Machinery Cost Estimates for Amish Farms

Introduction

There are now over 1,400 congregations, or church districts, of old and new order Amish spread across 33 states in the United States. The districts are clustered into more than 250 settlements of various sizes. The total Amish populations exceeds 170,000, and it more than doubles every 20 years. Over 40 new congregations are formed each year (Kraybill & Hofstetler, 2001).

Participation and presentations at recent conferences focused on Amish communities demonstrate that Extension workers are routinely asked to assist with Amish agricultural problems. Finding technically accurate, up-to-date information that is relevant to horse powered, Amish farm systems can be extremely challenging.

Extension workers have available a great deal of information to assist farmers in decision making on various crop and livestock enterprises. For example, Ohio State University annually produces farm enterprise budgets that list costs and returns for various crops and livestock (Moore et al., 2002). These budgets can be very helpful for modern agriculture; however, they are of marginal use to the Extension worker advising Amish farmers. While portions of the budgets, like seed costs and fertilizer, are similar in Amish and non-Amish farms, other portions are completely different.

One of the most difficult numbers to estimate on an Amish farm is machinery costs. The equipment used on Amish farms is largely dictated by the ordnung (spoken rules of the church district) of each church district (Kraybill & Olshan, 1994; Drake & James, 1993). A study conducted in 2002 estimated the major machinery costs on Amish farms in the Geauga Settlement, which is centered in Geauga County, Ohio. The settlement is the fourth largest Amish settlement in the world, with approximately 1,800 families and over 80 church districts (Kraybill & Hofstetler, 2001; Miller, 2001).

Methodology

Two county Extension workers facilitated discussions with three small groups of Amish farmers in the Geauga Amish settlement on machinery costs. Using a set interview guide, each group was asked to discuss and agree upon the average cost, average useful life, salvage value, and annual maintenance cost of 23 common pieces of machinery used on Amish farms. The participants were encouraged to discuss each piece of equipment individually and come to consensus on the various values. A maximum average life of any piece of equipment was set at 30 years, even though it is recognized that some equipment may last longer.

Because most of the equipment used on Amish farms is no longer manufactured, the farmers were instructed to establish the values based on a good, serviceable, used piece of equipment that a full time farmer might buy. The harrow, hay wagons, forecart, and hay tedder are typically bought new, so the farmers developed values based on new equipment in these cases. In addition, it was identified that manure spreaders are often purchased new, but a large number of farmers also buy used. Therefore, in the case of manure spreaders, values on both new and used equipment were generated.

In the studied Amish settlement, each farm typically owns a complete line of machinery, with the exception of the threshing machine, which is typically owned by a "threshing circle" of 2-6 farms. To derive each farm's machinery costs, it is necessary to divide the threshing machine numbers by the total number of farms in the circle.

Each group interview lasted approximately 45 to 60 minutes and was conducted in three different Amish homes. A host Amish farmer invited neighboring farmers to participate in the meetings. At the conclusion of all three meetings, mean values for each item were calculated and are presented in Table 1, in the Results and Discussion section. Total annual cost was established by:

(Mean Purchase Price - Mean Salvage Value) / (Mean Useful Life) = Depreciation,
Depreciation + Annual Maintenance + Opportunity Costs = Total Annual Cost

At the conclusion of the study, the researchers realized two important pieces of equipment, a pesticide sprayer and a broadcast fertilizer spreader, had been inadvertently omitted. Both of these pieces of equipment are ordinarily purchased new. The researchers visited and interviewed an Amish equipment dealer who supplies these to the community. This equipment dealer was able to provide the necessary information to include these items in Table 1.

A mechanical corn picker was not included in Table 1 because dry ear corn destined for the corn crib is picked and husked by hand in the Geauga Amish Settlement.

Results and Discussion

Some of the equipment in Table 1 is not common to conventional farms; therefore, additional explanation is needed.

• Corn Planter and Grain Drill - the same ground driven pieces of equipment that might be used on small non-Amish farms.

• Drag - a homemade wooden drag to be pulled by horses in the final tillage operation. The price listed reflects the cost of materials.

• Feed Grinder - standard hammer mill used on non-Amish farms, except it is converted to steel wheels and powered by a stationary tractor.

• Fertilizer Spreader - small hopper and broadcast spreader mounted on the running gears of a hay mower so that it is ground driven and pulled by horses.

