Machinery Pete: Sprayers Spark Interest

What’s the biggest surprise in the used equipment market thus far this year? I’d have to say the emerging strength in self-propelled sprayer prices. This sector of the used market has experienced depressed values for more than five years, and dealers have been sitting on a high volume of large, late-model used units.

But that’s changing, according to auction prices, MachineryPete.com search traffic and dealer sales.

On the auction front, you can see in the data table below a few examples of very strong buyer demand the past six months. No one single auction price has shocked me more in 2017 than the $317,500 paid for the 2016 John Deere R4045 sprayer with 216 hours that sold at a farm liquidation auction in north-central Ohio on Feb. 24. The average dealer list price on a 2016 model R4045 is $325,670. 

It’s important to note the competing bidders on this 2016 R4045 sprayer weren’t able to buy a similar new model due to production limitations. It’s a classic case of limited supply equals increased demand.

On the search traffic front, we saw a hefty 38.8% increase in clicks on used self-propelled sprayers for sale at MachineryPete.com in the first quarter of 2017 versus the fourth quarter of 2016. 

Numerous farm equipment dealers also report increased sales of both new and used self-propelled sprayers. While filming for a “U.S. Farm Report” TV show in Minden, Neb., in early February, Troy Lorenzen of Landmark Implement spoke about hot sprayer sales.

“This year it just blew up,” Lorenzen said. “We’re actually very low on used sprayers, and the biggest surprise we’ve had is big tank sprayers. They’ve typically been very hard to move at times, and we’re cleaned up on big sprayers.”

Search the 1,400 self-propelled sprayers for sale, half of which are late model, at MachineryPete.com.