The younger people in the 20-30 age bracket are just too selfish to really be helped out. I got slammed by two different ones today.
1) A older fellow I sold equipment to in Jones County died five years ago. He had slowly over the years sold his equipment. He still had the last new tractor he ever bought. It was a JD 1972 3020, diesel, wide front end, Power shift, and dual SCVs. Real sharp tractor with just over 4000 hours on it. His widow called me to come and see her. We had always been as much friends as business acquaintances. She wanted me to have her husband's tractor. She said none of the kids really wanted it so she wanted me to buy it. I had often told him I would really like to own that tractor. So I had two other dealers look at it and we came up with a price. The average was $13,000. She would not take that as she said I had helped them over the years. She would only take $10,000. I paid her on the spot. I took the tractor home. It needed very little to have it in factory original shape. I did put new tires all the way around. It never was wet after I got it. I kept it inside under a cover. Just used it on baby jobs to have fun.
So fast forward to last year. She passed away 18 months ago. The family split the farm into 8 different tracts. One for each kid/grand kids. One of the boys got the house and bought out two of his relatives. He has around forty acres of ground plus the original homestead. He came to me and told me he really wanted his Grand Dad's tractor. He asked to buy it back. I told him I would sell it back to him on one condition. That was if he ever got hard up for money that I would get first chance at buying it back. So I sold it to him last Dec. for exactly want I had in it the $10,000 plus the tires. It came up to $11,500. He paid me and I told him he was getting a deal because his Grand Mother had given me one. I never heard any more about the tractor. Today I was at a local consignment auction. The kid was there. I was busy right then and did not have time to talk right then. He looked me up toward the end of the sale. He had boughten a junk 1964 JD 3020 gas, narrow front, single SCVs, and mismatched worn out tires. He wanted me to fix it up for him. I asked him why he was buying it.
Here is what he had done. First he sold his grand father's tractor to a collector out in CA. His "city wife" had looked up on the Internet how Late model 3020s where selling real high. She thought it would be just great to sell "his" and buy one of the much cheaper ones she saw advertised. They got $19,500 for his grand fathers tractor. One month after he had bought it off me. He never called me. I asked him about that and he said he did not think I would be able to pay that much since I was just a "farmer/mechanic". What the heck???? I could buy this little snot with my pocket money. He is in to hock up to his eye balls. His wife and him where just ecstatic that they had cleared $14,000 on the tractor trade. They used the money to buy themselves a new car. Correction make the down payment on a new car. Their new one has one of those three letter names, BMW. I was so mad I could have spit nails. I politely told him to NEVER talk to me again. I would never work on any thing of his again. I also told him how he had PI$$ed on his Grand father and Grand Mother's memories by what he had done. I asked him if he really thought his Grand Mother was stupid enough to not know that the tractor was valuable??? She wanted her husband and his grand father's memory to live on through that tractor. I always was telling the story to people of how I got that tractor. I really wanted to just shoot the brain dead pair of them!!!!
2) Then to just make the day finish out even better. Local kid, 20 years old. He has been wanting to get started farming. He is the same age as my youngest son. They kind of hang out together. So he rented some ground a few miles away from me. He came and helped with the planting and we planted his fifty acres for his labor. He was wanting to start buying some equipment. I had found a deal on two Parker 2600 gravity wagons. These where the same as new. A dealer buddy had gotten then in on trade. Super sharp wagons. So I took the kid with me to get them. He really wanted to buy them. So we cut a deal. He would buy them for my cost, $2750 each. I then would let him use one of my tractors to haul his corn and he would help us haul ours. If he helped us all fall, between his town job, I told him we would harvest his corn and dry it in return for his help. He got lucky and caught a few rains we did not get. His corn is going to make 160-180 BPA. So we would be harvesting the corn: 50 acres X $27.50 = $1375 plus 170 bushels X 50 X 25 cents = $2125 for a total of $3500 value to him. That is not too bad for just him and his two wagons on my tractor this fall.
So here is what he did. Another one of his buddies is the son of one of the local BTO, real little punk that is always in trouble with the law that his Daddy bails him out of. Anyway this "buddy" tells the kid that he is not getting a good enough deal for all of his labor. What the he!!??? $3000-3500 to a kid that makes $8 at the local lumber yard. He does not make 15K a year at his "job". So the BTO told him he would pay him and harvest his crop. Plus that those little old wagons he bought where nothing but junk so he had better sell them because they where useless to a "real" farmer. That is exactly what they told him. So he takes the wagons and sells them at the sale today. I did not notice the wagons and the kid did not even go to the sale. He went to work. He came by after work and told my son that he would not be able to help us this fall as he had a job with a "real" farmer. He got $3700 each out of the wagons. He owned them three weeks. He told my son that he is going to start trading some equipment since the money is so easy. That is a laugh. He had to borrow the money for the wagons on his credit card. He did not tell me that at the time but he told my son that this evening.
Well he will not be farming long. First his line of credit at the local Coop was tied to mine. He will be COD in the morning after I call them. The BTO he thinks is great has been COD for the last five years after he went bankrupt and stuck a bunch of local people for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Second his rented ground will not be his for long. The owner hates the BTO with a passion. When the BTO shows up to harvest the crop the sparks are going to fly!!!
