My daughter-in-law is a reel record keeper, far better than me.
She found an 8560 JD that we got this spring to pull the drill and the auger cart this fall. This was to replace a 4650 JD that struggled with the drill for the last few years and really struggled when my son traded from a 500 bu cart to a 1,000 bu cart.
In her record keeping we put down every time we put in fuel. With the 4650 it took 1.1 gal to the acre to pull the drill ( 1210 gal ), now that we are done drilling for the year she informed us it only took .4 gal per acre to pull the drill ( 440 gal ) with the 8560 so we saved 770 gal and even if we figure $3.50 per gal that is a $2,695.00 savings in one year. With her wheeling and dealing we only have about $18,000.00 in the tractor, if we do as good on fuel this fall we might pay for the tractor in about 3 to 4 years on fuel savings alone.
Sometimes I get frustrated at all her record keeping but if you don't measure you are just guessing.
She found an 8560 JD that we got this spring to pull the drill and the auger cart this fall. This was to replace a 4650 JD that struggled with the drill for the last few years and really struggled when my son traded from a 500 bu cart to a 1,000 bu cart.
In her record keeping we put down every time we put in fuel. With the 4650 it took 1.1 gal to the acre to pull the drill ( 1210 gal ), now that we are done drilling for the year she informed us it only took .4 gal per acre to pull the drill ( 440 gal ) with the 8560 so we saved 770 gal and even if we figure $3.50 per gal that is a $2,695.00 savings in one year. With her wheeling and dealing we only have about $18,000.00 in the tractor, if we do as good on fuel this fall we might pay for the tractor in about 3 to 4 years on fuel savings alone.
Sometimes I get frustrated at all her record keeping but if you don't measure you are just guessing.