Hey TopCropper - thanks so much for posting all this. It's super interesting and I love reading it and seeing the photos! 
TC's 2013 Farming Thread
- Thread starter topcropper
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OMG - that's is one awesome photo - and puts Australian farming in perspective. I counted 23 harvesters
Photo of the cotton picking on Cubby Station, QLD.
See ya's.
Hey TopCropper - thanks so much for posting all this. It's super interesting and I love reading it and seeing the photos!
Agree - your threads are my favourite. Always enjoy them.
Do you mean the cotton threads?
The bloke who picked my cotton started at Cubby Station this season. I didn't actually ask him if he was in that photo, but I'd think it was likely?
There was an interesting machinery war took place 4 or 5 years ago. Between John Deere and Case-IH. They both brought out bale cotton pickers which revolutionised the industry. The John Deere system made round bales and the Case-IH rectangle. Case had some serious technical troubles and they never took off with farmers and contractors. The John Deere system worked perfectly, so is now the industry standard. So for about 4 or 5 years John Deere had the entire market to themselves and could not keep up supply of the machines. Other companies are quickly trying to get round bale machines onto the ground, but nothing has happened yet.
It was all a bit like the VHS verses BETA battle thirty years ago?
See ya's.
How long does the harvest season go on for cotton ? These machines must take a bit of finance . Need plenty of work lined up and hope there are not too many slow payers !
How much do they charge to come in and do a job like that ? So much an hour for a light crop or per bale etc ?
How much do they charge to come in and do a job like that ? So much an hour for a light crop or per bale etc ?
I love this thread!
topcropper - Keep the pictures and updates coming
This was the previous thread. You've probably not seen it?
http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53367
Theres a couple more if you did a search.
See ya's.
I haven't got the bill yet? I asked a mate who's an irrigated grower but also grows dryland as well. He said they charge about $250 a hectare in irrigated and can do 40 hectares a day. So that's about $10,000 a day, so that sounds about right for a million dollar machine that needs a lot of maintenance. The grower has to provide the plastic wrap. Apparently they do charge a bit less for the dryland crops?
A typical irrigated crop yields 12 bales to the hectare. So at $500 a bale that's a gross of $6000. So at $250 a hectare that's not really much of a cost?
The harvest season would start in early Feb in central QLD I'd think and ends about now in the southern areas.
The bloke who picked ours has 3 machines.
See ya's.
How much of that cost do you think relates to maintenance versus fuel versus travel time/costs versus labour?
Farming sounds like an interesting business.
Fuel would cost nothing to the contractor on farm. It's supplied by the farmer. So the picker gets filled up with fuel and uses farm diesel, at the lower diesel excise tax free rate. Filled when finished. Obviously the contractor has to supply his own fuel to get to the next job, and as he is using roads it would be diesel at the full rate. All farm contracting works like this.
In theory, labour would be bugger all. If your millon dollar machine makes ten grand in a day, labour is insignificant. The bloke who picked our cotton had a heap of Scandinavian backpackers employed. But in reality there would be lots of days between jobs and travelling to another job that the machine is not making anything.
The big cost would be maintainence and depreciation of the machine. Bale cotton pickers do depreciate in value pretty quick for some reason? Much faster than a grain harvester. Also can only be used a few months of the year. Also there are some years when very little cotton gets planted because of lack of water. This situation could happen in the next season coming if there isn't big rains to fill the irrigation dams?
See ya's.
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