Are You a fruit farmer? Is your orchard bigger than 10 ha? Are you thinking of buying a new machine for work, but think it is too expensive? If You have answered all the questions with a yes this article is especially worth reading.

The purchase of high quality machines as tractors, lawnmowers, shredders, harvesting platforms, sprayers is a good investment, furthermore it means saving money in the long run. Why would you decide for a cheaper solution if You can save time, make your work easier, safer, work friendlier to the environment, while you are also saving energy and cost?

Are You buying a cheap tractor with a low number of hydraulic connections and unsuitable tires for the only reason that it is cheap? In one or two years You will be sorry for this decision because You will not be able to connect “up to date” attachments to it. Furthermore, You will be sorry because unsuitable tires made holes and ruined the terrain of your once beautiful orchard and because its fuel consumption is too high. The worse decision is of course buying a cheap tractor which will result in purchases of primitive attachments which will not allow economic and high quality work.

We will not state that this kind of machines are not good, sure they are! Beside the lower purchase price, they have also different conception. Other materials are used. To shorten this part: We have to check if the machine is OK for a professional user. The live cycle of this machine will be a lot shorter than expected if the user is someone with cultivation bigger than 10 ha. This cheaper solution will bring higher maintenance cost than needed. This problem will occur more often and at the end of the day the work which needed to be done, will not be done on time and the quality of the work will not be as expected. Every operation like mulching, spraying, etc. will bring the same outcome. This is the reason that before buying a machine You should think and re-think everything which machine offers. Think about different kind of machines, their usage, maintenance cost and saving on work in 10, 20 years. You will come to the conclusion that a machine with the lowest purchase price is not necessarily the cheapest one. Take a look at following example.

The comparison between models ZM 400 Standard EN and ZM 400 DT-O shows that the »cost« of both machines becomes the same in less than 2,5 years. 

Comparison between ZM 400 DT- O with standard and additional equipment

The comparison shows, that the cost of machine with additional equipment for easier and better work break even in compare with a machine with standard equipment after 8,5 years. Furthermore, this calculation doesn't include the cost of fuel and PPP which are significantly lower (up to 50%) in case of using the machine equipped with additional features. In case that our comparison would also include fuel and PPP cost, we would see that the higher purchase price brings return on investment before the end of the third year. This advantage isn't the most significant advantage. Beside the cost reduction, the most important is finding the »time window« for spraying.

 Shorter working time gives us the chance to choose the right time to start spraying. We should choose the time of the day when there is no impact of wind, thermal conditions, too high or too low humidity, temperature. Finding the right time results in better condition of cultivation, lower operational cost but most importantly - the probability of better protection of crops in these conditions.

Think twice before buying Your next machine, think about working time, easier work, how many times you will have to leave the cabin of the tractor, what will be the price of PPP, fuel. Maybe your next sprayer will also reduce problems with your neighbours, because it will not throw pesticides on their territory or will be much quieter when working. Because of all this – higher purchase price usually means lower price on the long term.

Did You ever ask yourself, what is the value of one hour of your work???

ZUPAN wishes You all the best.