What a difference a month makes! Last sale the heavens opened, a deluge of rain fell all auction day (and all week!) and the inclement weather quite literally put the dampers on what potentially was a good sale, writes Bill Pepper, Cheffins director and head of machinery auction division.
This month was somewhat better. We had a great entry for the time of year, the weather was on our side and the trade was generally more robust than our pre-auction predications. Okay, July is never the zingiest of months, hay and silage making and the impending harvest mean that many buyers are absent, but this year, gross sales exceeded last year and even with Brexit looming ever nearer, we still had a good number of EU buyers present and online.
Tractors
A comprehensive entry of some 300 tractors were consigned this month and even though the overall quality was a tad shy of previous months, there was plenty of demand across the whole price spectrum. As usual, we started proceedings with the older Masseys and East African buyers ensured there were very few left at the end of the day. Prices were definitely firmer than the last couple of sales as buyers got stuck in and for most, the hammer dropped at values north of reserve prices. Some figures achieved would include: up to £3700 for export quality Massey Ferguson 135’s, top price for a 690 was £4100, 590’s averaged £4000, 265’s did £1000 more and 290’s did much the same. We had some slightly rarer models too: a sharp 277 made a decent £6200 and a 297 with loader topping out at almost £5000. Up the Massey quality scale and things motored nicely along: a presentable 390T sold for a maiden bid of £10,000, an unusual 3635S did circa £12,500, and a 2007 6480 is off to Cyprus for £16,000, to name just a few.
Ford trade was a little softer this month (apart from a TW35 which topped £20,000) but New Hollands fared better: a direct from farm 1998 8560 stormed past its reserve to top £15,000, £22,000 was enough to own a 2009 T6080, a used 2018 TD90D took £20,500 and a 2004 TS110A was a decent purchase at £16,500.
John Deere trade was sharper this month as the numbers on offer weren’t quite as high as previous sales. Key buyers from Spain, Poland, Germany and Ireland ensured few bargains and when one thought something was going cheap, the internet chirped up and the price increased by a few bids. The nicest Deere in my book was the neo-classic 4255 which, after some determined bidding, fell to a closing bid of circa £16,000. A little newer was a 7810 with the benefit of Power Quad transmission. A roll over from last month, this eclipsed its reserve to eventually make £23,000. Some other deals: over £27,000 was paid for a 2009 6830 c/w loader, a 7530 seemed good value at £24,000, a 2014 6110RC easily made £38,000 and a direct from farm 6920 romped past its reserve to make circa £22,000.
Other makes and models did well: once again JCB Fastracs just about sold out to online bidders from Eastern Europe, a 2002 Fendt 412 attracted some quite frenzied bidding topping out at over £20,000, a 2013 Claas 530 Arion did well at circa £26,500 and a 2007 Valtra T130 seemed a fair buy for £20,500.
Plant
Despite a decent entry the trade during Monday’s plant sale was slightly slower than previous months. A good amount of digger loaders were entered but demand was strongest for the cheaper machines with Case 580s, JCB 3CXs and Kubota models all finding new homes.
Telehandlers were in good supply with JCB, Manitou, Claas, JLG, Merlo and John Deere examples all finding success on the day. Buyers from Bulgaria, Ireland and the UK were strongest this month with good bidding for the best machines. One of the cleaner telehandlers was a 2013 JCB 536-60 which after much interest achieved over £20,000 and is staying in the country.
Excavator trade was more challenging during this month’s sale, but a good number of machines were still sold. A superb looking Hyundai R80 CR-9 caused much bidding in the field, eventually selling for just under £18,000 to an Irish buyer online.
Generator and Compressor trade was the strongest it has been for a few months, with a good percentage selling on the day and several more being sold afterwards. Anything from 10kva up to 100 KVA was sought after, with one of the nicest lots being a fantastic looking trailer mounted 50kva generator that was reserved at £2000 and after much bidding in the field eventually made well over £3000. Engine trade was also better than previous auctions with Perkins, Mercedes, Isuzu and DAF variants all finding new homes. There was good trade into Sudan, Lebanon, Ireland and the UK for the choice lots.
If possible for the August sale, please could all vendors remind their drivers to hand plant keys into the office for safe keeping when machines are delivered. Also, where possible could engines and generators be delivered on pallets.
Machinery Section
560 lots were entered into Monday’s machinery section, including a substantial non-reserved consignment from one hire company of buckets and other attachments which exceeded many commission bids left prior to the auction. Highlights of this section were a number of 2015/2017 JCB sweeper attachments, the best of which sold for £1600.
Vicon spreaders sold well even though the season is largely considered to be over and in hedge cutters, an ex council McConnel sold for £800 over reserve at £3,800 and an unreserved, farmer entered Bomford 467 enjoyed brisk competition finally selling for £3000. Trailers and balers experienced patchy trade best of which saw a Wootton trailer make £2200 and a Claas Variant 260 Rota cut sell for £4700. Mowers and tedders struggled a tad this month as the season is galloping along, the highlight being a McConnel Merlin offset mower selling £2000 over its reserve for £3,000. On the cultivation kit front, an Amazon 4m cultivator sold post sale at its reserve of £9500 and a Vaderstad Rapid 8m drill also sold afterwards £500 off its reserve for £12,000.
Ifor Williams trailers were the highlight of the day with a sizeable crowd battling for livestock trailers, flatbeds and a very clean horsebox. Top price for these was an unreserved Ifor Williams 14ft tri Axle livestock trailer selling for £3000.
In conclusion the strongest trade experienced was for any items displaying the unreserved red labels, dealers seemed reluctant to speculatively purchase stock but genuine ex farm equipment, as ever, was selling very well.
Horticulture and Spares
The Horticultural section of the sale was once again full to the brim with a good selection of grass cutting and grass equipment. Utility vehicles again were most popular, and a selection moved to new owners, a Kubota RTV 900 sold well at £4200, a clean 6 wheeled Polaris RTV sold easily at £2800 and then came the John Deere gators, a tidy XUV855 sold very well at £5500, another 855 with a canvas canopy sold at £3600 and a HPX gator sold at £3400. Good quality compact tractors were also available and a very clean Siromer 204s on turf tyres sold at £2000. A John Deere X748 sold at £3000 and a smaller John Deere 955 sailed away at £1200. Other highlights offered were a Lindana TP60 tracked woodchipper with only 1117 hours sold well at £5800 and a Palax Firewood processor which attracted a lot of attention eventually sold for £2600.
Spares and wheels and tyres, although quieter this month, still found a good amount of new buyers, with weights still popular at up to £500 per clean set and £400 for a good clean weight block. Wheels and tyres sell well when in matching pairs and sets, £300 would get you a pair of 15.4/34 tyres with good tread, £350 a pair of 18.4/38 dual wheels, £350 for a pair of 12.4/46 John Deere rowcrop wheels and 3450 would get you a pair of 520/85 dual wheels.
The next Cambridge Machinery Sale will be held on Monday 5th August and all entries are invited for the 8th sale of the year.
Before then, we have our summer Vintage and Classic auction being held at Sutton on Saturday 20th July featuring a great line up of tractors, commercials, motorcycles and just anything “vintage”. Full details available on our web-site: www.cheffins.co.uk.