Welcome to Moving Iron with Casey Seymour and Greg Peterson, the podcast for anyone and everyone involved and interested in the business of ag equipment. If you want to understand what trends and market forces are impacting the price of your iron, you've come to the right place. Buckle up. It's time to move some iron.
Hello and welcome to Moving Iron podcast. This is Moving Iron podcast is brought to you by John Deere. I've got Greg Machinery Pete Peterson on to talk about what's happening in the market. Greg, how are you doing today?
I'm doing well, Casey. How are you doing?
Doing good, man. Fresh off of your golf trip, man. How did you shoot? Shoot good or did you uh
I played terrible, but we had so much fun in Scotland. We did 12 rounds in 8 days. Three of my long-time golf buddies. I think all of us realized that we had not — we probably never played that much golf in such a short period in our life. And when you're 60, the back and the hips and the knees.
No, it was super fun, though. Scotland — it was funny because Scotland, of course, isn't in the World Cup, so they were all just super jazzed over there. They stayed up till 2:00 a.m. for start time on their first game.
The bars were reserved and uh those Scottish people are just fantastic. Uh
So then we encountered on the way back, we connected through Boston. And of course, that's where the team was playing their first two games in the World Cup.
And the city of Boston was uh just gobsmacked at the Scottish uh support and fans and uh literally they ran out of beer in Boston.
Uh we got those reports over in Scotland and the Scots are like, "Oh yeah, that — I mean, that doesn't surprise us."
Uh we saw a big pipe army marching down to Fenway Park.
No, it's got to see — if you ever get a chance, anyone, any listeners, to go to Scotland, uh sightseeing, golf, whatever, the people are just amazing.
Yeah. Yeah, I've always heard that they're real friendly people in that part of the world, so.
My golf game was terrible, but uh we had fun nonetheless.
But uh even though you might have had a terrible golf game, you still got to play golf in Scotland, so it's not that bad.
Yeah, it's been 10 years since I've been there. It's uh I'm trying to convince Mrs. Pete I got to take her over and show her how beautiful the land is over there and um see if she wants to spend some time. I would frankly — I would love to retire in Scotland. It's when uh it's 80, 90 degrees even here in Minnesota, it's like 64 in Scotland. It's just — even as the rest of Europe has been like a record heatwave, I think Scotland has still been pretty cool, so. I like that cooler weather. Uh but that's just me.
Get a little of that cool air off the ocean out there, so yeah.
Yeah, man. Well, you were just in — you're fresh off a trip down to Texas to film an auction. Talk a little bit about what you saw down there.
Yeah, I got back and then a day later hopped a flight, went down just northwest of Dallas, uh the Elbert, Decatur, Texas area. We were down there for day one of Joey Martin Auctioneers' two-day heavy equipment auction. Uh Joey Martin, great auctioneer out of South Carolina with locations in Georgia. And then in uh Elbert, Texas, they have three sales a year there. Yesterday they were selling from 9:00 a.m. till 10:00 p.m. So, Joey and the crew were going at it. Today is day two, but very solid. Uh It was interesting, Casey. I had um talked to a number of ranchers there that have grown up in that area northwest of Dallas and up here — I mean, we hear anecdotally all the people moving to Texas and stuff, but this rancher said, "Pete," he said, "our county here has doubled in population in the last 8, 10 years."