• Field Sprayer  - small pesticide sprayer mounted on steel wheels, powered by gasoline engine and pulled through the field by horses.

• Forecart - a recent innovation in the Geauga Amish Settlement. This cart is hooked directly behind the horses and has a seat for the driver and a short drawbar to attach other farm implements. The forecart has greatly reduced the time it takes to change the horses from one farm implement to another. The carts are produced in local Amish blacksmith shops.

• Grain Binder and Corn Binder - cuts and ties bundles of small grain and silage corn, respectively, and drops them on the field. The sheaths of small grain are then picked up and shocked by the farm family and allowed to dry for approximately 2 weeks in the field prior to threshing. Bundles of silage corn are generally picked up by hand and thrown on a wagon to transport to the barn and silo within a day of being cut.

• Grain/Hay Elevator - standard web-type elevator used on conventional farms, except that it is always powered by a small gasoline engine.

• Harness - leather harness for draft horses. Harness for one draft horse costs approximately $200. Most Amish farms have at least four draft horses, but many farms have six or more draft horses, and the costs of harness may be proportionately larger.

• Hay Baler - conventional square bale baler modified with steel wheels and a gasoline motor mounted on the baler, that serves as a power source for the machine, instead of the normal power take off shaft coming from the tractor. This modified baler is then pulled through the field by a team of horses.

• Hay Loader - old style loose hay loader used in Amish church districts where the modified hay balers are not permitted. The loader, which is hitched behind the hay wagon, pulls hay off the field and deposits it on the wagon, where the farmer redistributes the load with a pitchfork. The hay loader is ground driven; therefore, no gasoline motor is needed for power. In this case, the power source is the team of horses pulling the wagon and loader.

• Hay Tedder - normally bought new and is a standard ground-driven piece of equipment used on both Amish and non-Amish farms.

• Hay Wagon - the same running gears and 8' x 16' bed that would be found on non-Amish farms. However, the pneumatic tires are replaced with steel wheels. Because the hay balers used do not have bale throwers, high sidewalls on the wagons are not needed. Baled hay is hand stacked by the farmer against a back upright, wooden standard. In the case of loose hay, wagons are also equipped with a shorter standard in the front. These wagons are also used to bring shocked small grain out of the field to the thrashing machine and bundled corn to the silage chopper, along with a variety of other farm tasks.

• Manure Spreader - new or used, ground-driven, box-type spreader for solid manure and bedding, which holds approximately 80 bushels of material.

• Plow, disc, and harrow - essentially the same pieces of equipment that would be used on a small conventional farm, except the tongue may be modified to accommodate a horse hitch. The plow is typically a one bottom "sulky," which means the farmer sits on a metal seat above the plow and drives a team of up to six draft horses. The disc is a standard conventional 8' disc, and the harrow is an 8' spring tooth.

• Rake - standard ground-driven, side-delivery 12' rake with steel wheels.

• Sickle Bar Hay Mower - simple old style riding hay mower, pulled by horses.

• Silage Chopper - an old style cutter box with blower. Chopper is powered by a flat belt connected to a stationary tractor. Whole corn stalks are brought from the field and fed into the machine, which chops them into silage length and blows them into the silo.

• Threshing machine - used to separate small grain seed from chafe and straw. Typically owned by a "threshing circle" of 2-6 farms, each farm's annual cost should be divided by the total number of farms in the circle. For example, each farm in a three-farm circle would have a total annual cost of one-third of $96 or $32.

• Tractor - McCormick Deering W6, Oliver 88, John Deere 40 or 50 series, or any similar tractor produced by other manufacturers. Most of these tractors were produced in the 1940's and 50's. They are kept in use by periodic major overhaul of the entire machine. Most are approximately 45 horse power, and all are steel wheeled. If they did not originally come with steel wheels, they are retrofitted with steel wheels prior to use on  Amish farms. These tractors are not permitted in the field in the Geauga Settlement. They are used as a stationary power source to operate equipment such as the threshing machine or a silage chopper in the barnyard. Power is transferred from the tractor to the equipment through a pulley on the side of the tractor and an old style flat belt.

Because draft horses are a major power source on Amish farms, the cost of their ownership and maintenance must also be included in the total machinery and maintenance costs. Discussions with local Amish farmers and horse producers, along with local auction prices, indicate that a serviceable 2-year-old draft horse mare or gelding, broke to harness, costs between $1,000 and $1,200, or a rough average of $1,100. The actual price range is much wider, varying from a few hundred dollars for animals unfit for farm work and often destined for export and human consumption, to many thousands of dollars for animals of show ring quality.

