Be Honest Now.............

Allan in NE · Jun 6, 2011

A post over on the Farmall board got me thinkin'.

What's the most hours you've ever put on a tractor in one year?

Back when I was row cropping 7 farms strung across 24 miles in between, the tractors MIGHT have clocked up 200-250 hours including road time.

'Course, we had a lot of tractors too. :>)

Allan

dej(Jed) · Jun 6, 2011

(quoted from post at 06:49:16 06/06/11) A post over on the Farmall board got me thinkin'.

What's the most hours you've ever put on a tractor in one year?

Back when I was row cropping 7 farms strung across 24 miles in between, the tractors MIGHT have clocked up 200-250 hours including road time.

'Course, we had a lot of tractors too. :&gt

Allan

I am working 300 plus acres here in Pa and my best guess would be less than 100 hrs.

DeltaRed · Jun 6, 2011

Back when I was young, really ambitious(and stupid)and only had one tractor,I did 1000 to 1500 hrs a year.Now,200 to 250 would cover it-last year,theSM only got about 40 hrs.

MSS3020 · Jun 6, 2011

I don't feel so bad now.. my 3020 is mostly used in the summer "haying" along with doing some mowing and dirt work and other misc. chores.. I put 60ish.. which didn't seem like much to me.. Helped that number out when I didn't have to travel 30 miles to hay the folks place.. they finally got their own tractor..

dhermesc · Jun 6, 2011

The most hours we ran was back in the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.

886 averaged over 1800 per year the first 5 years we owed it. Between round the clock field work and planting in the spring, nonstop baling and swathing in the summer, some field work and silage cutting in the fall and several hours a day on the grinder and the feed wagon in the winter it flat never sat in one spot much more than overnight. We had 7 tractors(4586, 1586, 1486, 886, 656, 240, H, the H and 240 only mowed hay and ran augers) and 7 or 8 operators at the time. If there was a tractor running it was the 886.

Before that the high hours tractor was our 656 it was run the same way - only with huge amounts of hours culivating - it wasn't uncommon to see it baling hay with with the front mount culivators tied up high so it wouldn't mess up the windrows. It would run the baler for most of the day then back to the field to culivate well past dark. The hour meter quit working on it back in 1974 or 1975 - with over 8000 hours on it (5-6 years old). Again, if there was only one tractor running it was the 656. Of all of them the 656 is the only one we still own.

Our lightest use tractor was the biggest - the 4586 usually only clocked about 500-600 hours a year. It did some custom field work as it was one of the biggest tractors in our area at the time and it had to pay for itself.

We don't run nearly that many hours today as we don't do near the cattle and no hogs so there is a lot less hay and forage to deal with winter and summer. That and most of the farming is done around off the farm jobs.

Allan in NE · Jun 6, 2011

Not gonna argue with ya Steve,

But 1500 hours breaks down to 150 10 hour days......that's one long derned season. :>)

No stopping to refuel, no stopping to grease up, no lunch, no supper or anything else that a man steps off a tractor for, fer that matter. :>)

Now, I do know for a fact that it rains, snows and the silly ground will freeze up in the wintertime in your area. Not to mention the fact, that after putting in a normal 10-12 hour day, ya feel like you’ve been pistol-whipped in a cowboy bar. :>)

Not doubting your calculations, just saying………..

Allan

Allan in NE · Jun 6, 2011

Yes Sir,

That's what I'm saying. One man doing the work of 7 or 8 is just plain dreamin'. :>)

Allan

WyoDave · Jun 6, 2011

My loader tractor will get about 300 hours a year. A couple field tractors maybe 150 hours. Most are less then 100 a year.
David

Allan in NE · Jun 6, 2011

Yeah, but you're young. LOL!

Are ya really gonna cut hay today? Mine finally greened up a little. :>)

Allan

dhermesc · Jun 6, 2011

Depends on the man. My dad put most of the early hours on the 656, my oldest brother was only 10 when he bought it. When the 886 was bought in 1978 he had 7 other sons (helping on the farm) ranging from 4 years old to 18 years old.

WyoDave · Jun 6, 2011

My mom puts more of those hours on then I do. I get the bad jobs. Fencing, irrigating, fixing, etc... I'm going to start cutting as soon as I get the ambition to leave the shop, and crawl in the mower. I have some weedy hay that just as well be cut down, and let the second grow. The first is just going to be cow hay anyways.
David

Allan in NE · Jun 6, 2011

I don't care; treasure what you have.

