Changing Dance Partners

My transformation is nearly complete! It only took a little over 2 years, but I think this pretty much closes out the old version of me. I’m still a little sad about it but with limited resources and ever increasing demands, it was time to say goodbye to my girlfriend of the past 9 years. Being the classless pig that I am, I ditched my 19 year old sweetheart for an experienced 39 year old farm girl.

Although, I’d love to keep the car to drive the twisting, winding and hilly roads around here, but I just don’t have the time or dollars to keep up on all of the maintenance needed for a nearly 20 year old classic. It was maddening that although it always starts, runs, and drives great, what caused me so much trouble were always the stupid Mercedes gadgetry, that may have been cool to someone (like me years ago) but just isn’t worth the constant effort to stay on top of keeping it all working as it should, when the only remedy turns out to be hauling it to the dealer for another thousand dollar repair. I’ve survived this long on YouTube videos and some creative ingenuity to win a few battles, but unlike an unnamed eastern Europe dictator, it became obvious to me that I was losing the overall war without the funding to keep that battle going indefinitely.

At that time, I only got a few scammer responses, as well as a young, single mother who wanted a sweet looking ride as her “daily driver”. I felt I had to respectfully decline her offer, stating that this wasn’t the car for her situation.

Well, whaddaya know? Out of the blue came a FB message from a dealer in Arkansas that was interested in a trade. I asked for details of what he was offering and suddenly got very interested. Although, it seemed a bit small initially, researching the model (and learning what it can do), it seems to be an ideal fit for our needs.

Here is his ad listing the tractor that we agreed on for even up swap.

(click on the ad for full details)

After much research, this might be perfect for us. We have no real plowing needs. My primary concerns are tending to our field and moving spreading materials around without giving myself a hernia.

The loader will greatly ease the strain on my back hauling and spreading dirt and rock around the farmstead. We now desperately need about 4 truckloads of rock (they call it “chat” down here) to refresh the rutted driveway as well as add some new pathways to alleviate the mud issues we experience quite regularly.

The 60″ belly mower will address keeping our field tended initially (and save wear and tear on the 54″ zero-turn mower). Eventually, I’ll want to find a sickle mower, rake and small baler to provide us with enough hay for our operation as well as selling off the extra bales that are always in demand in this area.

This area of Missouri (Texas County) is very similar to Texas itself. There are
no croplands within 50 miles and it is all cattle/goat/sheep/horse grazing lands.

The rear box blade will assist in keeping those paths and roadways from becoming motocross tracks and will also help spreading/distributing the rock/chat.

Before this fell into my lap, I was resigned to settling (we are Missouri settlers after all) for a much older/tired International Farmall or ancient Ford model in the sub $2k range that may or may not suit our needs but still requiring the much needed maintenance to keep it running. And, although this is nearly 40 years old, it has very low hours and has been well maintained. As a bonus, this model (series) has quite favorable reviews and has been holding its value quite well. Best of all, it was produced before John Deere transitioned to the dark side and is still very simple to work on without requiring hauling it to the dealer.

Down the road, besides the baling options previously mentioned, some other future attachments I’ll be looking for (mostly at auctions) include:

• A backhoe. I have many digging projects on my radar.
  • Additional septic/lagoon system for future dwellings.
  • Accessing our current septic tank and drain fields.
  • Ongoing drainage issues.
  • Rainwater retention.
  • In ground greenhouse.
  • Creation of a water-retention pond w/possible fish farming.
• Possible cultivator for our garden. Although, I bought a good/used rear-tine walk behind tiller last fall that will likely suit our needs in the garden as we still only plant about 1/2 of the available space until we improve on our canning expertise.
• A grapple would greatly ease the strain on me clearing/cutting firewood.
• An auger would enable us to more easily expand our fencing.
• I thought about a snow blower but decided we just don’t see that kind of snow in southern Missouri. Just a few weeks ago, they assured us we’d get dumped on with 14-16″ inches forecasted and we ended up with 4 1/2″ – that completely melted within a few days. I just made a path with my truck and neither of us had any trouble at all. If we do get that much snow, everything would be shut down and there would be nowhere to go anyway – until it melts. And we have everything we need right here. We now have about 8 dozen eggs sitting on the counter, as well as nearly 2 dozen chicken dinners tearing up the ground out back.

As far as dollar values go, the tractor was a priced a bit high (for a 2wd version) but we don’t need 4wd and my car isn’t exactly flawless either as I can no longer keep up with its constant maladies. Adding to the problem was there is little market down here for such an extravagance so I’d continue to have trouble selling it off, while trying to keep it maintained and sellable.

If I use that $9k mark he was listing the tractor for, that means I am selling the car for over half what I paid 9 years ago, and in this market, that’s pretty good. CarMax offered a whopping $3100 and Carvana an insulting $1929 (I never understood how those businesses can convince sane people to sell to them for 1/3 the actual value). Edmunds True Value lists the private party sale value at around $6500. Kelly Bluebook has it up around $7200.

All in all, this will solve multiple problems as it gets me much better equipment than I was expecting for my farm duties, as well as no longer needing to fret about further issues with the car. Now, I can fret about issues with the tractor 😉 But, at least it is much easier to work on – once I get up to speed on the how/why/what/where of this new (39 year old) machine.

So, I’ve convinced myself it’s all good.

The final determination will become apparent in the coming months but I have to start somewhere.