Rick drove the Ideal 9 back to his farm that afternoon. He put it in the same field where his S780 died. And he opened it up. The Massey Ferguson didn't just match the Deere, it embarrassed it. Faster ground speed, cleaner grain sample, less fuel per acre.
The single-rotor system handled green-stem wheat without slugging. The cab visibility let him push tighter to terraces without second-guessing. He ran it for 6 hours straight. Then he called Dale. "I want it."
"You sure?" "Yeah, but I want more than that." Dale paused. "I'm listening." "I want to replace my whole fleet."
The silence on the line lasted 3 seconds. "Say that again."
"I'm done with Deere," Rick said. "I want Massey Ferguson tractors. I want another combine. I want everything you've got that can replace what I'm running." Dale's voice got serious.
"Rick, I don't know what happened between you and your Deere dealer, but switching an entire fleet isn't something you do on emotion. That's a $2 million decision." "I know exactly what it is," Rick said. "And I'm not doing it on emotion. I'm doing it because I just spent 6 hours in a machine that works better, costs less, and comes from a dealer who doesn't treat me like I'm lucky to be his customer."
Dale exhaled. "All right, come back tomorrow. Let's build a plan."
Over the next 14 days, Rick did something no one in McCook had ever seen. He liquidated his entire John Deere fleet. All of it.
He listed the S780 as is, bad transmission disclosed. A custom operator in Kansas bought it for $110,000, half of what it was worth running. But Rick didn't care.
He sold the S690 backup combine to a farmer in Colorado. He sold the 8R tractors, the 6M series, the 5 series utility units. Implements, sprayers, anything green. Some of it went to auction, some through private sale, some to dealers two states away. Every piece went fast, because used Deere equipment still had value, even when the owner had lost faith in it.
Within 90 days, Rick had cleared $2.7 million, and he spent nearly all of it at Johnston Ag. The new fleet arrived in waves. Two Massey Ferguson Ideal 9 combines, red and silver, side by side in his machine shed like sculptures. Three Massey Ferguson 8S 265 tractors, 265 horsepower, continuously variable transmission, the kind of precision control that made old gear drive units feel like hammers. Two MF 7S series mid-range tractors for loader work in hay season.
One MF 5S utility tractor for feeding cattle and moving equipment. All of it Massey Ferguson red, all of it from Johnston Ag, all of it serviced by a dealer 83 miles away who treated Rick like he mattered. By mid-September, Rick's operation looked like it had been repainted overnight. No green, just red. And the entire county noticed.
Tom Huxley noticed, too. The first sign came when Rick called Huxley and Sons to order a PTO shaft for an old Deere baler he'd kept. One of the few green machines he hadn't sold because it still worked and wasn't worth replacing. The parts desk put him on hold for 11 minutes.
When they came back, the voice was clipped. "Yeah, we don't have that in stock." "Can you order it?" "It's discontinued."
Rick frowned. "It's a current production baler. How is the part discontinued?" "That's what the system says." "Can you check again?"
"I did. It's not available." Rick hung up. He drove to the dealership the next day.
Walked into the parts department, asked to speak to the manager. The manager, Kurt, a guy Rick had known for 8 years, came out with his arms crossed. "What can I do for you, Rick?"