Straddling the Wexford-Wicklow border between Gorey and Carnew you’ll find Loggan Machinery Ltd. The successful agricultural contracting firm, which has been more than 25 years in business, is run by David Hatton who, along with his brothers John and Andrew, are well-known tillage farmers in the area.
Loggan Machinery Ltd operates from the townland of Loggan, which is located five miles from Carnew and 10 from Gorey (which is its postal address). It was set up by brothers David, John and Andrew Hatton, but these days David runs the show with John also helping him out from time to time.
Between the three of them, the brothers have about 1,000 acres in corn, maize, oilseed rape and beans. Needless to say, David and John look after their own sowing and harvesting requirements. On top of this, David provides an extensive agricultural contracting service to farmers in the south-east, including tillage, bulk fertilizer spreading, silage cutting, spraying and harvesting.
“We’re kept busy between the farming and the contract work,” David explains.
“I have 200 acres of my own land and rent a further 200. John also owns 200 acres and Andrew owns about 180. When you take into account the land they rent too, we have approximately 1,000 acres between us in tillage.
“Most of my time is taken up with the contracting business. I get great help from John and the extra staff I take on when things get busy. We provide a professional service to our customers who are mostly from the Carnew, Tinahely and Aughrim areas, and are mainly tillage and dairy farmers. We basically cover south Wicklow and north Wexford.”
Loggan Machinery Ltd is committed to providing a high-quality service and complete customer satisfaction. David has a wide range of machinery to carry out your work quickly and efficiently, providing you with value-for-money and an alternative to investing in your own expensive equipment.
The company’s success can be attributed to the quality of its equipment and the knowledge and expertise of David and his staff. They deliver the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
David runs a fleet of four tractors, all of which are under four years old. The latest addition is a 160hp Fendt 716, which was purchased new from Kehoe Brothers in Camolin, Enniscorthy at the beginning of the year. The other tractors are a Fendt 720 and a Fendt 820, which are both around 200hp, and a 160hp Claas 640.
Some of the other equipment/plant operated by David includes a Claas Jaguar 850 self-propelled forage harvester, a Claas 570 combine harvester, a 10-tonne Bredal bulk fertiliser, a 28-metre Bateman self-propelled sprayer, a pair of five-furrow Kverneland ploughs, Kuhn front and back mowers, a JCB 414 loading shovel, a Kverneland Taarup rake and a new Dablo roller. In addition, he runs four silage and grain trailers, three bale trailers and a handful of dump trailers.
John’s Deutz-Fahr 165 tractor and JCB 414 loading shovel are also used for contract work.
Servicing and repair of machinery is carried out both in-house and by the relevant dealers. Mindful of the importance of avoiding breakdowns and keeping machines running smoothly at all times, the David inspects and cleans his machinery on a regular basis.
In the early part of the year, sowing/reseeding and bulk fertilizer spreading are the main activities of Loggan Machinery. The silage season, which typically runs from May to September, then takes precedence. During this particularly busy time, David and his staff can often work around the clock to satisfy their customers’ needs. Come the autumn, the harvest takes centre stage. The year ends with the transportation of Christmas trees.
The past two years have yielded bumper harvests and David is hoping for more of the same in 2015.
“Seventy-five per cent of what we grow ourselves is winter corn so we should be cutting the first crop in July,” he says.
“We dry our own corn, with John looking after that side of things. All of the straw we produce goes to Walsh Mushrooms in Gorey.”
Never far from David’s thoughts is his son Glen, who sadly died from cancer in 2009 at the age of just 26. Glen was a remarkable young man who had a huge passion for farming and a fascination of farm machinery. His love of both led him to study under the well-known Wexford cereal farmer James Leech. When Glen – who was a talented Gaelic footballer with Coolboy GAA and rugby player with Gorey RFC – returned to Loggan, he had major plans to expand the family farm and contracting business, but he was then suddenly struck down by illness.
“His legacy lives on,” David points out.
“It was his idea to grow the contracting business and to invest in new machinery. He made us think big. He was mad into machinery and had a fierce enthusiasm for farming and tillage, in particular. He is sorely missed.”
The affable tillage farmer and company director concludes by thanking his many customers for their continued support: “They have been very loyal to us over the years and we look forward to working for them once again this year and beyond. Our aim at all times is to provide them with the best and more reliable service there is.”
Loggan Machinery Ltd
Loggan,
Gorey,
Co. Wexford.
Telephone: 087 6813639
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 6, July 2015
