Two pieces of equipment you should think about renting

Monday, February 20, 2012

Most farmers cannot justify buying precision manure spreaders and conservation tillage tools. But they are affordable if you rent and share the cost with neighbours

by PAT LYNCH

Recently, I was doing crop plans with a poultry producer. His manure is concentrated and valuable and he was applying it at about three times the rate he needed to grow a crop of corn.

He was applying 210 pounds of usable nitrogen, 220 of phosphorus and 260 of potassium. When he should have been applying at three tonnes per acre, he was applying at closer to 10 tonnes per acre. The reason was simple. He had an older manure spreader that spread at about ten tonnes per acre. And it did not spread evenly.

I suggested he use one of the newer precision spreaders, noting that it will save him a lot of money, but he said he can't afford to buy one. He spreads manure twice a year and each time it takes about eight to 10 hours. He said he cannot afford to buy a $60,000-$80,000 piece of equipment to be used for 15-20 hours a year.

In this regard, he is similar to most Ontario farmers, who cannot justify owning certain equipment because of the acres or hours of use. But he can rent one.

If you have poultry manure, you should be using a precision spreader. You  probably cannot afford to buy one. The rental price is about $500 to $600 per day, based on using it for an eight-hour day. With the use of lights and guidance systems, these pieces of equipment can be used 24 hours a day. If you are only being charged $600 per day, this is about $30 an hour, taking into account the travel time.

There are equipment dealers who rent precision manure spreaders. One of the deterrents to renting is that dealers say producers complain about the rental price. I assured the dealers that, at the price they were charging, it was a good deal for poultry producers.

The other type of equipment that can be rented is conservation tillage tools. If you are growing 100-200 acres of corn or less, you cannot justify owning these tools. But that does not mean you cannot have access to this technology. Last fall, some growers did rent these tools and the uptake by users of conservation tillage tools was so great that there were none available for rent.

With both precision manure spreaders and conservation tillage tools, there is a long window for their use, so you have to plan and book ahead. You cannot expect to walk into a dealer and drive away with one of these pieces of equipment as if they were fertilizer spreaders.

Precision manure spreaders can be used after wheat comes off until probably the beginning of November. That gives lots of time to get poultry manure out. You could arrange to share with neighbours to get more hours from the same piece of equipment.  Conservation tillage tools have a shorter use time frame, but again lend themselves well to renting.

I figure if a 25-year-old can rent a $70,000 car to drive to the United States, then we should be able to figure out how producers can rent equipment such as precision manure spreaders and tillage tools.

There will be hiccups and we do need honesty. If something has been broken, then the renter has a right to know. Manure spreaders do get rocks and concrete in them and conservation tools hit things that are harder to bend than parts of the equipment. And accidents happen. But we need a system that enables producers to access this equipment without having to buy it.   

To make this practice work, the folks renting the equipment must make a profit or they will get out of that business. BF

Consulting agronomist Pat Lynch, CCA (ON), formerly worked with the Ontario agriculture ministry and with Cargill.