So basically I tried to help out two different guys and got screwed over by them both. So I am done helping non family members in this way.
1) A older fellow I sold equipment to in Jones County died five years ago. He had slowly over the years sold his equipment. He still had the last new tractor he ever bought. It was a JD 1972 3020, diesel, wide front end, Power shift, and dual SCVs. Real sharp tractor with just over 4000 hours on it. His widow called me to come and see her. We had always been as much friends as business acquaintances. She wanted me to have her husband's tractor. She said none of the kids really wanted it so she wanted me to buy it. I had often told him I would really like to own that tractor. So I had two other dealers look at it and we came up with a price. The average was $13,000. She would not take that as she said I had helped them over the years. She would only take $10,000. I paid her on the spot. I took the tractor home. It needed very little to have it in factory original shape. I did put new tires all the way around. It never was wet after I got it. I kept it inside under a cover. Just used it on baby jobs to have fun.
So fast forward to last year. She passed away 18 months ago. The family split the farm into 8 different tracts. One for each kid/grand kids. One of the boys got the house and bought out two of his relatives. He has around forty acres of ground plus the original homestead. He came to me and told me he really wanted his Grand Dad's tractor. He asked to buy it back. I told him I would sell it back to him on one condition. That was if he ever got hard up for money that I would get first chance at buying it back. So I sold it to him last Dec. for exactly want I had in it the $10,000 plus the tires. It came up to $11,500. He paid me and I told him he was getting a deal because his Grand Mother had given me one. I never heard any more about the tractor. Today I was at a local consignment auction. The kid was there. I was busy right then and did not have time to talk right then. He looked me up toward the end of the sale. He had boughten a junk 1964 JD 3020 gas, narrow front, single SCVs, and mismatched worn out tires. He wanted me to fix it up for him. I asked him why he was buying it.
Here is what he had done. First he sold his grand father's tractor to a collector out in CA. His "city wife" had looked up on the Internet how Late model 3020s where selling real high. She thought it would be just great to sell "his" and buy one of the much cheaper ones she saw advertised. They got $19,500 for his grand fathers tractor. One month after he had bought it off me. He never called me. I asked him about that and he said he did not think I would be able to pay that much since I was just a "farmer/mechanic". What the heck???? I could buy this little snot with my pocket money. He is in to hock up to his eye balls. His wife and him where just ecstatic that they had cleared $14,000 on the tractor trade. They used the money to buy themselves a new car. Correction make the down payment on a new car. Their new one has one of those three letter names, BMW. I was so mad I could have spit nails. I politely told him to NEVER talk to me again. I would never work on any thing of his again. I also told him how he had PI$$ed on his Grand father and Grand Mother's memories by what he had done. I asked him if he really thought his Grand Mother was stupid enough to not know that the tractor was valuable??? She wanted her husband and his grand father's memory to live on through that tractor. I always was telling the story to people of how I got that tractor. I really wanted to just shoot the brain dead pair of them!!!!
2) Then to just make the day finish out even better. Local kid, 20 years old. He has been wanting to get started farming. He is the same age as my youngest son. They kind of hang out together. So he rented some ground a few miles away from me. He came and helped with the planting and we planted his fifty acres for his labor. He was wanting to start buying some equipment. I had found a deal on two Parker 2600 gravity wagons. These where the same as new. A dealer buddy had gotten then in on trade. Super sharp wagons. So I took the kid with me to get them. He really wanted to buy them. So we cut a deal. He would buy them for my cost, $2750 each. I then would let him use one of my tractors to haul his corn and he would help us haul ours. If he helped us all fall, between his town job, I told him we would harvest his corn and dry it in return for his help. He got lucky and caught a few rains we did not get. His corn is going to make 160-180 BPA. So we would be harvesting the corn: 50 acres X $27.50 = $1375 plus 170 bushels X 50 X 25 cents = $2125 for a total of $3500 value to him. That is not too bad for just him and his two wagons on my tractor this fall.
So here is what he did. Another one of his buddies is the son of one of the local BTO, real little punk that is always in trouble with the law that his Daddy bails him out of. Anyway this "buddy" tells the kid that he is not getting a good enough deal for all of his labor. What the he!!??? $3000-3500 to a kid that makes $8 at the local lumber yard. He does not make 15K a year at his "job". So the BTO told him he would pay him and harvest his crop. Plus that those little old wagons he bought where nothing but junk so he had better sell them because they where useless to a "real" farmer. That is exactly what they told him. So he takes the wagons and sells them at the sale today. I did not notice the wagons and the kid did not even go to the sale. He went to work. He came by after work and told my son that he would not be able to help us this fall as he had a job with a "real" farmer. He got $3700 each out of the wagons. He owned them three weeks. He told my son that he is going to start trading some equipment since the money is so easy. That is a laugh. He had to borrow the money for the wagons on his credit card. He did not tell me that at the time but he told my son that this evening.
Well he will not be farming long. First his line of credit at the local Coop was tied to mine. He will be COD in the morning after I call them. The BTO he thinks is great has been COD for the last five years after he went bankrupt and stuck a bunch of local people for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Second his rented ground will not be his for long. The owner hates the BTO with a passion. When the BTO shows up to harvest the crop the sparks are going to fly!!!
So basically I tried to help out two different guys and got screwed over by them both. So I am done helping non family members in this way.