Nothin' in this world better than good solid Wyoming values and upbringing. :>)

Allan

thurlow · Jun 6, 2011

In the '60 and '70s, it wasn't unusual to put 1000-plus hours per year on a couple of the 4020s. Every acre was covered 6 or 8 times (breaking plow, disk once or twice, do-all, planter, cultivator 3 or 4 times); during the Summer, we did a lot of local custom harvesting (silage and hay); they were used as chore/feed tractors all Winter, running a grinder-mixer and feeding silage and hay.

WyoDave · Jun 6, 2011

I know I'm a lucky guy, and to be honest I'd rather be outside working than sitting in a tractor anyways. When you get a chance, shoot me an e-mail. My parents just bought some land up in your neck of the woods. We might be neighbors. Alright, off to work.

David

John Harmon. · Jun 6, 2011

Back in the late 50's,60's and 70's a quick guesstimation of dads 6 Tractors would show that his Super 99 was used the most at about 450 Hrs a year. He Dairy farmed 450 acres with 200 acres row crops,80 acres oats,80 acres hay and 50 acres rotating and 30 acres permanent pasture plus he did about 200 hrs of custom plowing with the 99. The other tractors,8N,Oliver 18-28 ,70,77,77,88 probably accumulated a like amount of hrs.So ,450 acres of farming with 6 tractors and some custom work,900 hrs would be a close guess.The last 20 years of his farming life a few machines were self propelled,such as the haybine,fox chopper and JD 70 combine which releived the wheel tractors from hours of operation some what.He had a hired man and 12 kids plus mom some times and himself so their was work for every one. I was the oldest and now at 73 years I look back and am happy to have been of that era.JH

bobs old iron · Jun 6, 2011

got you all beat, 20 hrs between shows/parades, on big tractors, 20 hrs on cub cutting my football field of grass. lol. wasn't lucky enough to came from a farm family.

BushogPapa · Jun 6, 2011

Well "back in the day", you had to catch the ground Frozen, to finish cutting soybeans and corn..
That extended the work season a bit..
I know that our equipment had a 9 Month season in the fields..
ofcourse, we did cultivate Corn too..
Custom baled hay all summer with a JD 116W Wire-tie. and Custom cut with 2 AC-60 Combines..
Almost can't believe those tractors are still running..! (2 '52 JD "B"'s and a WD-45..)..

Ron..

Anonymous-0 · Jun 6, 2011

Here at the dairy farm we have a little New Holland compact tractor hydro-stat that scrapes barn and alleys. With 690 milking cows it has a lot of poop to move. We bought it brand new and at 1 year old it needed some warranty work. There was 1600 hours on the meter. So using it every single day its only a bit over 4 hrs use per day. The dealer said they have never sold a compact that has gotten 1600 hrs in 5 years let alone 1. It has a 3 yr bumper to bumper warranty and we definitely use it. It only missed a couple days work in a year.

CBL95 · Jun 6, 2011

i dont know about hours but I drove our AC 200 a total of 175 miles on the road two years ago three farms, each 30 miles apart plus two tractor drives

farmer boy · Jun 6, 2011

I would say about 700 hours in a year on a Kubota M6030. That was with haying, some tillage, and alot of cleaning and bedding pens. 400-500 calves. That tractor had 2200 hours and in three years it was about 4000. Middle year was the busiest.

Fordfarmer · Jun 6, 2011

Typically right around 1000-1100 hrs./year, divided amongst 5 tractors. Biggest and littlest only get maybe 100 hrs. apiece. 4600, 7000, and 7600 range from 200-350 hrs./year, plus some for the s/p mower and combine (less than 100 each).

Leroy · Jun 6, 2011

Remember tho a lot of times one tractor had 2 or 3 drivers working in shifts. 24 hours a day.

DeltaRed · Jun 6, 2011

Bought a new KJD 4040 in '80 in one year,it had 1500 hrs.When I lost it in '83,it had 3000 hrs.

Brad Gyde · Jun 6, 2011

I run a 2009 JD 9430 at work..

It was brand new June, 2009.. I believe the first day it was "on the job" was the 12th.

