Agricultural contractors take out the hassle and strain of getting through a mountain of work during the course of the year.
Financially, it also makes sense to hire in a contractor to do the necessary work throughout the various seasons, which range from ploughing, reseeding, maize, slurry and muck spreading, silage and baling to name just a few services provided by contractors. Many also offer groundworks and other plant services which farmers avail of from time to time.
For a farmer to do all this work, he or she would need the proper machinery and equipment and as we all know that comes at a great expense, while the specialised machinery would only be sitting idle in their yards for the majority of the year.
Farmers are creatures of habit and once they trust a contractor to do the work to the standard that they require then that contractor will be called upon every year.
This is the case with family run business Dennehy Agri Contractors & Plant Hire who from their homestead in Ballyhooly, Co Cork supply an efficient and reliable service to an ever-increasing customer base that spans across their native county as well as parts of Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.
Contracting is dictated to by the weather and time constraints. Last year, was a good year for contractors as the mainly dry summer allowed them to get through their work quickly.
The Dennehy family are farmers themselves so they know what their customers want. In 1986, Ger Dennehy decided to start some contracting work and from there the business and customer base has grown hand in hand.
These days, he is joined by his sons Dave and James. Services provided included silage, maize, muck spreading, ploughing, reseeding, slurry and dumper work.
Dave spoke to Irish Tractor & Agri about the business and how they strive to ensure that each and every customer is happy with the work that they do.
“Since my father started up, we would have gathered a lot of experience over the years, while we have continuously upgraded the machinery and I think that is a massive thing given the time constraints in this business,” said Dave.
“With the silage for example, we can manage to get through 100 acres a day with the machinery that we are using. A Krone Triple mower is used for mowing, while for picking up, we have a Claas 960 which was bought from McCarthy Plant & Agri Sales, Carrigtwohill. We have John Deere tractors for drawing in and we use Broughan trailers also. Then for backing up, we have a Volvo L90f.
“During the off season, we would do all our maintenance work ourselves and make sure that all the machinery is in excellent condition as the last thing we or our customers want is for us to be breaking down while on a job.”
Dave added that during this busy period additional staff are taken on to help cope with the workload.
“We operate one crew during the silage season. The three of us would be working and we would bring in an additional six lads for that period.
“When there is a window of opportunity there to get the work done then you have to take it and this can be a hectic schedule for a few weeks, but it’s a case of having to get the work done.”
Dave revealed that the customer base has grown considerably over the years with many of their clients opting to use Dennehy Agri Contracts for many years now.
“The majority of our customers would be with us for many year now, some of which would be there from the start and a lot of them would use us for more than just one service.”
Dennehy’s are something of a specialist when it comes to sowing maize as they offer the full service, from ploughing to reseeding using the Samco system.
The Samco System involves the use of a 3-in-1 machine that sows Maize Corn Seed, sprays a pre-emergence herbicide on the soil and lays a thin layer of degradable mulch film over the soil, increasing air and ground temperature and protecting the young seedling from adverse weather and late frosts. The Samco System can be used in a range of climatic conditions depending on the customer’s requirements.
“We provide a host of services and we are kept busy throughout the year, while my father looks after the farm at home. We farm up to 300 acres and focus mainly on dairy.”
Dave admits that there has been many changes in the farming industry over the years and he feels that most of these changes have benefitted the agricultural community.
“Farming has become a lot more scientific. From the type of slurry used to fertilise grass to measuring grass itself, it all has a common purpose of reaching the maximum potential of your farm.
“That is why when it comes to the contracting, we know what the farmer wants and needs, which we strive to give them every time we work for them.”
Dennehy Agri
Killathy,
Ballyhooly,
Cork,
Co. Cork
Tel: (025)39152
Mob: 086-1080084
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 5, June 2016
