Case IH 7230 Axial Flow combine harvester makes $265,000 at Grass Valley sale

For the money they added a 2014 Case IH 7230 Axial Flow combine harvester with AFS Pro 700 display and 2009 MacDon 12.2 metre rigid draper front with new mats plus comb trailer, to their farming equipment inventory.

Presented in immaculate condition apart from a cover missing from an external mirror, the harvester had 4171 engine hours and 3216 rotor hours showing and had undergone a major service at 3900 hours at Boekeman Machinery, according to the lot description stuck to the cab steps.

As the last lot for main vendor NW Roe & Sons and second last lot of the clearing sale, the header initially appeared to attract less interest than the lots immediately before it - two Case IH tractors, one a 123 kiloWatts 2018 model and the other a 93kW 2015 model with front-end loader bucket and hay fork, both also dealer serviced and presented in as-new condition.

With manufacturers' combine harvester supply chains now flowing again, albeit some with 18-24 month delivery waits and dealers unable to quote a firm delivery price, interest in second-hand headers at clearing sales has waned noticeably since last year, with prices achieved generally lower accordingly.

Nutrien Ag Solutions auctioneer Grant Lupton called for bids from $320,000, but had to drop his sights progressively to $180,000 to get an opening bid.

Mr Lupton's "starter man" bidder and a second bidder pushed the price up between them to $220,000, before a call from out the back of the crowd signalled David Knipe, standing with others in the shade of a tree, was making it a three-way contest.

One bidder quickly dropped out, but "starter man" continued, pushing the price to $260,000 before Mr Knipe trumped that and claimed the header with a bid of $265,000.

"We didn't come here (to the clearing sale) looking to buy anything, we came just to have a look," son Sandon Knipe said later.

"Then he (father) started bidding and now we've coming back tomorrow to pick up a header."

"It'll be a second header for us.

"We've got a bigger one at home that's the same make and same year, but it'll be put to work," he said of the new purchase.

Minutes earlier the bigger of the two tractors had generated a similar bidding contest, but between a bidder in the crowd, who had come up for the sale from the South Coast, and a bidder on the phone with Andrew O'Connor from Nutrien Goomalling calling bids on his behalf.

From an opening bid of $140,000, the two pushed each other in $2500 increments to a final price of $165,000 called by Mr O'Connor for Mitchell Hogg, Williams,

Bidding for the smaller Case tractor started at $80,000, with two bidders on phones relaying their calls via agents at the sale.

But the competition petered out at $97,500 and shy of the reserve price.

Mr Lupton announced that at the price called "we are very, very close to selling and will deal privately".

By the time the big tractor next lot was sold, he announced the smaller tractor had also been sold.

It went to Brighton Farm, Capel, for $100,000.

A neat and tidy 2005 Iveco F2350G 6x4 former garbage compactor truck turned into a tipping tray with 13 tonne grain bin and 210,314 kilometres showing, was the fourth most sought after item.

Bidding for the truck started at $50,000 and progressed in $1000 increments to a winning bid of $70,000 by Somerfield Park Grazing Co, Trayning.

A 2018 Highline N1 rock picker in excellent condition sold to P & SR Negri, Babakin, for $60,000, RN & JG Stewart, Miling, claimed a 6m Norrish Ezi Bin with Hobbs Hoist with a late bid of $54,000 and a 10t Marshall Multispread in good condition sold to Cobham Pastoral Company, York, for $52,000.

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Initially passed in at $32,000, a 2014 6000lt Hardi Navigator boomsprayer with 28m boom and auto rate controller was sold before the auction ended to Westdale Rural Enterprises, Westdale, for $35,000.

As at other sales this year, there was competition for a Cole hydraulic self-propelled grain auger with 15.2m by 23 centimetre barrel and new Honda motor.

Bidding started at $15,000 and went up in $500 jumps to a winning bid of $26,500 by Somerfield Park Grazing.

Smaller, manual lift and move augers sold for $300 and $320.

Similarly, a 45t Moylan field bin sold for $15,250, but smaller bins from various makers made between $1400 and $3300.

Bird's 8t sheep feeders sold for $1400 and $1200, a 2.8t Bird's feeder sold for $1200, a 1t lick feeder for $500 and a trail feeder trailer for $1200.

Portable sheep yards sold for $4000 and a 1988 TPW wool press attracted attention and made $10,200.

About 140 kilograms of Pioneer hybrid RR canola seed sold for $6200, 42 round bales of wheat hay sold for $1470 and another 40 round bales sold for $1300.

Buyers who knew chemical prices jumped on some fungicide and herbicide lots, with 80lt of Prosaro fungicide coupled with two bags of Conquest fungicide selling for $4000 and a pallet of five unopened 110lt containers of Glyphosate 540 Etreme sold for $3700, but a pallet of 13 bags of Simazine herbicide was passed in.

The sale concluded with an older John Deere 9650 combine harvester with 936 front being auctioned for an outside vendor and making $15,000 for a one-bid sale to Dwyer Bros, Southern Brook.

"It was a good sale - I sold two headers today, so any sale you can do that is a good sale," said Mr Lupton afterwards.

"The presentation of the machinery today was excellent and full credit to the vendor for that and I'm sure knowing that the machines have been serviced and maintained by a reputable dealer made potential buyers feel more comfortable bidding for them," he said.

Vendor Peter Roe said he was pleased with the sale result.

"They (Mr Lupton and other Nutrien staff who helped run the sale) did a good job," he said.

Mr Roe said the property had been sold and he was looking to pursue other interests.