Today, at quitting time today it had almost 2100 hours on the clock.

When I started running it in the fall of 2009 it had just under 900 hours on it.

We try to run 5 days a week from the day they lift the "frost laws" locally (usually around the 15th of April) until around the 20th of December (when the ground freezes) I usually start it at about 630am and usually it runs till at least 630pm.. However, we do encounter some early days and rain days.

The picture is from last spring.

Brad

jm. · Jun 6, 2011

In the late 60s and early 70s before no till we would average around 850 hrs per tractor..
Now as a dealer we have one company that produces sod for comercial sale ( claim to be the 3rd largest in the nation) they run 28 of our Kubotas. Not unusual to see a three year old trade in have 4 to 5 thousand hours. They pull large batwing finish mowers and mow 20 + hours a day.

bison · Jun 6, 2011

I would guess less than 100 hrs per tractor,i got 5 altogether
Among a few odds and ends like feeding and bale hauling i hay 300 acre/yr with 2 tractors,one one the bine,one on the baler.

IaGary · Jun 6, 2011

I put about 400 to 500 hours on all my tractors put together to farm about 1000 acres.

80 hrs spraying, 100 hrs planting, 250 for tillage and fertilizer application and about 100 hauling in grain.

I don't do much of the hauling myself, my helper does.

I put about another 150 or so on the combine.

Those tractor hours are split between 2 1086s and a MX200

Gary

Ken Macfarlane · Jun 6, 2011

I work full time elsewhere, so on a straight hours meter, almost 200 hours with no idling is the most in a year. Now its more like 100 on my small tractor and 50 hours on the big one. Most of the little tractors hours are running a snowblower in the winter doing driveways and lanes.

oleclint · Jun 6, 2011

Back in the 60 s I bought a good used J D 70 diesel, row crop . It was the only diesel on the farm . I was the main driver and put 425 hrs. on it & burned 610 gal. of fuel. I had 2 other 95 Hp tractors and one 65 hp tractor. The 70 got used for about every job on the grain farm . The J D 227 picker-sheller was the hardest job, worse than plowing . clint

504 · Jun 6, 2011

Real tractors maybe 50 a year. I bought a new Allies Chalmers lawn tractor and the first year I put 220hr. on it, and I did NO mowing for hire, now I am down to 80 a year.

Bruce from Can. · Jun 6, 2011

My ford 5640 4wd loader gets 10hr per weekon average, 52 weeks of the year. Feeding silage mixing feed moving round bales manure, and cleans snow off the drive for the milk truck in the winter. Only get to the field to pick stones. I also have a loader on a 5140 CIH 4wd, It round bales hay and loads bales feeds heifers runs corn planter and can be used to fill in for the ford when it is out for service. All manure is spread with 930 case and 966, niether one has a working hour clock, 966also runs the harvester and plow, 930 did all the other tillage workand pulls forage wagons. 730 case cuts and rakes hay, and other light jobs and has over 12000hrs on the clock. I do 80 to 90% of the feild work because my son is just not too handy with anything with a steering wheel, BUT a good cow man.

olliekid · Jun 6, 2011

we put about 100 hours a year on our john deere and less than 60 on the massey and the oliver. wow some of these tractors really get used!

RodinNS · Jun 6, 2011

Of the tractors we've run in the past 26 years... their current averages are 288, 328, 231, and 266. Skid steer has clocked 450 per year every year in the last 10. Of those four tractors one was traded off and one added during that time.
I've seen some years where one clocked 550, some as little as 200.
Also have one other old utility that gets mabey 100 hours per year...

Rod

Don-Wi · Jun 6, 2011

Our 1855 gets between 100 & 150, sometimes less. 285 somewhere between 150 & 200, 165 around 200 or so, and my 1600 gets maybe 60-80 hours. I've been running that one since 2006 when I was finished rebuilding it, and it's got about 380 hours on a new tach, and engine.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Eldon (WA) · Jun 6, 2011

Hard to be honest with hour meters figurin time in all sorts of ways. I charge by the hour when brushhoggin and typically the clock will only show 100 hours to about 140 on the books. I run pto rpm, meter must be calibrated for max rpm. Neighbor runs a Kabota and I think it racks up hours if you just look at it! I think most newer tractors are electronic and will spin up the hours faster.

Be Honest Now.............

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