Treasures amidst the scrap metal

On many farmyards, old pieces of equipment are nowhere to be seen. If there’s any scrap metal, it must be behind the shop out of sight to passers-by. On other farmyards, salvage equipment and scrap metal are everywhere, sometimes well organized and sometimes random.

My place is starting to look like the latter description. Some of it was collected before my time, but I’ve been gradually adding to the pile.

I can’t remember the last time I pulled anything useful off the old swathers that all date back to the 70s or earlier. I remember using them, although the memories aren’t fond of the pull-lever steering system on the open-air, under-powered self-propelled unit.

Other acquisitions were on my watch. The pull-type sprayer that was used for a number of years is still sitting there in case the tank can be used for something. Another pull-type sprayer seemed like such a bargain at an auction sale. Maybe I’ll get it running in case my high clearance sprayer ever goes down. That was the thought, but I never have.

An old, but large harrow was purchased from a neighbour, but it wasn’t really suitable for residue management. A heavy harrow was eventually purchased and the old harrow is parked.

Some stuff looks like junk, but is actually useful. One old PTO auger is reserved for treating seed. On another auger, the motor is beyond repair, so we’ve converted it to run off a PTO.

Combines purchased over the years all came with pickup headers, some working and some not. I recently had a number of those trucked away.

There are many virtues to running older equipment and trying to keep costs down, but you run the risk of being a farm where old equipment goes to die. All too quickly, equipment has no trade-in value and with diminishing private sales value, there it sits.

Having a combine or two for salvage parts can be useful if the model you’re running is similar. Unfortunately, the part you’re searching for on any particular day may be worn out, slightly different than what you need or time consuming to extract.

As you upgrade equipment, salvage machines become less and less relevant. They still have pieces that might be used for various projects, but the parts aren’t interchangeable with what you’re operating.

If you aren’t worried about optics and if you have the space, keeping some old equipment around may be how you operate. On the other hand, if you like a yard that looks pristine, maybe you want to limit or hide those old salvage machines.

Some farms seem to steadily collect and never reduce. Personally, I’m in a reduction phase. Some stuff like a couple old combines can be sold, albeit for limited dollars, for salvage purposes. Other stuff is just scrap metal.

Lots of scrap metal purchasers are advertising. You even see road signs. The money isn’t the main motivation; it’s cleaning up the yard.

Those old swathers can go for sure along with some piles of scrap metal and maybe that old harrow. But other pieces of equipment have tires and rims and angle iron and shafts and hydraulic fittings, so when I call a scrap metal business, I’ll be scratching my head over what stays and what goes.

I’m sure after something leaves the farm, I’ll have regrets. Man, I should have kept that. It had just the thing I’m looking for right now.