Donate a mower conditioner, disc or sickle

Where these come from

Hay producers who stopped, retired or went to custom harvesting. The mower conditioner is usually the machine they are most surprised has real value.

Operations that upgraded from sickle to disc. The sickle machine still works and there is a market, at lower numbers.

Estates and complete hay outfit dispersals, which is the best way to donate anything in this category.

On a trailer, width folded if it folds

A pull-type mower conditioner goes on a tilt-deck or a drop-deck trailer. Center-pivot and side-pull machines both travel fine. Giving Center arranges and covers it.

Tell us the cutting width and whether the machine has a transport position. A fifteen-foot disc mower conditioner is an over-dimension load unless it folds or swings.

Tell us whether the wheels roll and whether the PTO driveline is present with its shield. A missing driveline is a small cost but it is worth listing.

What decides what one brings

• Disc or sickle. The biggest single split. Disc machines command substantially more and sickle machines sell to a narrower market.
• Cutting width. The defining spec, and the 9 to 13-foot range is the deepest market.
• Conditioning rolls. Rubber, steel or impeller, and the condition of the rolls. Buyers ask directly.
• Cutterbar condition. On a disc machine, the cutterbar is the expensive part: disc modules, bearings and whether it has been through a rock. On a sickle machine, knife sections and guards.
• Shields and hitch. Missing shields are a safety and resale item, and hitch and driveline condition matters.

Makes we accept

Mower conditioners are a strong brand market.

• Disc: New Holland Discbine 210 through 300 series, Kuhn FC and FC Gyrodine, John Deere 600 series MoCo and the older 1360 and 1460, Krone EasyCut, Case IH DC and DCX, Claas Disco, Vermeer, Massey Hesston 1300 series, Pottinger.
• Sickle: New Holland 488, 489, 495, 1411 and 1465, John Deere 1207, 1209, 1219 and 1600, Case IH 8309 and 8312, Hesston 1010 and 1014, Gehl, Owatonna.
• Also seen: Kuhn Alterna, Enorossi, Sitrex, Fella, and the older self-propelled windrower headers used as standalone units.

Manufacturer names appear here so you can find your own machine. No manufacturer sponsors, endorses or is affiliated with this program.

The paperwork, and what you can deduct

Farm equipment is not titled. Ownership is established with the purchase invoice, a bill of sale, a farm asset record, or a lien release if it was financed. Find the serial plate and photograph it. If the machine is part of an estate or a farm partnership, whoever signs needs authority to sign for it.

Giving Center sells the implement and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds on Form 1098-C. A late-model disc mower conditioner clears $5,000 fairly often, which brings the qualified appraisal requirement and Form 8283 Section B at your expense. Most machines land between $500 and $5,000, where Section A applies.

An older sickle mower conditioner with a worn cutterbar can fall under $500, where the deduction is the lesser of fair market value or $500 with a written acknowledgment. Most farm equipment is a depreciated business asset, which makes a conversation with your accountant worth having before the pickup. Farm business property follows different rules than a personal donation.