Brendan Ward in Ballymote, County Sligo has been providing farmers in the region with a comprehensive agricultural contracting service that’s second to none for three decades. He operates a top-class fleet of machinery and provides a keen and personal service to established and new customers alike. We met up with Brendan to discuss the history and future prospects of his long-running family business.
How time flies! It seems like only yesterday that Brendan Ward started to offer contacting services to farmers in the Ballymote region, but he has in fact been in business for three decades. “I started about 30 years ago,” he recalls. “I’d come from a farming background – my dad Charlie did a lot of contracting too and I decided to follow in his footsteps.”
Reflecting on the genesis and subsequent growth of the business, the Sligo man continues: “In the early days, I was doing a lot of mowing and barley hay. From there, I started to do double-chop harvesting and also started to do silage and a lot of umbilical system slurry spreading.
“Lime spreading and hedge cutting became important parts of the business too; we do a lot of lime spreading. We also do silage, round baling – and slurry pipes and tanks from January until May. Between everything, we are kept busy all year around.”
Ward Agri is very much a family business, which means that a friendly and personal service is guaranteed at all times. The operation has grown organically down through the years – through word of mouth – and today Brendan employs a crew of six. Of those, three are his own sons – Darragh, Brendan Jnr. and Conor – while nephew Jonathan Scanlon is also an important part of the team.
Geographically, Ward Agri covers mostly the Yeats County from its Ballymote base but also extends its service into surrounding counties. “We cover Sligo predominantly but also go into Leitrim and parts of Roscommon and Mayo as well,” the owner confirms.
In terms of fleet, Brendan oversees seven tractors – including two John Deeres and two New Hollands – as well as a harvester, two mowers and three balers. He keeps the fleet fresh and fully-serviced, the newest tractor being a 2009-reg New Holland T7050. “Once your fleet is in good condition and you have experienced men who know how to use the equipment, then you can offer a quality service. We’d do most of the maintenance work and servicing ourselves but for some of the bigger jobs we’d go to the local main dealers. It’s important to have the machinery in top nick at all times.”
Brendan Ward has benefited from a lot of customer loyalty down through the years. This, one would assume, is not because of sentimentality on behalf of the farmers he works for but due to the high quality, dependability and punctuality of the services he provides. In this line of work, when you keep your head down and do the job properly at a reasonable price, then chances are customers will come back and do business with you again.
Brendan has always provided a professional and flexible service and goes out of his way to ensure that his customers are happy. This has led to a very high customer retention rate and has also seen his reputation spread far and wide. Even today, he regularly gains new business through positive referrals.
“In total, I’d have 50 or 60 customers and many of those would be with me since the beginning,” he reveals. “Today, 30 years down the line, the business is still getting bigger as we go on. We are bringing in new customers and, thankfully, we are busy all the time. We provide a full range of agri contracting services, including hedge cutting, but I suppose baling and silage would be two of the biggest ones. That’s your bread and butter, really.”
In any line of work, it is very difficult to keep things ticking over. Constant investment in new machinery is required; wages have to be paid; hard work and graft are essential. As overheads go up, the agricultural contractor has to absorb these as best he can and introduce as many efficiencies as possible into his business model to ensure that customers are not inconvenienced.
“The price of diesel is the biggest problem,” Brendan states. “It has almost doubled in recent years and that represents a significant increased cost, but you do everything you can to remain as competitive as possible and farmers appreciate that costs have gone up.”
Looking to the future, Brendan has no intention of getting above his station. He has developed a solid business over the last three decades and his plan is to consolidate and sustain the family business before one day handing the reins over to the next generation. “We’ll keep going as we are,” he confirms. “We’re happy enough. We are busy and we have a lot of good customers. If we can keep things as they are, then we won’t be doing too badly.
“I’m also lucky to have some really good lads working with me to keep the show on the road. You need good reliable workers and I certainly have those. My sons will take over the business eventually and I’ll be happy that things will be in good hands.”
Such a scenario is years away, however. Brendan loves what he does and his passion for contracting is such that – good health allowing – he will continue to work for many more years, nay decades, to come. He’s made a lot of good friends during the course of his work and would count many of the farmers he works for as personal friends at this stage…
“You get to know the farmers well and, if you look after them, then they will look after you as well,” he concludes. “I’ve never had any problem with any of them and I always get paid quickly and in full. These men are as good as their word and they look after us. The have been loyal to us and we appreciate that.”
Ward Agri,
Ballymote,
County Sligo.
Tel: 087 2359982
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 3, April 2015
