For round baling and a lot more besides, Walter Moroney Agri Contractor in County Clare is one of the best in the business. We dropped into Walter’s O’Callaghans Mills base to discuss the history of the family business, the range of services offered and the superb fleet of machinery at his disposal.

Sometimes it’s just simply in the blood: Walter Moroney – a well-known face in the local ploughing championships scene – has been working the land for 25 years … even though he’s only 35! Reflecting on the genesis of the family agri contracting service, he notes: “My father Liam would have started it and he has been contracting all his life. He did square baling and pit silage initially and got into the round baling in 1990.

“I started with him around that time as a young lad. Dad continued to work full belt up until last year but he is 70 now and had taken a bit of a back seat. My mother Carmel and wife Claire have also made big contributions to the business.”

Walter is renowned across East Clare for his excellent round baling service, which accounts for a large percentage of his overall work. The full range of services offered would include: round baling, wrapping, mowing and raking; digger work, drainage and plant hire; lime spreading; reseeding; and slurry spreading (power harrow).

For the last couple of years, Walter has held the contract to provide round baling for Shannon Airport, where he does up to 500 acres per year under unique and demanding conditions. Tommy Nagle, who is foreman at Shannon Airport, is more than happy with the service provided: “We have had no problem whatsoever with Walter and couldn’t be happier with his work. He is very conscientious and is working in a potentially dangerous situation where planes would be taking off and the grass has to be collected as it is mowed. Out of all the contractors we have worked with over the years, he is definitely one of the best. It’s high-pressure work but Walter has come up trumps. He came in with a brand-new baler this year and got the job done with no fuss. This is a very specialist area but he has been a good man to work with and we are very happy with him.”

Walter runs two balers – a McHale Fusion and a McHale standard 550 baler. He also operates two John Deere mowers, a Claas rake, McHale wrapper, a new McCauley low loader and a Hyundai digger as well as assorted slurry tankers, agitators and power harrows. Tractor-wise, the Clare man runs three New Hollands, a McCormick MTX150 and a new Landini 7 series 145.

Walter is also a qualified mechanic by trade. He looks after all fleet maintenance and repairs in-house and works hard to ensure that the machinery is firing on all cylinders at all times. Of course, this also involves regular investment in fresher gear. “It has to be right,” he states. “I’ve bought the new McHale Fusion this year as well as a new low loader. We also purchased a new mower last year and a second-hand digger. Generally, we try to add one new piece each year.”

The quality of service provided is such that customer loyalty levels are exceptionally high. “We have customers dating back to when my father was starting off and they are all 100% reliable. We have an awful lot of baling customers and you couldn’t praise them enough. I know them all on a personal level at this stage and they’re all good people. I pride myself on providing a good service and if I say I’ll be there then I will be there. You just keep running with it and do the best you can. You’d always pick up new customers along the way, too, so we are kept very busy.”

Indeed, the summer of 2015 has been a busy one: “We had a very busy month of June,” says Walter. “We were flat out seven days a week. Round baling has taken over completely from pit silage in East Clare and that’s what they are all going for here. The crops were good this year and the land was dry and we were flat out.

“As we can do in three hours now what would have taken a whole day 15 years ago, that means you are even busier! We’re covering a lot more ground and I’ll consider buying a second McHale Fusion next year.”

Walter had four great lads working alongside him, while his Dad still helps out part-time. Eddie Hannon is his right hand man and he also gets tremendous assistance from Colm McGrath, Padraig Minogue and Joey O’Brien.

All in all, it’s a superb operation – but how hard is it to make a profit at the end of each week? “You incur a lot of expenses to get those bales out,” Walter concedes. “You have wages and diesel and equipment and parts to pay for before you get any money in, so it’s a constant battle. I keep a good stock of parts here in the garage, so I rarely get caught out. Downtime would be a real killer so you have to avoid it. But the McHale equipment is good and gives very little trouble and the John Deere mowers are also very good. We keep the whole thing running as close to clockwork as we possibly can.”

There is no rocket science or complex logarithms behind Walter Moroney’s approach to overseeing a successful agri contracting service. “Our aim is to be with the customer when he wants us,” he concludes. “Service is No.1 – be there when he wants you and beat the rain. We pride ourselves on our service levels and I’m confident that all of our customers would agree with that. So they keep coming back.

“We’re not going to let our standards drop. If anything, we’ll strive to keep improving the service even more.”

Walter Moroney Agri Contractor
O’Callaghan’s Mills
Co. Clare

Tel: 087 9112319

Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 8, September 2015

Agri Contractor, Walter Moroney