Barring an accident or fatal disease, most draft horses should have a working life of approximately 12 years. At the end of the good working years, they are often kept for light work until they die or get sick and have to be killed and buried. Thus, there is no salvage value. Therefore, $1,100 divided by 12 years is $91.67 per year, or about 25 cents a day for horse depreciation.

Valuing hay at $90 per ton and oats at $1.50 per bushel, it should cost approximately $675 per year to feed a working draft horse, (Kline, Porr, & Cardina, 2000). This figure includes hay, grain, and minerals. Approximately $25 per year should be added for vaccines and health care.

Most working draft horses are not shoed. The small amount of trimming and foot care necessary is typically performed by the farmer at little to no cost. Bedding costs are trivial. Because draft horses sleep standing up in stalls and rarely lay down, bedding is largely unnecessary.

The cost of housing and pasture are very difficult to estimate because horses are typically housed in the barn with dairy cattle or other livestock and also graze with the other livestock. Therefore, it is easiest to charge all the pasture and housing costs to the cows or other livestock. This is particularly valid because the horses are primarily there to serve the needs of the cows and other livestock.

Therefore, the total annual cost of owning and maintaining a draft horse can be estimated as $92 per year for depreciation and $700 per year for feed and health care, for a total of $792 per year, or $2.20 per day. Because a harness is absolutely necessary to utilize the power of the draft horse, the cost of the harness should be included with the cost of the horse. The total annual cost of single harness is $30, or $0.08 per day. Therefore, the total daily cost of the draft horse, including harness, is approximately $2.28 per day. This number is rounded to $2.30 per day so as not to imply greater accuracy than the calculation methods support.

A remaining challenge is to estimate the number of "horse days" allocated to each enterprise in order to calculate an enterprise budget. A "horse day" is simply the amount of time that goes into a project or enterprise. For example, if a farmer plows all day with five horses, that's five horse days, with a value of $11.50. Horse days needed for each farm enterprise can be estimated through discussions with local Amish farmers.

Implications for Extension

Information from this study will be most helpful for Extension workers preparing farm enterprise budgets and educational presentations for Amish clientele. Individual equipment budgets can be constructed for various crops. For example, an oat crop would need a grain drill, plow, disc, harrow, drag, wagon, threshing machine, hay baler, grain elevator, and tractor. It would not need a rake, hay tedder, sickle bar mower, corn binder, silage chopper, etc. Dividing the necessary complement of equipment for each crop by an average number of acres produced will generate an approximate equipment cost. Table 2 provides an example of annual machinery costs for an oat crop on an Amish farm.

If it was found through discussions with local Amish farmers that, if 5 horse days, at $2.30 per day, are needed to produce small grain, then $12  per acre should be added to the total machinery costs. In this example, $12 for horse time would be added to the $33 machinery cost per acre generated in Table 2 for a total machinery and horse charge of $45. In the case of the Ohio State University Enterprise Budgets, this is $15 per acre less than the non-Amish budget.

The Extension worker can then use this number ($45) to replace the machinery charge in existing enterprise budgets and estimate total costs of small grains in horse drawn systems. The new budget would be much more realistic for Amish farmers and would provide a powerful educational tool to the Extension worker.

References

Drake, B., & James, R. (1993). Extension in Religious Communities. Journal of Extension [On-line], 31(1). Available at: http://www.joe.org/joe/1993spring/a6.html

Extension Education in Amish and other Anabaptist Communities. Conference Proceedings (1998). Shipshewana, Indiana.

Kline, R., Porr, S., & Cardina, J. (2000). Horse Nutrition. Bulletin 762. Ohio State University Extension.

Kraybill, D., & Olshan, M. (1994). The Amish struggle with modernity. University Press of New England.

Kraybill, D., & Hofstetler, N. (2001). Anabaptist world. Herald Press, Scottsdale, Pennsylvania.

Miller, A. (2001). Ohio Amish directory, Geauga County and vicinity. Carlisle Printing, Sugarcreek, Ohio.

Moore, et al. (2002). Ohio enterprise budgets. Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, Ohio State University Extension. Available at: http://aede.ag.ohio-state.edu/people/moore.301/index.htm

Serving Amish and Anabaptist Communities. Conference Proceedings (2001). Walnut Creek, Ohio.