[AT] OT Weather

[Greg Hass]

And I can identify with what Ralph says. As I have said before, most of 
my equipment is over 40 years old. People have many times told me I am 
living in the past and my reply to them has been: - -  I can't afford to 
live in the present! I do much of my equipment shopping  in fence rows 
and the back of barn yards.  My field cultivator was bought new by a 
relative when they bought their new JD 4320. It had sat under the trees 
for over 10 years when I got it and put a few hundred dollars in repairs 
in it and use it to this day; a few years ago I bought 5 bar levelers 
from a guy who was scraping his field cultivator and put new spikes on 
it and now have a better unit. My sprayer was sitting behind a guys barn 
when I got it cheap. I put new hoses and nozzles on it and repaired the 
booms and now have a good unit; it only covers 12 rows of corn and 
soybeans but I'm still done in 3 days. Wheat I have custom sprayed 
because with GPS and 120 foot booms they do not run over as much wheat 
as I would (the local co-op bought a new JD sprayer this year with the 
120 foot booms to replace their old one,also JD. I asked the guy that 
runs it what the cost was--- $400,000.  I don't mine using old and 
smaller equipment as long as it works without a lot of trouble. Until 3 
or 4 years ago I harvested all my crops with a IH 715 combine which I 
liked; however I had bought it used and the dealer lied to me about the 
usage and as time went on I could tell it had been through he$$. I had 
it 15 years but it got to the point that it broke down every single 
load. The last year a piece of quarter in thick metal broke inside and 
got in the cylinder and I would have had to almost disassemble the whole 
machine to fix it ( I was down to 5 acres when it broke so I had a 
relative finish for me. That winter I found a IH 1440 at a sale where 
the guy was retiring and bought it. I have now gone 3 seasons without a 
breakdown. But, I think even this machine is around 40 years old. The 
bad thing is, and by then I will be gone, most of what I have will sell 
for junk.
           Greg Hass