are models consisting of 6 to 36 rows. At the same time, the option of choosing the largest seeder in the number of rows in order to perform work as quickly as possible is far from always justified. The thing is that with some types of sowing, the minimum row plays an important role to guarantee a high yield. This is due to the following reasons:
- Grain immersion depth;
- Distance between grains;
- Purpose of cultivation (silo or grain);
- Optimal selection of row spacing;
- Accuracy and uniformity of sowing.
In fact, there are much more subtleties and nuances, but it is these few that often force us to abandon large-scale seeders in favour of more compact options that will allow us to perform high-quality sowing along the field contour or in other specific places. It is because of such subtleties that a precision planter seeder must be selected taking into account all the features of the fields on which it will subsequently be used.
As for the specific methods of sowing, there are several basic ones:
- Sowing under a silo.
With this technology, seeds are first planted along the field, and then across the rows of seeds. Here, there is no need for high accuracy, but it is very important to consider the possibility of a quick change in the row of the sowing structure.
- Square-nesting method.
Using this method of sowing, the grain is additionally fertilized, thereby ensuring excellent harvest and uniform germination over the entire area. Also, an important point of this technique is that all the aisles are almost perfectly even – as a result of this, harvesting will be much easier, and grain losses will be minimized.
- Zigzag.
This modern technology of sowing consists in the fact that the grains are “laid” in the ground in a checkerboard pattern, so that the sprouted plants receive more light and nutrition. In the double rows, the distance between which is 12.5 cm, there is a displacement between the grains at half the standard interval, but the distance between the standard rows remains the same – 70 cm.
According to the method of “transfer” of grain to the soil, seeders are divided into two main types – mechanical and pneumatic. Previously, seeders for sowing row crops were exclusively mechanical, but the modern market now allows you to choose the best option for your own needs. As for which option to give preference, this is a strictly individual question, but some recommendations will still help to solve this difficult task. The advantages of mechanical seeders include:
- No need for seals and fans;
- Lower requirements for the hydraulic capabilities of the tractor;
- The ability to accurately calibrate the seeds;
- The ability to work with less uniform and clean seeds.
It is this simplicity and unpretentiousness that also conceals the disadvantages of such a design, which force manufacturers to gradually abandon obsolete technology:
- The need for a complete replacement of the working body in case of a change in the type of seed;
- Loss of time for reconfiguring the sowing unit;
- Lower accuracy compared to pneumatics;
- A sufficiently high percentage of crushing seeds;
- Uneven distribution of seed during sowing.
Against the background of such shortcomings, pneumatic options look much more attractive and practical, although in fact the situation with them is also not entirely unambiguous. The very first and most “painful” moment is their rather high cost, as well as the complexity of the design of the seeder.
Irrigation Equipment
Irrigation equipment is necessary for every farmer, therefore they are one of the biggest part of the farming equipment markets as well. There are several king of irrigation systems and therefore all of them need different kind of equipment.
- Drip system
The drip system provides a uniform supply of nutrient solution to the root zone of each plant using a set of pipelines and droppers. The nutrient solution in the required volume with the specified parameters EC and pH from the solution node enters the main pipeline.
Further, through the control valves and electromagnetic valves controlled by the computer (controller) of the mortar unit, the solution enters the dispensing pipe laid along the edges of the greenhouse. The dispensing pipeline is connected to polyethylene bed sleeves on which droppers are mounted. Compensated droppers maintain the same flow rate of the nutrient solution over a wide range of operating pressures and are independent of the slope in the greenhouse. Compensated droppers eliminate leakage after irrigation and maintain pressure in the system.
- Mortar Mixer Assembly
The solution unit is designed for automated preparation of nutrient solution, planning and conducting drip irrigation in greenhouse production. This equipment allows you to organize an individual supply of nutrient solution for individual fragments of the greenhouse according to the time of irrigation or according to the flow rate of the solution.
Using a set of programs, it is possible to optimally plan watering during the day, including depending on the intensity of solar radiation. A computer-controlled liquid mineral fertilizer dosing system ensures the preparation of fertilizer solutions with precisely maintained nutrient concentrations. Dosage management is fully automated, and during the day it can automatically change the formulation of the nutrient solution at each watering.
- Tanks for stock solutions and irrigation water supply
Capacities are intended for storage of uterine solutions. The solution node in predetermined proportions automatically takes the solution out of them.
- Automatic unit for preliminary preparation of uterine solutions
The unit for preliminary preparation of uterine solutions provides high-quality preparation of uterine solutions from any mineral fertilizers. This unit provides complete dissolution of mineral fertilizers in water, followed by filtration and pumping of the finished mother liquor into the tanks of the solution unit. All elements of the assembly, including a special transfer pump and agitator blades, are made of materials not subject to corrosion. Reliable and practical plate filters provide mechanical cleaning of fractions of more than 130 microns. The filter elements are easily washed and have an almost unlimited service life.
- PH pre-treatment (bicarbonate compensation)
A special device designed for pre-stabilization of PH. The objective of this device is to reduce the amount of bicarbonates by supplying acid to water. The device is installed up to the water supply tank. Thus, ion exchange processes and bicarbonates begin in the water supply tank, neutralizing the added acid, they decrease in quantity. The pH stabilizer is equipped with a controller that completely monitors the process. Double pH control reduces the chance of error.
- Automatic high-speed heat exchanger
Designed to accurately maintain the temperature of irrigation water. It is controlled automatically from the mortar unit. The heat exchanger plates are made of non-corrosive steel and have an almost unlimited service life.