Donate a swather when the hay ground went to pasture

Where donated swathers come from

Operations that stopped putting up their own hay. Custom haying is common now and a farm that hires it done has no use for a windrower.

Estates and retiring hay producers. A well-kept swather is often the most valuable haying machine on a place.

Custom operators upgrading. Those machines have high hours and good maintenance, and they sell to buyers who understand that combination.

Header down, on a step-deck

A self-propelled windrower goes on a step-deck or a drop-deck trailer. Header width is usually the issue rather than weight: a sixteen or eighteen-foot header makes it an over-dimension load and needs a permit. Giving Center arranges and covers it.

Tell us the header width, whether the header can be removed or folded, and whether the machine drives. Removing the header for transport frequently avoids a permit.

Access is the first question on any farm pickup. Tell us where the machine sits, what the ground is like and what is between it and a road a trailer can use.

What decides what a swather brings

• Header type and width. Sickle versus disc, and the cutting width. A disc header is worth substantially more and has a broader buyer pool.
• Engine hours and header hours. Both, separately where the machine tracks them.
• Conditioner type. Rubber rolls, steel rolls or impeller. Which one matters depending on the crop and the buyer knows which they want.
• Cutterbar and reel condition. Knife sections, guards, reel bats and the forming shields. All consumables and all priced in.
• Cab and drive. An enclosed cab with working air, and whether it is two-wheel or four-wheel drive on the newer machines.

Makes we accept

Windrowers are a specialist market with a handful of names.

• Self-propelled: MacDon M100, M150, M155 and the older 4000 and 5000 series, Case IH WD and the older 8800 and 8870, New Holland H8000 and Speedrower, John Deere W150 and the 4890 and 4995, Hesston 8100 and 9000 series, Challenger and AGCO WR.
• Pull-type swathers: John Deere 1600 and 1602, Hesston 1150 and 1160, New Holland 1100, Case IH 730 and 8309, MacDon pull-type.
• Headers: MacDon D and R series, Deere 400 and 500 series, Case IH DH and RD, New Holland DiscBine headers.

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 machine and your deduction is the gross sale proceeds on Form 1098-C. A running self-propelled windrower with a disc header clears $5,000 in most cases, which brings the qualified appraisal requirement and Form 8283 Section B at your expense. An older sickle machine or a pull-type swather usually lands between $500 and $5,000, where Section A applies.

A note on timing specific to this category: if you have a choice, a swather offered ahead of hay season does better than one offered after it. If you are flexible on the date, say so on the form and we will factor it in. 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.