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Farming With Older Tractors Provides His Profit Margin
"I buy old tractors in run-down condition and completely restore them. I don't pay much for them and they run cheap, which allows me to keep farming at a profit," says Roger Fisher, Spirit Lake, Iowa. His NEWEST tractor is a 1956 Deere 720.
Fisher farms just under 500 acres and also has an off-farm job. He buys
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Farming With Older Tractors Provides His Profit Margin TRACTORS Antiques 24-6-24 "I buy old tractors in run-down condition and completely restore them. I don't pay much for them and they run cheap, which allows me to keep farming at a profit," says Roger Fisher, Spirit Lake, Iowa. His NEWEST tractor is a 1956 Deere 720.
Fisher farms just under 500 acres and also has an off-farm job. He buys tractors from junkyards or neighbors, then overhauls and repaints them. In recent years he has restored several International tractors including a Farmall M, Farmall H, and Farmall Super H; several Deere tractors including a B, 50, 70, 720 diesel, and 730; and a 1939 Case VAC.
"After repainting them I put on original decals so they really look nice," says Fisher.
"We use the Deere 720 and 730 tractors to pull a 16 1/2-ft. tandem disk and a 4-bottom plow. We use the Super H for chores. The Case VAC operates an elevator that delivers small square bales into our barn.
"We use the Deere B to operate a post hole auger that I found in a junkyard. We recently used it to dig post holes when we put up a new shed. We use a homemade boom on front of the Farmall H to do heavy lifting jobs. The boom is equipped with a hydraulic cylinder that raises or lowers a pulley that acts on a chain. We use the Deere 50 to operate an old Deere No. 10 side-mounted mower that's belt-driven off the pto. We use the Farmall Super H to operate a front-mounted wheel rake, which I adapted to fit the tractor.
"These tractors are fuel efficient. For example, the Deere 730 uses only about 1 gal. of fuel per hour. They're also cost efficient because I can do all the maintenance and repair work on them myself."
Fisher also uses old equipment to do his harvesting. He owns a 1962 Deere 45 self-propelled combine for soybeans and a 2-row corn picker, which mounts on his Deere 70 tractor. All his corn is stored in cribs.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roger Fisher, Box 48, Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360 (ph 507 856-3728)
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