Farm Sales

Nowadays, hobby-farms are popping up everywhere. It seems that many suburbanites are getting tired of living a consumer lifestyle and they’re wanting to “get back to the land”. These people are radically changing their lives, selling their BMW’s and buying old trucks, trading poodles for chickens.

This new breed of farmers typically does not expect to make their full-time living from farm income. In fact, employment of full-time farmers is expected to decline 8% over the next ten years, so these farmers generally have a full-time job off-farm. These farmers want the taste of farm-fresh vegetables, organically-raised meat, and raw milk for their own family. They do not want three hundred acres and a pile of equipment payments.

However, even with an off-farm job, this new change can be costly. It is extremely expensive to purchase brand new equipment needed for the hobby-farm. A hobby-farmer must look for bargains, and many times find them at farm sales. For instance, new corral panels can cost over $100 each. Buying them at farm sales can save the buyer 30-40 dollars on each panel.

What are farm sales? Generally these occur when a farmer ages and is ready to retire from farming or when he passes away and the family is uninterested in keeping the farm going. All of the equipment, tractors, implements, livestock trailers, etc. are offered for sale to those who are interested. Farm sales are the best place for a new farmer to get all the stuff he needs for the farm. These items may be a little banged up or weathered, but there is still plenty of use out of them.

Hobby-farmers are finding that buying used is the way to go. Little depreciation with lots of use left in the equipment means that farm sales give hobby-farmers more options.