Operating from Donaghadee, Co. Down, J & TJ Townley provides a complete agricultural contracting service. The family-run business cuts between 3,500 and 4,000 acres of pit silage each summer and recently took delivery of a new Kuhn triple mower to help with this year’s cuts.
The Townley name has been synonymous with the agri contracting sector since the 1960s when Jim (TJ) Townley started out with a square baler and later progressed to silage and combine work. Following Jim’s death 12 years ago, his son James took over the reins and has continued to service the needs of local farmers.
James is joined in the business by his mother Kathleen and cousin Steve. During peak times, up to five extra staff are taken on. J & TJ Townley is a completely separate entity to fellow agri contractor JD Townley & Son, which operates from nearby Ballygowan.
Committed to providing a quality service and complete client satisfaction, J & TJ Townley specialises in slurry spreading, ploughing, reseeding, silage cutting, barley harvesting and hedge cutting. James 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 success of J & TJ Townley is down to the knowledge, skill and expertise of its staff, as well as the quality of its equipment. The family-run concern delivers the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
James has five tractors dedicated to the contracting business. Four are New Holland and the other is a John Deere 6810. The New Hollands are T7.200 (x2), TM150 and TM190. He has three other tractors, all of which are Ford (TW15, 7610 and 7600), and are used on the family farm.
The Townley silage fleet is an impressive sight when in full flow. James drives the New Holland FR500 self-propelled forage harvester, which he purchased from R Kennedy & Co in Ballynahinch, Co. Down. Three Herron 14-tonne trailers draw the silage back to the pit where Michael Goudy uses his reverse-drive Valtra and buck rake.
James also hires in Gary Kirkwood, who owns a Krone 40-ft rake. Completing the Townley silage fleet are three 14-tonne Herron trailers and a brand new Kuhn FC 9530 triple mower, purchased from DS Logan in Cullybackey, Co. Antrim.
Believed to be the first of its kind in Ireland, the new machine utilises one front-mounted and two rear-mounted units to provide a work width of up to 9.5 metres. Each unit is mounted via a pendulum-type hydraulic articulation which enables vertical and angular adjustment of the mowing head for improved ground contouring, optimal cut quality and fast forward speeds.
All three mowing units are also fitted with Kuhn’s Optidisc cutterbar, Fast-Fit cutting knives and Protectadrive safety bearings as standard, and are controlled via a simple cab-mounted panel which enables each mowing unit to be lifted individually or simultaneously.
“I’ve been very impressed with it so far. It has a wide sweep, cuts well and leaves a nice sward,” enthuses James.
In addition, J & TJ Townley cuts approximately 600 acres of mostly spring barley per annum using two New Holland combine harvesters. The New Holland TX63 has a 17-ft cutter head, while the 8055 uses a 13-ft cutter head.
Other equipment / plant operated by the contractor includes two Major 2,000-gallon slurry tankers, a Richard Weston 10-tonne rear discharge dung spreader, a 1,200-metre slurry cup umbilical system, a pair of Kuhn four-furrow and five-furrow reversible ploughs, a Lemken one-pass seed drill, an Accord grain and fertiliser drill, a Mastek four-legged grass sub-soiler and a McConnel hedge-cutter.
All machines are upgraded on a regular basis to avoid breakdowns and downtime. Servicing and maintenance is carried out in-house, while tractors in need of repair are sent to main New Holland dealer R Kennedy & Co.
J & TJ Townley boasts a large and loyal customer-base within a 20-mile radius of Donaghadee, which is located on the north-east coast of the Ards Peninsula, four miles from Newtownards, six miles from Bangor and 18 miles from Belfast.
“We have received great support from the local farming community down through the years. Our customers keep coming back to us year after year because they know they’ll get a top-class, reliable, clean and cost-effective service,” James says.
There is no such thing as a quiet time of the year for this agri contractor. In the early months, the focus is on slurry spreading and sowing. The silage season, which typically runs from May to September, is a particularly hectic period for the Townley team who will work around the clock to keep their customers happy. The harvest then takes precedence, followed by hedge cutting and more slurry spreading.
In addition to the contracting business, James is engaged in tillage farming. On his 100-acre farm, he grows barley and potatoes and also makes hay.
“We grow about 50 acres of barley and cut another 30 acres of hay. We also grow 12 acres of potatoes which we sell out of the yard. We grow a wide variety of spuds, including Dunbar standards, Golden Wonders and Kerr’s Pinks,” he concludes.
J & TJ Townley
75 Windmill Road,
Donaghadee,
Co. Down
BT210LS
Telephone: 078 49598018
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 8, September 2015
