A Farm Clear-Out: 9.3 Tons, $3,672, and the Pipe Worth More Than the Tractor

A farm clear-out is the largest scrap most people ever handle. A representative yard, shed and field sweep comes to about 9.3 tons and roughly $3,672 at our board. The striking line is not the tractor: 1,200 pounds of aluminium irrigation pipe is worth about $1,020, while 1,400 pounds of barbed wire is worth about $185. Sorting a farm properly is worth more than most single items in it.

Scrap Price Today market analysis, written from exchange settlement data, mill and refiner pricing practice and published policy documents. Figures are examples; today’s numbers are on the live scrap price board.

The other number worth knowing before anything moves: cutting the ferrous to size is worth about $586 on this clear-out.

What a farm sweep actually contains

The average across the whole pile is about $0.20 a pound, and almost every item on the list sits below that except the irrigation pipe. One aluminium line carries 28 percent of the value on 6 percent of the weight.

Irrigation pipe is the item to find first

Aluminium irrigation pipe, sprinkler risers and gated pipe are clean extrusion once the couplers and gaskets come off. At $0.85 a pound against $0.132 for light iron, a length of aluminium pipe is worth six and a half times the same weight of fencing.

Brass sprinkler and valve components come off the same system and are worth $3.52 a pound again. Irrigation systems are the highest value per pound thing on most farms and the most commonly left in a hedge.

Taking a tractor apart

Pushed onto a lorry whole and weighed as light iron, the same machine is about $565. Sorting is worth roughly $285, and most of that comes from six items weighing 282 pounds between them.

The radiator alone, at 30 pounds, is worth more than 700 pounds of engine block.

Before you scrap a tractor at all

Older machines have a strong restoration and parts market, and a complete vintage tractor is frequently worth several times its metal. Check what the model sells for before anything is cut.

The same applies to implements with a following. Scrap is the right answer for a seized, incomplete or corroded machine, not for a running one that needs a clutch.

Ferrous preparation is worth $586 here

About 13,020 pounds of this clear-out is ferrous: roofing, bin, fencing, posts, implements and the tractor frame.

At an unprepared counter rate of $0.06 a pound that is $781. Cut to a size a mill can charge, commonly no larger than 60 by 24 inches, it moves toward $0.105 and about $1,367. The difference is $586 for shear or torch work you can do in a field.

Our prepared versus unprepared analysis sets out the thickness and size specifications, and the practical point on a farm is that implements and structural steel qualify while thin roofing sheet does not.

The four piles that pay

• Aluminium: irrigation pipe, ladders, some grain bin panels, newer machinery castings.
• Copper and brass: radiators, wiring harnesses, motor windings, sprinkler and valve bodies.
• Cast iron: engine blocks, gearbox housings, old implement wheels and weights.
• Steel: everything else, cut to size where the section is thick enough.

Barbed wire deserves a note of its own. It is bulky, hazardous to handle, and worth $0.132 a pound, so it fills a trailer without filling a ticket. Roll it tightly, wear proper gloves, and expect it to be the least rewarding thing you move.

Fluids, batteries and tyres first

Nothing moves until these are dealt with, and on a farm they arrive in quantity.

• Diesel, hydraulic oil, engine oil and coolant drain into sealed containers. Used oil goes to a collection point, as our fluids page sets out. Fluid-filled engines and gearboxes are refused.
• Batteries come out first and go to a yard or auto parts retailer.
• Tyres are a disposal cost rather than a scrap item, charged per tyre, and yards commonly refuse wheels with tyres fitted.
• Old chemical containers and sprayers are not scrap until they are triple-rinsed through an agricultural container programme.

Getting it collected

At 9.3 tons this is container territory rather than trailer territory, and most yards will bring a roll-off to a farm for a load of this size.

The terms worth agreeing before it arrives are the same ones in our accounts and contracts analysis: minimum load before dispatch, certified scale weights, a ticket for every grade, and whether the non-ferrous is being weighed separately or lost inside the ferrous total.

That last point is where farm loads most often lose money. A container of mixed farm metal with irrigation pipe buried in it will be weighed as ferrous.

What this metal pays around the world

Scrap is a global market priced in US dollars, but what reaches a seller depends on trade position, freight to the nearest consumer and how many buyers compete locally. The table below converts the same grade into each market’s own currency and units at the day’s exchange rate, and shows the factor we apply.

Method

The clear-out profile is a constructed example based on the material types yards report receiving from agricultural properties, with weights chosen to represent a mid-sized mixed farm. Your own inventory will differ and the useful part is the ratio between weight and value rather than the totals.

Grade prices are our own daily board, documented on the editorial policy page with live figures on the board. Radiator and motor rates are published yard grades rather than ours. The prepared and unprepared ferrous rates are published counter listings and vary regionally.

We do not buy scrap or take referral fees, and the recommendation to check restoration value before scrapping a tractor runs against our interest as a price publisher.

Questions people ask

What is a farm clear-out worth as scrap?

A representative mixed farm sweep of around 9.3 tons comes to roughly $3,672 at our board, averaging about $0.20 a pound. The single largest line is usually not the tractor but the aluminium irrigation pipe, which can carry 28 percent of the value on 6 percent of the weight.

What is the most valuable thing on a farm scrap pile?

Aluminium irrigation pipe, per pound. At $0.85 against $0.132 for light iron it is worth six and a half times the same weight of fencing, and the brass sprinkler and valve bodies from the same system are worth $3.52 a pound again.

Is it worth dismantling an old tractor?

Yes, if it is genuinely scrap. Sorted, a 4,282 pound machine comes to about $851 against roughly $565 weighed whole as light iron. Most of that $285 uplift comes from six items weighing 282 pounds between them, and the radiator alone outvalues 700 pounds of engine block.

Should I scrap a vintage tractor?

Check the restoration and parts market first. Older machines frequently sell for several times their metal value, and implements with a following do too. Scrap is the right answer for a seized, incomplete or heavily corroded machine, not for a runner needing a clutch.

How much does cutting farm steel to size pay?

On a clear-out with 13,020 pounds of ferrous, moving from an unprepared rate near $0.06 a pound to a prepared rate near $0.105 is worth about $586. Implements and structural steel qualify on thickness; thin roofing sheet does not.

Is barbed wire worth collecting?

Barely. It is worth about $0.132 a pound, it is bulky and hazardous to handle, and it fills a trailer without filling a ticket. Roll it tightly, wear proper gloves, and treat it as tidying rather than earning.

What has to be removed before farm machinery is scrapped?

Diesel, hydraulic oil, engine oil and coolant into sealed containers, batteries out first, and tyres off where the yard requires it. Fluid-filled engines and gearboxes are refused, and chemical containers are not scrap until triple-rinsed through an agricultural container programme.

How do farm loads lose money at the yard?

By having the non-ferrous weighed inside the ferrous total. A container of mixed farm metal with irrigation pipe and radiators buried in it gets weighed as ferrous. Agree before collection that non-ferrous is separated and ticketed on its own line.

Frequently asked questions