custom combining?

Just curious in your areas if theres much of a market for custom combining? Land tough to come by here and lost the last of my ground I was farming. Had thrown around the idea of doing some smaller scale custom harvesting with a good used combine. Probably won't end up doing it but something to think about.
Biggest thing is I'll be working a job so pretty hard to have days off work out trying to combine for people. Corn not so bad but beans need to go when the suns out and dry. And wouldn't be nearly enough money to make a living etc.
Maybe seeding with a notill drill and/or planting would be better.
I'm in ontario canada

anyone out there doing custom work with older equipment? I could see issues with breakdowns or customers being a bit worried about someone with a older machine.

I'm in Ontario as well, and the only guys doing custom work have late model equipment, wagons, grain buggy, trucks....a few guys help out a neighbour or two but are not really custom cutters. The window for bean harvest can be quite narrow and these guys like to be able to cut 50 to100 acres in a day....the BTOs with several machines easily cover hundreds of acres in a day. The only way to be sure is to canvass your area and ask a few smaller farmers if they would be interested in your services....and at an attractive price.

Ben

I think both you and the farmer would have less risk if you did planting, tillage, or baling.

Harvest needs timely, a good machine, and costs a lot to own and maintain.

Planting people are a little less stressed.

Tillage you need simple cheap power and simpler tillage machine, good used is fine.

Hay there tend to be lots of small acres you can work on only issue is collecting money from horse people.

Paul

Thought about it myself. The down sides always kept me from trying it.
Small guys tend to have an older machine themselves. Bigger guys are not willing to put up with breakdowns and down time on custom cutter that is lightening up thier work load. If they get in a pinch and can't do it themselves because of lack of time, they gonna want a bunch cut in short order. I could probly cut for a couple guys I know, but figured it wouldn't justify owning, operating, maintaining an older machine to pick up those jobs.
Farmers are usually short on truck and grain cart drivers at harvest time. So I just help a couple three farmers doing that. I just charge by the hour, and run thier equipment. But, I can make myself available during the day to do this.

Yeah kind of my thoughts as well, Corn would likely be easier to do with bigger windows etc but need to be able to do beans and wheat for it to work out getting enough acres. I've seen a few guys with 90s combine advertising in other areas but not sure how successful they are.

The planter/drill idea may still be worth looking into, just have to see if there would be much interest.

Brother-in-law with a CDL and always made his extra X-mas money from driving trucks and occasionally tractors after work for area farmers. He had zero investment in equipment, zero expenses, zero repair bills, and got paid in cash.

I do custom combining , drilling , plowing , disking , harrowing spraying mowing , raking and baling all with old equipment I keep well maintained.

That is an early 7700 combine, Ive never seen one that small a grain tank. Did it come from wheat area, it wouldnt do well in corn areas of today. Heck Im disappointed with my L3 Gleaner only holding 200 bu, cant make a round on a good year.

Paul

Its a 1979 7700 with the rotating screen unfortunately it doesnt have the hydraulic latch on the auger its a hydro and turbo . Factory bin extensions holds 169 bushels

The horse people are my best customers they either write a check or pay cash the day its done and usually get a 3 to 500$ bonus .

My brain must be confusing the 7720. Only jd combine that new Ive been in was the neighbors, must have been 79 or 80. Came and helped combine. When the field was done he raised the head, idled the machine running, got out and walked on the head kicking ears in.

I sat there dumbstruck.

Neighbor is still alive.....

Paul

And still has all his legs and arms ? And yes I cant imagine 170 bushel bin in 250 bushel corn would be fun unless you had a cart running like crazy

Horse people have been some of my best customers also. Back in the 90s and 00s, I rented small fields that the big guys wouldn't bother with. At the time I had an allis chalmers all crop 66 bulk bin. With my dads over 30 years of all crop experience, the all crop purred along year after year. It had a bulk tank but had both tall auger for unloading into trucks and shorty turn down auger with hooks so you could sack the grain out of the bulk bin which was perfect for me because I sold and delivered the oats right out of the field and stacked in the grain room of the horse barns. And I asked the horse people to save me their old feed sacks to use, so the sacks were free to me, and the customer got the grain stacked and delivered and they paid on the spot.
Couldn't beat the smile off their face with a 4by4
Course I was smiling pretty big also, harvesting with all crop

I had the same idea years ago. Working alone with a 24' header doesn't work because to get from point A to B you need to drive the combine and follow with the header. A 16' header takes all day to cut and MIGHT be able to navigate roadways installed. Then you need (to buy) the grain truck to haul off the crop to the purchaser and so you need somebody to drive the truck to the site and then to the purchaser and you have insurance considerations on that.

Then on older equipment, you have all sorts of things to replace, some you can and some you can't find parts if a really old cutter like the JD 95 I had initially. I think I learned how to replace hydraulic seals on every imaginable cylinder access design.....figuring how to get the things apart to repair...when I could get the packing and O ring kits from the JD dealer.

Later on, after hitting a utility pole and ripping the auger off the side....navigated the cutter head around it successfully and was patting myself on the back when I heard this BOOM and the auger, which I initially extended and forgot about, was seen dangling by the side of the combine. Unloading that hopper full was a real trick!

I then bought a MF 760, much newer, AC in the cab and all and it cost to purchase but was new enough that belts were all I needed to replace...both had 24' headers. Getting the MF home from the farm where it was purchased is another story....85 miles through the outskirts of Dallas one Saturday. Never again.

Next problem is that there weren't that many opportunities or the local custom guys would have combines....which they didn't. Also my experiences were that the folks wanting such had smaller, difficult to navigate, weed infested crops that just gummed up the works, much less their impact on the quality of the crop and getting to them down a one lane path with overgrown trees quite another.

So that's my story. No thanks!

If youre scared of hard work and dont like to work on equipment probably safer to take a night job At McDonalds if you like a challenge and like being able to do what everyone thinks Is impossible then youve got the right idea .

I went the other way. In 1983 I bought a new 6060 Allis Chalmers tractor with cab and air. Then in 85 bought a new 10ft. Great Planes no-till drill. Did 400 to 500 acres custom a year. Made the payments. And planted a 100 acres for me. Did have some help. A retired Dad and a brother in law. I drove a truck 10 hrs a day and the drill up into the night. Should have bought a 20 ft drill and a 150 hp. Tractor.
But now I would recommend you buy a trailer that will set and retrieve like 8X12 trash beds. You can charge more than the national trash haulers. Every carpenter wants someone that is dependable My son did.it for a while couldn't handle all the business. I know it's not farming. Know a guy that is spraying range land to kill weeds. Grazion. I hauled him a new New Holland tractor.