New post on tractor colors, dealers and horsepower

I didn't want to take Larry's post sideways so here is my question?
Is it the color, the dealer or the horsepower that matters the most.
We have good size fields and some really good sized tractors and combines in Terre Haute.

So what's the biggest horse power available in Red, Green, orange and blue tractors.
My neighbour has Large green tractors with 8 wheels.
I bought a L3560 because I wanted to replace my Jubilee, close to same hp, and because of the dealer.

I recently saw one large red tractor with rubber tracks instead of rubber tires.

So which is the most important Color, dealer or Horsepower??

A good dealer is my top criteria; that why I stoped going to John Deere, because of the lousy local dealer.

I have always went cheap so I bought a Massey.The same size in JD was 3000 more a Kabota 1500 more. I tell everyone I'm not worried about getting hit by a MACK truck. I do every thing cheap if it happens it will be Chevy or Ford.

Not being a tractor guy, I should probably keep my mouth shut.

But I'll chime in anyway: DEALER, especially if the dealer has both treated you well in prior dealings, and has a generally good reputation with other folks you know who have been in any form of business relationship with him.

Dealer/color/service is first.
All have machines over 600 hp, some on Quad tracks, some on wheels.
CaseIH is tops at 692
New Holland at 682
Fendt at 673
JD at 670
Jim

Yea but the JD horsepower is Shetlands!

Larrys post had nothing to do with tractors.

Vito

Being a retired farmer for me you have it correct. Actually most of dealers are gone now not leaving much choice. Same as brands about only choice noe id deere as far as farm tractors.

Price and if the tractor will do what I need for it to do.Most tractors I buy dealers are long gone and my parts suppliers are as close as my computer

Vito,
No way, Larry stirred the Pot on Tractor Talk and no one called him out?? I can't believe it. Larry's ring of fire! No that has to be fake news.

Tractors, dealer and service top the list. Other equipment may have features that will make a customer put up with a dealer they might not otherwise use.

There is also a difference between customers of what they consider the best dealer to be.

Dealer. Price.

When I bought my Farmall 65, New Holland had the identical tractor. Workmaster something or other. Both good dealers but I liked the red color better then blue.

Dealer color can be put on anything. I even saw an H Farmall painted JD green with Yellow wheels one time at a show. Had to do a double take on that. I have found it seems like our Local Deere dealer since they were bought out by anther dealer chain have improved in attitude for parts to deal with. We do our own work so don't have any experience about service. I have found that The Fiat dealer (caseih) is awful high for parts like they had some gold in them. They are proud of that red paint with the foreign owner too. They are all high but it seems like Fiat goes out of their way to be expensive. The local Agco dealer is high too. Like the Fiat dealer is proud of their parts and equipment more so than the others.

In my travels through the prime farm country of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin I will see a lot of red machinery for a while and then a change over to green and then back to red. I would think that is because of dealer support in those areas, but maybe it's just something that happens. Back in the late 30s, when the Fordsons were all wearing out, we saw a lot of green tractors in our neighborhood due to the John Deere dealer's ability to finance those tractors and work out a payment schedule that fit the buyer's operation. Versus the local banks who were notoriously stingy about loaning money to farmers. We, meaning my father and grandfather, always paid cash for equipment, so the finance offer didn't mean much. We usually looked at price, and what the machine could do for us. Back then, there really wasn't a bad tractor around and some brands made a better planter or hayloader, etc., than other brands. I still do that. I pay cash for everything although once in a while it pays to sign up for financing. When I bought my new John Deere tractor the dealer told me he had given me the best possible price but if I signed up for John Deere financing I would get $4000 cash back from John Deere. I signed up and then paid the loan off as soon as the paperwork went through. When I bought a new corn planter it was based on price. John Deere vs Kinze. Same planter. Kinze pay now and get the planter 9 months later or John Deere, order now, pay for it when it comes in and $4000 cheaper to boot. A no-brainer.

I bought my Kubota from Bane-Welker Case-IH.
I got an ad in the mail yesterday.
Bane-Walker has about a dozen dealerships in Indiana.
Bane-Walker has been in business since 1967 and they claim to be owned by the employees.
That may explain why there are Red tractors in Indiana.

I think familiarity is what it comes down to.

I got a Gleaner F combine in 1980, it was wore out when I got it, I got real familiar fixing on it.....

Had a F2, F3, F2, M3, L3 since.

All about the same, I can adjust or fix in my sleep now. Id hate to start over learning on a new machine, the weak points, the tricks, ..... Had a Gleaner field day I was invited to a decade ago, it was interesting to see even tho a rotary combine is totally different than the conventional Ive used, how much of the parts Im familiar with are still on the new ones. Even so different, it looks familiar to me.

Dad had a Green combine before that, it was mighty tough working on that thing. It operated fine, but when it broke it was a mess to get to anything as I recall.

Id say dealer is also very important in your list. A good dealer can make a happy owner. Unfortunately in the corporate world, we are moving away from good dealerships at an accelerating pace.

Horsepower, they all make 600hp tractors, doesnt matter what color you want.

I live near a north south state highway.

East of that highway in the 20 mile neighborhood are a whole lot of Red tractors.

West of that highway are a whole lot of Green tractors.

Kind of funny.

The only real constant was that from the 70s to the 2000s nearly everyone pulled a Green planter whatever color their tractor was. The 7000/ 7200 planters were and still are such a solid design.

I have a lot of Blue, since Im pretty much in the seam between.

Paul

Most new ag machines are a complex set of computers, sensors, wires, and emissions controls. Hard to see the tractor under all that. Run it until it gives you an error, then call tech support.

It all works well while it works, but you need a lot of acres to make it pay, cover a lot of acres in a few years, and flip it for something newer before the warranty goes off.

There is way too much to go wrong with all the expensive stuff on them to just own it outright and no way for shade tree mechanic to wrench on it beyond the very simplest things.

Paul

Some of both for us. We have had the most luck with John Deere and Massey Ferguson, but that said, we have a far better Massey dealer so we run more Massey. We would be slow to buy a CaseIH after the luck we've had with ours, even though is a dealer near, but we also wouldnt seek out an Oliver as even Agco dealers are funny about Oliver parts now. I wouldn't be concerned with hp so much if it was me, it seems like every brand has offerings in pretty much every power. And I agree that familiarity is important, because for us most of our mechanical experience revolves around Deere and MF. So for me, color and dealer both matter. Just depends on what you've had good reliable service with, and what you can get parts for. I will say though, a low enough price will make a feller really pause and think about that brand he'd never buy again. . .

I know a farmer that farms over 6000 acres.
Every 2 years he flips his JD. So Half of his tractors are upgraded every year.
There is also a tax advantage flipping tractors or leasing tractors.