#11 Make or Buy, New or Used

We begin to learn the meaning of "capital-intensive."

My grandfather, William G. Murray, was head of the Department of Economics and Sociology at Iowa State University from 1943 to 1955. He wrote a textbook on Agricultural Finance that was published in 1960. I did not own a copy.

This book must have helped farmers who attended agricultural colleges learn how to decide whether to buy a piece of equipment or hire someone else who owned such equipment to perform some work under contract.

As it happens, my grandfather William G. Murray’s son, my father, David Murray, was retired and living in Syracuse. Maybe he had read this book. I also thought he might have an interest in becoming involved in an agricultural project. He was then 78 years old, very healthy and active.

“Dad,” I said to him, “do you think you can find us a tractor and a disc to take care of this torn-up field?”

David Murray had been raised in Iowa, and had spent summers working on a farm. Often, he had said that those summers were some of the most memorable times of his life. He worked for a distant relative who owned a large farm in northern Iowa and who always purchased tractors made by John Deere. It was hard, physical work. When there was nothing important to be done he would be told to go into the fields and cut thistles or into the barn to straighten rusty nails.

When asked if he could help with buying a tractor, Dave Murray said, “I can try.”

And then he succeeded. It was not a new tractor. It was a John Deere. Made in 1966.