The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Equipment => Topic started by: Odin on July 05, 2012, 07:02:28 pm
-
That is what I have paid for a 3 furrow ridging plough off e-bay, a scrapper, may be, but today I have used it before the rain and it worked fine and will improve with more use.
I already have a Ransome 3 furrow ridger that cost me £100, the frame was bent, so I repaired it one afternoon last year and it works fine. Unfortunately it has long legs and is ideal for more established plants and is too high for my DB885 which is on 32 inch wheels. (Better on my mates DB990). After struggling a bit I decided to find a ridger with shorter legs. There it was, on E-bay at £55.00 with 5 bids on it. It was ruff looking, make unknown and only 6 miles away. I put a high bid on it of £80 and won the auction at £62.99.
Collected the plough with my Land Rover and trailer and stripped it down, its another Ransome plough. Bought a couple of new points at £10 each, straightened a few bent bits, replaced a few nasty bolts and I have used it on my 885 without a drama, pure therapy.
I do intend to spend more time repairing the plough frame as there are still a few bends, rusted bolts, a good shot blasting and new paint perhaps. But it works, so what is it worth ?
Well to me. If I put that same amount of money in a bank, it would loose value as banks are incapable of paying interest. So they serve no purpose to me, besides, what else would I be doing with my time.
If I were to purchase that plough in working condition, it would cost me a lot more, it would be interesting to know the cost new. How much would I let it go for ? Unless I could replace it, I would not let it go.
I suppose my point is £500, £1000, ?? who cares. It was affordable, under valued & produces food. Priceless.
:farmer:
-
Sounds cheap to me Odin. Sometimes things are cheap and sometimes expensive. I keep my wife off it after an incident with a Tilly lamp. I avoid watching the closing bidding and just put my best price in and walk away, as you did Odin. Otherwise I know I will get sucked in.
-
ah, Fleabay, always expensive when I want to buy, always cheap when I want to sell. I'm the unlckiest ebayer in the world!
-
there was me thinking i was the only one in that secenario captain not always rings true but most times :farmer:
-
I also have had my fair share of rubbish off e-bay, but thats not the point of this thread. E-bay is just another market place. The reaction that I am looking for is that we can buy agricultural scrap & make it good and use it turning the scrap into a useful tool. Compare this to the value of money, banks and where is all that masquerade now leading folk?
Something else dawned on me today with regards to the weather and large scale farms. The heat and dry weather on Thursday allowed me enough time to earth up (ridge) just over an acre before the rain started. The other small farms that I know of are up to date with the crop, using an old tractor and 'scrap' ridging ploughs. The big boys are complaining that they cannot get on to the land with their machinery. The head line on June 22nd Farmers Guardian showed water logged furrows and some farms have not managed to plant all of their seeds.
I might be exaggerating things somewhat , but my scrap has paid off and there is still a lot of this stuff around. Last year I paid £35.00 at auction for a Ferguson 3 furrow ridger with broken and missing mould boards. I scrapped the mould boards, cleaned up the legs and points and use it as a sub-soiler / grubber. It has worked a treat this season, opening up the stitch (bottom of the furrow) allowing drainage and reducing weeds.
In total, I now possess 4 ploughs and all were scrap. Their scrap value was more than what I paid. They all now work & live outside. Just a tip ! :farmer:
-
well said odin. :thumbsup: