I love a used machinery auction and, being in Herefordshire, we have several local outlets regularly selling a varied mix of items, including some decent kit and some that is genuinely scrap.
A recent monthly collective sale produced another astonishing range of machinery, including some items which have become regular visitors to the same field over several months.
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This time, the range of silage and haymaking machinery caught my attention. There were several lots of barely used mowers, tedders and rakes, most with paint still on the tines and no visible signs of impact from a hidden concrete water trough or tree stump.
Several went under the hammer at prices comfortably half of what the original owners had probably paid, which in some cases would have been less than 12 months earlier.
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My puzzlement over who had managed to justify buying them new, only to decide against them after a short season and launch them to auction with no apparent sensible reserve, was matched by the recognition of the opportunity for someone starting out or expanding an enterprise.
Yes, I appreciate that buying at auction is fraught with risks not found when purchasing through a reputable dealer, but the apparent quality of (some) of the kit at the hammer price was difficult to ignore.