So, the construction equipment that sold — the good used stuff is exactly like we're seeing on the ag side. In fact, maybe even a little stronger. Um couple highlights I filmed. There were five 22-model Cat D3 dozers with kind of high 2,000, I think mid-3,000 hour range, and I think one of them got up to 138,880, 128, 126, couple of 125, 120. A lot of demand on those. Uh just a good solid sale all the way through. Uh We got a 23-model Kubota KX84S-2 mini excavator, 648 hours for 89,600. So, our auction pricing had been showing strengthening used construction values. And we interviewed Joey Martin and kind of asked him like, "Joey, what are you seeing?" because they sell all across the — well, they sell all over the world, but uh
Yeah, he said the market strengthened. So, that was interesting. And while we were in Texas, uh my goodness, uh some other fantastic sales here the last few days, Casey. Uh our friends at Wheeler Auctions and Real Estate had a kind of a humdinger last Thursday. I think it was Thursday. And it was in Carthage, Illinois. Uh Kirby Fecht, uh my friend Kirby texted me from Wheeler, and he said, "Pete, did you see the planter?" And I hadn't seen it. And it was a 20-model John Deere DB80, 48-row 20-inch, but it's over 311,000 bucks. And Kirby said, "Pete, the bidding action on that thing was just intense. The interest in it before the sale."
Uh and then again, I suppose, you know, what's a new planter cost? And here you got a 6-year-old one, super nice. Uh Tractors, they had a bunch of 24-model 8R 370s. I think the highest got up to 370. Uh very solid there. Uh They had — what else? The smaller tractors, mid-size, did loader tractors, of course, still doing well. They had a 25-model 6R 155 with a loader, 361 hours with warranty. That did 173. I think that's the highest auction price on a 300-plus hour 6R 155 with a loader in 18 months. So, that was last Thursday. Also last Thursday, a farm auction in Poplar Grove, Illinois, by our friends at George Auction Service. And wow, this sale had a couple real eye-openers, um namely the combine. A 24-model John Deere S770, 243 engine hours, sold with no heads for 446K. Now, that's the all-time record high auction price on an S770. And it's uh in fact, it's uh 8,000 over the previous record from almost 3 years ago, back in August of '23. So, I mean, there's no other way to take that other than that the supply generally has tightened over the past 18 months. Folks are not buying new, and so what they want and need is the best used, and here was a 2-year-old
kind of like new S770, but 446. Pretty strong. They also had a pair of 26-model planters. Uh 26 1795, 24-row 20-inch MaxEmerge 5E, never used, zero acres. And that brought uh 300,000. And then they had a 26-model uh 1775 NT, 16-row 30 MaxEmerge 5E, never used, that brought 218. So, again, uh the dollars were flowing in Poplar Grove, Illinois, last Thursday.
Yeah. Well, that's — you know, it's interesting to talk about that because I've had a conversation with uh several people right now about um the hole in used equipment inventory, right? And if you're looking at where that hole's at, it's — you got a lot of 1 to 3-year-old stuff and you've got um you kind of got the next kind of lane that you get into is that older than 12-year-old stuff, right? And that's kind of where that's — there seems to be a fair amount of that popping in the middle. The stuff in the middle that I would say ranging between 5 and 12 years old, 5 and 10 years old, those kind of things. Um there — that's really been really ate out of the marketplace, right? And just like you guys talked about on here, you know, you brought up a few good examples of that. Some of those machines that you see selling that are 5, 7, you know, 10 years old, stuff like that. They're in good shape, they look good, they're bringing a premium price, right? We're seeing that coming. I was waiting to see, you know, of course this is just one sale, so you know what — you don't have a trend by one data point, but you know, looking at this combine sale you just talked about and coming in at almost $450,000 on a 24-model, low-hour machine for sure, you know, 238 engine hours on a 24. So it would be — this would be its third season. Um [clears throat] had when it goes through the um kind of 425, 26. Yeah, so this would be their third season going through that. And it'd be interesting to watch to see how other things stack up. If you go back, rewind this show back to January, we were talking about what's it going to look like after um planting season's done, right? This is the year — this is the time frame that kind of sets the tone for the end of the year. And if you have a down draw in this time frame um that usually carries over to the end of the year. And we did see a little bit of a dip. You go back
about 30 days ago, but now it's coming back, you know, so
So we're going to see how that carries through the end of the year.
Well, there they are, mocking you. See you next year.
