Sending a "Modern" Combine to the Ukraine

[The Famous Grouse]

A business contact of mine has been over from Europe several times and I've gotten to know him a little. His parents are still farming in Ukraine, his father is only 65 and farmers don't really retire in Ukraine because this area is very, very poor by our North American standards. They use equipment until it's dead, then they piece it back together and use it more.

They are using a pair of ancient Deere 55 combines, one is an open station. I believe he said they have 2500 acres if I'm converting hectares correctly of small grain, so combining takes a long, long, time apparently. They also do a neighbor's land. I don't know what a Deere 55 covers in a day, but I'm guessing it's not 200 acres. Breakdowns are frequent, repair parts do not exist. The engines have been replaced with some type of Soviet-era diesel, the fact that they accomplished this repower is a testimony to their powers of bush engineering.

Anyway, this guy was wondering how I found my old Deere tractor for my hunting property and I unwittingly introduced him to the wonder that is Craigslist.

He has been surfing it for the past year or so and he is astonished at the equipment that is being "given away" over here. Combines with less than 5000 hours for less than $7000. This is unheard of in Ukraine where working used machines are almost never sold at any price. He showed machines to his father and it's absolutely killing both of them, so he looked into the cost of shipping whole combine and to be honest I was surprised at how cheap it was. $5000-$6000 will get 'er all the way to Odessa from the US east coast.

He's looking at 6620, 7720, and 8820 Deere machines, so total outlay to get the machine to Odessa with a grain head and spare parts would be somewhere around $18,000 - $20,000.

I think he's crazy. His father says that these machines are ultra modern by Ukraine standards.

So my question is:

Were these really good and reliable Deere machines? Any major issues they should know about?

Is this crazy? I mean, be honest. Shipping a combine this far to be used by someone who's never driven a hydro machine and never worked on anything newer than what, 1960 or whenever the last Deere 55 rolled off the line?

He's so serious about this that he's looking at bringing his father over this summer to "go shopping". His father has never left Ukraine. This guy makes good money as an engineer, so he's going to buy the combine for his dad for a birthday present. I just would hate to see them go through all this trouble and expense and get a bum steer or worse.

What do you guys think of this idea?

Grouse
 

[fastfarmall]

Yes the hundred series or the 20 series were both good machines,the straw walker were wooden boxing's but they last last almost forever, the big thing is it's a Hydro, how long is that going to last or when it need work, is the big unknown. You can get them with posi-torque drive too, there good too, that's two big sheaves the close and open to get a variable ground speed. The John Deere engine, the 404 or 466 are real dependable too in my opinion, there going to be picking up swaths there? But i hope he realize he needs another 2,000 dollars of parts, Brg's belts, pick up teeth,fuel filters, engine oil, you dont want to gas engine oil in them turbo diesles, etc, he might as well buy a big Job box and send along with it, that way he's got a place to keep it, and all dry!!
 

[The Famous Grouse]

Apparently, the Ukrainians have some shirttail relatives up in Saskatchewan that has been advising them. They've been helping these guys keep the 55s alive with parts care packages.

The SK relatives said the XX20 Deeres are the way to go as they had them back when they were new up there. I guess the plus side is that they can help on the knowhow end and they are pretty creative with taking apart things and sending them piece by piece in the mail. I guess they've taken apart stuff and sent one part over in 6 packages so they can get it through the regular mail which is way faster.

Grouse
 

[Dugger]

[quote="The Famous Grouse"](reply to post at 18:11:22 01/02/18) [/quote]
I agree they are solid machines
But if they are that poor even
$20,000 is a lot of money
Just wondering
Dugger
 

[The Famous Grouse]

I agree they are solid machines
But if they are that poor even
$20,000 is a lot of money
Just wondering
Dugger

[centash]

Why don't they look in western Europe for a combine? Lots of good machines there, and
the shipping costs saved would cover a lot of repairs.
Ben
 

[4520BW]

What about rostenmash combines,l believe
they are Russia? We had one that was
shipped in from the Ukraine to be repowered
so they could be sold here. I believe
buhler versatile own them now.
 

[GreenEnvy]

Just send him some nice square back diesel 105s. Those should double those 55s can do plus it would still be the same basic design they are familiar with. Also, I have been told by many guys who ran 55s back when they were new is they were good for about 40 acres in a long day.
 

[JMS/.MN]

google "Haukos Brothers" in Glencoe, MN. They have been shipping JD planters and other equipment to Russia for many years.
 

[paul]

Fella here in Minnesota was buying up all the JD 7000 planters and shipping them to Russia, was pretty good as the price of those planters
about doubled.....

I think they can be broken down to fit in a container tho, stuff it full of planters for cheap shipping.

A whole combine, that's a little more involved.

An interesting, maybe, view of farming over there in one part of their country in my link.

Paul
Farming Ukraine style

 

[4520BW]

Rostselmash ....darn auto spell
 

[Levi]

I would say its not a terrible idea especially if they have family willing to help with parts from north america. A hydro would probably be a safer bet. Belt drive parts are JD manufactured whyle the hydro components are eaton and sundstrand which should make them a lot more available outside of JD's part system. heare is a link to an outfit that sells them, http://www.stoens.com/john-deere
 

[The Famous Grouse]

Thanks for the replies guys. At least it's not the worst idea anyone's ever heard of. I like this family and I guess I empathize with them being from the European equivalent of our flyover land.

Why not buy a European machine? Good question. I'm speculating that it has to do with politics, cost, and transport. They certainly have looked into it in Germany, CR, and Slovakia. Everything in Europe is very, very expensive to these folks. Russia and Ukraine aren't on friendly terms these days, so cross border travel with expensive machines sounds dicey to me. The political situation in this part of the world is very dicey and complicated.

And to be honest I get the sense that they like the adventure of this. Farming out there sounds like quite a grind and apparently, there's a wedding this summer up in SK that they'd like to attend. I guess these weddings are quite the deal, like a 3 day deal.

Well, like I said, at least the idea isn't the worst. It'd be pretty cool if they pulled this off, but I just want to see them get something better than what they got, doesn't matter from where.

Things are pretty rough over there, we talk about bad times and troubles over here like we know what they are. Gotta say over there you get people yearning for the good old days of the Soviet Union and you can't blame them a lot for it. I can see where they do think of those as the good old days, everybody had a job and got to go to a summer camp every year, etc, etc. Makes you thankful for what you've got.

Grouse
 

[jm.]

They can hook up with a export broker to handle the paper work and get it exported/imported. Should not be too big a deal but unit does have to be squeaky clean when it gets to port or they will clean it and bill the shipper. I do a few dozers a year and not a big problem.
 

[Bob]