Agricultural Contractors are in full swing over the coming months as following a period of poor weather, the grass has finally started to grow and is fit for silage.
The next two to three months will see farmers keeping their fingers crossed that they can get all their silage and crops made.
However, a lot depends on the weather and as we all know, the island of Ireland is one of the most unpredictable areas in that regard.
Time is of the essence when it comes to cutting silage as farmers want the job done as quickly as possible.
Agricultural contractors strive to meet their customers wishes and in order to do so, they need an excellent fleet of machinery.
To this end, not many can compare to Wallace Contracts in Mountnorris, Co Armagh who operate top of the range machinery in order to get the job done.
For this month’s edition of Irish Tractor & Agri, we profile this family run business and speak to Glynn Wallace about their operation.
Wallace Contracts was established by Kenneth Wallace in 1991. At the time, Kenneth focused on round baling and did the majority of the work for his neighbouring farms.
This continued until 1999, when it was decided to expand the business and provide a number of services for the local farmers.
These days, Kenneth is ably assisted by his four sons Glynn, Gareth, Adam and Gregg. Not only do they continue to run their own farm, but they have 17 employees during the summer months to cope with the demand for their services.
“During the silage season, we operate two crews and that sees us get through a lot of work each week,” said Glynn.
“We have two Claas harvesters, one of which is brand new this year and is a 970 and the other one is just a few years old and that’s a 890.
“A triple Krone big end is used for the mowing, while we have a wide range of tractors and trailers as well as a couple of loaders.”
The tractors used by Wallace Contracts are predominantly John Deere and are therefore bought through Lisburn based dealer Johnson Gilpin and Co Ltd.
Another company that the Wallace family deal with on a regular basis is R Kennedy & Co (NI) Ltd who are dealers in the top brands of agricultural machinery and are based in Ballymena, Co Antrim.
“We would have a good business relationship with the companies that we would be buying the machinery off. They are always there to help and we never have any problems with them.”
Glynn revealed that they do much of the maintenance work on the machinery themselves as he stressed it is important to make sure that all plant is in perfect working order.
“We would bring in all the machinery before the season starts and do any work that needed to be done. The last thing we or our customer wants is for us to be broke down in their field and that is something that we strive to avoid.”
Glynn added that around 90% of their customer base is located within a four mile radius of their homestead. “Most of our customers are within a few miles of us, which is great. The majority of them have been with us for years now, so we must be doing something right,” he quipped.
As stated, silage cutting was not the only service that Wallace’s provide as slurry, tillage, baling and hedge cutting were also on offer.
“We have continued to do the baling all down through the years. We have a MacHale Fusion 3 baler, which has been very beneficial to us since we bought it.”
The McHale Fusion 3 integrated baler wrapper consists of an 18 roller fixed chamber baler and an integrated vertical wrapping ring. Over the last 10 years, there has been constant pressure on Farmers and Contractors to reduce costs. In response to this McHale developed the McHale Fusion 3 integrated baler wrapper, which combines two traditionally separate jobs; namely baling and bale wrapping and integrates them into a single operation, which can be done by one man and one machine. The Fusion 3 is unique in that it has been specifically designed as a high output Integrated Baler Wrapper.
Tillage is an important part of the business also and they have three artics drawing maize from farms to mills.
Slurry spreading has certainly advanced over the years and these days, the tractor and slurry tank have been replaced by the self-propelled umbilical system.
This sees pipes ran from slurry tanks out into fields and the slurry is pumped directly out on to the land.
“It is brilliant when you are working on a lot of acreage. You can get so much more done than by just using a tractor and tanker.”
There is no doubting that the Wallace family are willing to move with the times and Glynn concluded by stating that whatever the customer wants, they will receive.
“There are a lot of overheads in this business, but you have to spend the money to make sure that you can still provide the best service possible and that is what we aim to do.”
Wallace Contracts
189 Bessbrook Road,
Mountnorris,
Armagh
BT60 2UD
Contact Number: 028 30821632
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 7, August 2015
