Entegra shed decision pays dividends

He's protected from the elements, as one end of the structure is enclosed, with the rest of the shed filled to the brim with a tractor, boom spray, air seeder, another old tractor, sheep feeder, truck, a few trailers and an old ute.

A laundry list of farm equipment.

While it's "pretty tightly packed", it's all protected from the weather. As a mechanic, Mr Allan knows all too well the depreciation of machinery sitting outside.

But in this case, the new Entegra shed is paying dividends for him personally.

"I came home on the farm in 2015 and a lot of work was done outside," Mr Allan said. "It wasn't too bad because you get more sunny days than rainy days, but having a new shed is handy for a day like today.

"When it's cold outside, like last week and the week before, I closed all the doors and sat inside for two days. I was spoilt, just welding away.

"Then, when you get a hot summer's day, we can open up all the doors and work under the canopy. It's concreted out to the front of the canopy. We thought it was overkill at the time but now it's pretty handy."

It had been more than three decades since the Allans invested in a new farm shed. This time, they tossed up between a machinery or hay shed.

For Mr Allan, the decision was easy. "We needed to do something, we had too much gear and while we had sheds, they were too spread out," he said.

"We were just sick of taking something, two, three or even five kilometres away for storage in the winter and then when you get there, there's a flat battery or you need serial numbers because you are always doing something with the GPS or something else these days. The idea was a shed that could hold all the machinery back at home."

With all the machinery close and undercover, Mr Allan said it's not only convenient; the shed was also a smart way to protect their investments. "When I service it myself, I see it first hand, the sun damage," he said about the machinery.

"The sun is probably our big one, we don't get much hail here or rain - the rain just probably washes everything - but the shed is mostly about keeping machinery away from the harsh summer sun. We see the most damage with air seeder hoses in the sun."

Protecting farm equipment from the elements makes sense to maintain its condition for use on farm, but it also helps when it comes to selling machinery.

Matt Henke, director of online marketplace Farm Tender, said buyers prefer machinery that has been stored in sheds rather than out in the weather. He said this "buyer preference" delivered an "undisclosed premium".

"If I was going to buy something that was the same price and same hours, I'd buy the one that was shedded every time," Matt said. "Most can see, by looking at the machine, if it has been shedded or not."

Sometimes machinery weather damage can be obvious, according to Mr Henke, with sun bleaching and faded colours on exposed areas.

But some effects can't be seen. "You think of the monitors in tractor cabs and when they are sitting in the sun," he said.

"They can be damaged, which could cost anywhere from $1000 to $10,000 because in full sun, these cabins can be sitting in temperatures as high as 60 to 80 degrees Celsius.

"Investing in a shed, makes business sense. From my experience, banks seem to class sheds as a valuable asset as they see the benefits of protecting machinery and commodities from the weather."

Mr Henke said the quality of Entegra sheds stands out compared with competitors. "Entegra always has the hot-dipped steel frames, so there's no fading or rust and they have some of the best structural engineers going around," he said.

Founded more than 35 years ago, Entegra is a shed manufacturer that invests significantly in research and development to enhance the capability for complex engineering tasks.

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