A fleet of seven 2022 250 and 276 kilowatt and 2021 382kw low-hours John Deere tractors set up for cropping attracted strong competing local and interstate interest at a Lake King reduction sale last week.
Ultimately, the tractors - two bigger units selling to a top of $460,000 and four of the five smaller units to a top of $450,000 - all went to Western Australian buyers.
Individual local buyers also snapped up a fleet of five Trufab field bins, which sold from between $65,000 for an 85 tonne 2008 model to $170,000 for a 125t 2020 model.
However, interest did not extend to four three-seasons-old John Deere S790 combine harvesters which were passed in - two without a bid and two with opening bids of $350,000 failing to achieve reserve price.
Conducted by South Coastal Agencies - Nutrien Ag Solutions, Ravensthorpe, for Arkle Farms on its Greymaun property east of Lake King, the reduction sale attracted 122 registered bidders, with a young John Deere fleet being sold off to make way for new CLAAS machinery.
"There was significant interest from interstate - they've had good rains over there and that has triggered interest (in machinery) - but most of the buyer activity was from local buyers," said Ravensthorpe agent Kyle Forsyth.
"Most of the (bidder) registrations were from southern WA.
"If you watched the phone bids, most of them ran out of puff $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 before the final bid.
"So that was probably when the freight difference (between getting a machine to a new home in WA or a new home in the Eastern States) had been realised.
"I had one (machinery) dealer tell me (during the sale) the machinery was selling at market value, which was good.
"We've got some interest in the headers, which will be the last things to sell, otherwise it was a full clearance."
Paul Cowan, who heads the family company operating Arkle Angus and Arkle Farms across four properties - Greymaun, Varley Farms at nearby Varley, Bedford Harbour west of Esperance and a finishing property Coronet Hill east of Esperance - explained the switch from John Deere to CLAAS.
"All of the equipment (offered for sale), apart from two of the tractors, came with this property (Greymaun is the most recent addition to the Arkle portfolio), but the tractors and headers are being replaced with CLAAS machines to bring Greymaun into line with the other Arkle properties," Mr Cowan said.
"It's first-class equipment - we bought this farm from a very good operator - but on our other farms we run CLAAS.
"As a family-corporate enterprise, we want to keep it simple and have everyone trained on the same equipment so they can move from farm to farm.
"So we are rationalising it back to CLAAS because, for us, it means one spare parts portfolio, one training group and we employ our own CLAAS-trained technician to maintain the fleet.
"Also, we are very, very pleased with the CLAAS performance on our other properties."
Mr Cowan said the TruFab field bins were making way for already purchased bigger capacity GrainKing Maximus field bins.
"We're very happy with the sale result, there's some good prices, it's all cleared, which is important, and we recognise that's it's a bit early for people to be buying headers," Mr Cowan said.
Top-priced lot at $460,000 was the second of two identical John Deere 9520R tractors with dual wheels, less than 2700 engine hours, weights, five remotes and stubble mats knocked down by auctioneer Neil Brindley.
Veteran machinery buyer Richard Spring for Bythorne Contracting Pty Ltd, Cottesloe, claimed it after a bidding competition which opened at $400,000 and went up in $10,000 increments.
"I bought it for a mate - he's got a few properties," Mr Spring said afterwards.
"This one had better tyres and the chap I was bidding against came up later and said he thought it was the better of the two."
The second 9520R tractor sold for $450,000 to Rohan Murdoch, R & R Murdoch, Boxwood Hill.
CN & GP Brooks, Lake King, and Barney Downs Pastoral, Esperance, both bid up to $450,000 to each claim one of the smaller and one-year younger John Deere 8370R tractors - one with IVT transmission and the other with Powershift.
LJ Wehr, Esperance, bid to $390,000 for an 8370R with about 1500 engine hours and Powershift transmission and Krambrook Holdings, Arrowsmith, claimed a tracked 8370RT with more engine hours and IVT transmission, with a single bid of $380,000.
A second tracked 8370RT was passed in at $320,000 but sold privately later.
With a winning live bid of $307,500, Eticup Grazing Co, Broomehill, beat a phone bidder to a 2020 8345R tractor and John Nicoletti, once WA's largest grain farmer and a former John Deere dealerships chain owner, opened the bidding at $123,000 for a 2016 8345R which was ultimately passed in at $230,000 before being sold privately.
Mr Nicoletti also unsuccessfully bid on a 2021 Nyrex Geminus 35t super/seed bin, which eventually sold for $145,000, but an associated company, Apache Investments, South Perth, claimed two of four 2021 John Deere 740D header fronts with comb trailers, at $80,000 and $90,000.
Two 2009 Ausplow Multistream 19,000 litre air carts were sold separately for $100,000 and $115,000 and a 2020 Beverley Hydra Boom 8000l Airmatic boomsprayer also realised $115,000.
A 2003 4x4 Isuzu former Hyden Bushfire Brigade fire truck with 122,996 kilometres showing, sold to a top bid of $65,000 and a 1998 Scania 8x4 200,000lt fuel tanker with farm registration sold for $40,000/
A 1994 4x4 5t OKA truck sold for $9500 and a tandem drive 1982 International ACCO 23t truck with 6.2m steel tipping tray went for $3500.
Bidding by phone, a buyer paid $47,000 for a 2009 JCB telehandler with bucket and forks and a larger 2009 Ranger LG938L wheel loader with bucket and forks sold for $18,500.
Farm King grain augers attracted multiple bids, with a 2013 26m swing-away PTO model selling for $26,000 and a 2008 15.5m self-propelled model selling for $10,000.