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Kirby had another comment, Casey, I thought was interesting coming off the sale last Thursday. He said, you know, I think of course I was in Scotland, I wasn't tracking the markets, but he said he thought and felt — and Kirby's very plugged in. I don't — you know, Kirby's
Uh I think corn had dropped right before that sale last Thursday and he said he felt like the market was ready to run and then maybe just a little rain on it, but even so, they got those results they got. And um like you say, I never hang anything on one sale or one data point. I mean that's — we — that's why we work with 1,500 companies. So yesterday our friends at BigIron uh as part of their sale had a really nice farm sale. We did a promo on it. I think it was — I don't know if it's pronounced Shapel or Shapel, Nebraska.
So it was from there, but uh they had a 10-year-old 2016 Massey Ferguson WR 9870 swather.
And very nice, 1,015 hours on it.
Sold for 137,750. Now, that's another all-time record high auction price on a WR 9870. The previous high was March of '20. So, you're talking 6-plus years ago. That was in Hubbard, Texas, and that was 122,500. So, this one went 15 and a quarter over. But, it's that 10-year-old, and again, what's a new one cost? So, to me — and oh, by the way, on that same sale, another combine point of interest, kind of a later model, smaller capacity. It was a 23-model Case 6150, super sharp. Had 436 engine hours, no heads, went for 261 and a quarter. And that's the highest auction price on a 6150. Now, granted, you don't see those every day, but 29 months, that's the highest hard cash auction price.
So, again, I think, Casey, the two trends are that generally speaking, used inventory has really pared down, and the other truth is folks aren't buying new. So, I mean, you got to farm what you got to farm, so what you want and need is the best used, and these data points in Texas, in Nebraska, in Illinois, in two sales in Illinois, uh again, coming off that little respite, like you mentioned, when auction prices kind of took a — if this — my experience over 36 years has been when you get giddy up now, you've seen it. I mean, it tends to not go backwards.
Uh well, again, next week, tomorrow, all new sales, but that 446 to me — that was a really — that was kind of a buoy in the water on that one last Thursday. Because a 2-year-old S770, I mean, super nice, but 446 — write me a check today, that is — that's — see, that's where people might say, "Oh, that's not that strong." Because what's a new one cost? But that is exceedingly strong. Yeah. It's the highest ever paid at auction by $8,000. So, that was outstanding.
Yeah. That windrower you just talked about, that massive windrower, that bringing 137 — I mean, that $100,000 windrower, you know, you take a look at it, but that's a strong number, that 137.
Very strong. Well, again, it's — yeah, it's over 15,000 hard cash over the highest I'd ever seen, and that was from what, 6 years ago.
But now, that was on — and BigIron does a really good job with this, and Sullivan's, of course, and Ritchie Brothers, and they're doing excellent work, too, on their farm sales, uh to, you know, really highlight them within their events. And they really did a nice job on this one. That was beautiful stuff. So, our farm retirement type thing. And I believe it was in a retirement — it could have been an estate. I'm not off the top of my head sure, but uh beautiful equipment, just like the sale in Poplar Grove last Thursday. Beautiful equipment. You get that little premium, but again, also last Thursday was the wheat harvest sale, which was, you know, it's a consignment, it's a dealer-farmer consignment.
When you have a 6-year-old DB80, 40-row, 48-row, you don't see that many of them, but you know how that can work at auction. That can just as easily work against you. But to sell for 311, and Kirby saying, you know, people before the sale, that thing was just bumping. So, that tells you the demand for good used out there right now, even though new isn't selling. And again, it's because that supply thing is wedged out. We've talked about it for a long time now, and this is the piece where January of '25, I was starting to write about it, you were starting to talk about it to the farm audience like, "Hey, just eyes open on this because if you assume that used values are going to be soft because the ag economy is soft." It was shaping up to me like that was looking to be unfortunately a false assumption.
Maybe that was the way you've seen it through your whole career, your dad's career, whatever, but because there are fewer dealers and because of what the dealers did in '24, smashing that late-model stuff out to auction, absorbing humongous losses, this is different. This is the new normal you've been — the way you've been saying it for quite a while now.
