John Deere 8260R tops Corrigin sale at $176,000 for Dickinson family

FIVE generations of the Dickinson family grew up on Stoneley, east of Corrigin, with four generations farming the property since 1908, but last week's clearing sale marked another step towards severing the family connection.

Stoneley was leased out last year, but a decision to hold off on a clearing sale until after a record harvest and farmers across the Wheatbelt had some cash in their pockets, paid off for Peter and Karen, PJ & KL Dickinson - the fourth generation - selling up.

The sale attracted 233 registered buyers, with some coming from as far away as Northampton and Condingup, east of Esperance, to bid on specific items.

Advertised as having a number of big-ticket items listed for sale, including tractors, a telehandler, roadtrain prime movers and grain and hay trailers - all well maintained and in good condition - plus older collectible implements and equipment as items of interest, a total of about 300 people attended.

With 179 lots listed for the Dickinsons as main vendor, plus 19 additional lots offered by eight outside vendors, Elders used two auctioneers, Steele Hathway and Mike Curnick, as a tag team, changing over regularly in the hot, dusty conditions to ensure each remained in good voice.

The sale grossed $1.274 million, with 177 lots selling out of the 198 displayed.

Second last lot of the day, the Dickinsons' John Deere front-wheel-assist 8260R tractor with 6860 hours showing, attracted the highest bid at $176,000.

It had two prospective buyers chasing it.

Craig Shipway, who came down from Beacon and spent some time going over the tractor before the sale started, opened the bidding with an offer of $172,000.

But local farmer and also one of the outside vendors, Adam Rendell, on his mobile phone and relaying bids from mate, Ardath farmer and equipment trader Paul Thompson, upped the ante by $2000.

Mr Thompson and wife Melanie farm as AM & RP Walton and also trade as Ardath Acquisitions & Trading.

Mr Shipway came back with $175,000 but was trumped by a bid called by Mr Rendell who, with one arm in a sling, juggled phone and buyer registration card.

"My mate's Paul Thompson, he's a farmer at Ardath who does a little bit of buying and selling," Mr Rendell said later of the buyer he was bidding for.

"We (Mr Thompson via him bidding) were losing bidder on the 'Cat' truck, but we got the Johnnie," he said.

As a vendor Mr Rendell had his own GTE five-axle 26-tonne-rated bin trailer and a WMC Wombat XG932 wheeled loader with 250 hours on a new engine and bucket and forks, up for sale.

The bin trailer failed to reach the reserve price and was passed in at $42,000, but the Wombat loader sold for $30,000 - the highest bid for an outside vendor lot - to Murray Valley Grazing Co, Forrest Hill west of Mt Barker.

"I was hoping to sell my bin trailer and if I got something for it I would look at (buying) the lead trailer (a 2006 Howard Porter tri-axle tipper grain trailer, part of a matching road train set that was sold as individual components to three different buyers)," Mr Rendell said of his own buying and selling plans.

"As it turned out, it went for a bit more than I was prepared to pay, so after that I was bidding for my mate," he said.

Nick Rudenklau, farm manager for Epasco Farms, Condingup, outbid him at $75,000 for the trailer and also claimed the 2010 CT630 90-tonne-rated Caterpillar prime mover with 550,000 kilometres on the odometer, for $110,500 - third top price for the Dickinsons - against him and Mr Thompson, after the bidding started at $70,000.

"We'll use it to shift grain onfarm and transfer to CBH and stuff like that," Mr Rudenklau said of the purchases.

"We're replacing an older truck and upsizing after a really good season last year."

The 2008 GTE second tipping trailer was bought by G & M Box, Northampton, for $88,000 and the dual-axle dolly sold for $17,000 to Python Rocks Group, Merredin.

A 120-tonne-rated 2006 Western Star road train prime mover with Caterpillar 550 3406E engine and 2.6 million kilometres showing, sold to Ian Bowman, Carnamah, for $46,000, while two drop-deck semi-trailer hay trailers sold as a unit for $42,000 to KC & GM Spark & Co, Tincurrin.

Second top-priced item for the Dickinsons was a Manitou MLT 737-130 Telehandler with bucket and forks that attracted plenty of interest and sold for $120,000.

It was bought by grand- daughter and grandfather duo, Emma and Russell Hilder, R Hilder & Son, Frankland River, who are involved with Emma's parents in the family's mainly cropping operation while also running "a few sheep".

"It'll be for shifting everything around the farm - we don't have one," Ms Hilder said of the Telehandler.

The tractors attracted plenty of interest.

A Case 9380 Steiger four-wheel-drive articulated tractor with 7650 engine hours was bought by a Perth buyer, for $76,000, while a John Deere 8300 with rear duals, 12,000 engine hours and StarFire 3000 GPS receiver went to Samuels Pty Ltd, Bicton, for $37,500.

Earlier in the sale an older International 766 tractor sold for $5500.

But a New Holland CR9060 Elevation combine harvester with YM750 Trimble guidance display, 4350 engine hours and 3303 rotor hours, complete with 11.8 metre Honeybee front and trailer, attracted only one bid of $55,000 and was passed in.

Similarly, an as-new New Holland 1290 Plus baler that had produced only 22,000 bales, was passed in after one bid of $70,000.

Both auctioneer Mr Hathway and Mr Dickinson agreed it was the "wrong time of year" to try to sell harvesting and hay baling equipment.

Despite that, a 10-metre Berrima hay rake sold for $46,000 after a bidding war to WR & RB Cocking, Mogumber and a New Holland discbine 316 PTO mower sold for $50,000 to Millden Hay, Corrigin.

Local farming family GW & BM Robinson bought all of the 996 big squares hay bales offered in five lots for $90 a bale - $89,640 in total - and an IBC tank containing 1000 litres of Glyphosate herbicide put up by outside vendor Brian Praetz sold for $10,000 - $10 a litre - to Kia Ora Farming, Dumbleyung.

A tow-behind Hardie Commander 7000 boomsprayer sold for $30,000 to DL & SN Turner, Aldersyde.

One of the collectable items, an unlicensed 1970s FJ45 Toyota steel tray LandCruiser ute with little rust sold to local buyers NA Turner & Son for $10,000, while an International ACCO 1950C truck with 5.4 metre steel tipping tray put up by outside vendor Andrew George, sold for the same amount to TF & DM Major, Narambeen.

Mr Hathway said he was pleased with the "excellent" turnout and overall result.

"Some of the sundry stuff probably wasn't as strong as I've seen in some of the past sales, but all the better items and the big-ticket items in the back half of the sale sold extremely well," he said.

"It's the wrong time of the year for the harvester and some of the field bins were a little bit cheaper simply because it's the wrong time of the year - same with the baler.

"But the mower, conditioner and the rake made up for that.

"All the machinery sold for well above expectations, so all in all an excellent result."

Mr Dickinson was also pleased.

"Overall, the sale was extremely good I thought," he said.

"The Elders guys did an excellent job, they worked really hard.

"We lost about 400 hectares (of dry feed in paddocks) across the north end of the property (in last month's bushfires around Corrigin) and lost about a week of putting stuff out and preparing for the sale.

"The fire was not far from the house and our big hay shed, so we were lucky to get through.

"We (Peter and Karen) are trying to retire to Mandurah, but I keep getting job offers in the meantime."

Mr Dickinson said his two sons and daughter were settled in their own careers away from the farm.

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