Technology | Summer 2008
No shortage of forage equipment.
While sales of tractors and equipment used for grain production have soared, the machinery most commonly used by livestock producers has been moving off dealers’ lots at a much slower pace. Livestock producers are on the outside looking in on the crop boom that is driving the demand for high-horsepower tractors and combines, and that has created a split in the machinery market.
Adam Reid, advertising manager for Winnipeg-based Buhler Versatile, says while the company is working at capacity to fill sales of its Buhler Farm King grain augers, there has not been a similar increase in demand for haying equipment. That difference is representative of what’s happening across the market. “The situation is the same for both Canada and the U.S.,” says Reid. Apparently, American livestock producers are as reluctant to make new machinery purchases as their Canadian counterparts.
Doug Heritage of Miller Farm Equipment, a Case IH dealer in Moosomin, SK., has also noticed a difference between the grain and livestock sectors. He says sales of 100 to 150 hp. tractors (sold primarily to livestock producers) have not significantly increased. The dealership can easily supply tractors in that horsepower range on relatively short notice.
When it comes to used machinery, the situation is similar. “The misconception is that all farm machinery is going up in price,” says Simon Wallan of Richie Bros. Auctioneers. According to Wallan, the auction company has seen an eight- to 10-per cent increase over last year in used grain equipment prices, but that has not carried over into equipment used by mixed farmers. “We’re seeing almost the exact opposite — high single-digit percentage declines — for livestock-sector machinery,” he adds. All of which means it’s becoming a buyer’s market for haying and forage equipment.
