The Rural Voice, 2004-12, Page 54AgriTech
A time to repair or replace equipment
Janice
Becker is a
computer
enthusiast
and
journalist
living near
Walton. ON.
The days are growing shorter and.
for the most part, the corn harvest is
complete. After a few weeks. or
maybe only days, to recover from
exceptionally long workdays, many
farmers will begin the winter task of
major maintenance on their
equipment or seek replacements for
that which just made it through this
season.
So, in search of sites that would
assist in the hunt for parts or new
equipment, I started with Prairie
Links, www.farmeitofarmer.com.
The page is laid out in an easy- to -use
format with straightforward listings.
If you know what you are looking
for, enter the information in the Used
Farm Equipment search in the top
right section of the home page. This
immediately takes you to
agdealer.com and a listing of all
items that meet your criteria.
Not only does the site give a few
specs on the equipment, but lists the
price in both American and Canadian
dollars. the location of the item and
offers a picture.
Back at Prairie Links, under the
Classifieds. there are items to search
ranging from antiques to farm
property. toys, parts and service to
livestock.
Once again, I found the layout
very convenient to use so you are not
searching through hundreds of
listings, but can narrow the field to
the area of interest.
In keeping with its name, Prairie
Links is a great place to start a search
as it connects you to dozens of other
sources. I definitely suggest
bookmarking this site.
A much more difficult site to use,
but possibly more appealing to those
seeking a more personalized search,
BuyAg, www.buyag.com, asks users
to submit a request for sought-after
equipment. The submission is then
fordvarded to a number of dealers
who, in return, present quotes
HELP FOR ONTARIO FARMERS IN CRISIS
Queen's Bush Rural Ministries
Provides - a free confidential service
to listen and offer a network
of helpful contacts.
Call Collect 1-519-369-6774
50 THE RURAL VOICE
Check out our
great selection of
books from the
Rural Reading Room
on Pages 48-49
through a secure link.
The searchable database also
allows users to punch in specific
information and look through the
offerings.
Equipment and parts can be
bought through the website with all
major credit cards, cheques, money
orders or BuyAg credit.
The Ontario -based
EquipmentSearch.com, which
recently opened an American head
office in St. Louis, Missouri, has
been in operation since 1996, serving
not just the agriculture sector, but
transportation industries as a whole.
If you want to go straight to the
agriculture section, try
www.agriculturesearch.com.
By simply choosing from a list of
equipment types, manufacturer, year
and the options of new, used or for
rent, your choices appear. Photos of
featured vehicles are an interesting
look at the offerings and price ranges.
With user-friendly instructions,
individuals can advertise one item for
just $29.95, until the item is sold.
Another site to check out is
farmequipmentauction.com that has
listings from North American, Great
Britain, Europe, Australia and New
Zealand.
By clicking on the country, a
province, state or territory can then
be chosen. Upcoming auctions are
posted or you can register to be
notified by e-mail when auctions of
interest arise.
Antique seekers can go to
www.yesterdaystractors.com. There
is a huge amount of information here
and a buff could spend a great deal of
time on this site.
Each website mentioned has
numerous other links and interesting
material so go searching.
You may be a farmer if...you
convince your wife that an overnight,
out -of -province trip for equipment
parts is a vacation.
This joke is thanks to Prairie
Links, which credits @gOnline,
Grainnews and Ron Petrie of the
Regina Leader Post.
Contact me at jlbecker@wightman.ca
or through The Rural Voice office.0
i