Over the past two decades, SC Hanna in Co Down has grown to become one of the leading collectors of fallen animals in all of Northern Ireland. Owner and founder Steven Hanna spoke to Irish Tractor & Agri recently to tell us about his business and some of the clients which he has become a sole collector for.
It’s not an easy line of labour, but over the past 21 years Steven Hanna has somehow managed to make it work and, in the process, has seen his company grow into one of the top fallen animal collection outfits in Northern Ireland.
Indeed the Hanna family name has been associated with providing a top class service in the collection of fallen animals for decades now – back when it used to be free for farmers – and that has seen it develop an excellent reputation amongst its clients.
Steven’s company trades under the name ‘SC Hanna Road Transport for Animal By-Products’ and was established in 1995, providing its collection service throughout all six counties in the north and south of the border on occasion.
The business operates from just outside the village of Hillsborough in Co Down, where Steven was born and bred, as the man himself explained.
“We’re based at 119 Dromara Road, Hillsborough,” Steven outlined, “The company has just past the 21-year mark since it was first set-up and right now there are six people employed here full-time, including myself.”
Surpassing that 21-year mark makes SC Hanna the oldest collector of fallen animals in Northern Ireland, which is part of the reason why customers choose its service first above other competitors.
One of the company’s main clientele is the poultry giant Moy Park, one of the UK’s top 15 food companies and Northern Ireland’s largest private sector business and one of Europe’s leading poultry producers.
Steven explained that the business relationship with the Co Tyrone company dates back a decade and a half, and also revealed how it first came about for him.
“We are the longest established collector in the north and we collect all over Northern Ireland. We collect all categories of fallen stock, right down to new born calves, pigs and poultry,” said SC Hanna’s Managing Director.
“We are the sole collector for Moy Park for 15 years now and we work on a different basis than our competitors do. I’ve always felt that if you’re not different then it just comes down to your prices.”
That unique approach is part of the reason why SC Hanna earned a contract with Moy Park back in 2001 and neither party has looked back from it since.
“We started working for Moy Park 15 years ago and basically how it came about was me giving them a phone call and seeing if they were interested in giving me ‘a crack at the egg’,” Steven joked.
“So a tender came up then for a sole collector with them and I got it, and I think the fact that I’m still here 15 years later means I’m doing something right.
“Now we do 180 broilers every week in Moy Park and it’s a very good contract for us.”
Along with Moy Park, Steven has earned plenty more big name contracts thanks to the first class service his company provides.
The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute – a research institute in Belfast – is another member of clientele at SC Hanna, which sees them covering various locations throughout the year.
“I’m the sole collector for the AFBI, which is the government body for agriculture, and I’d be collecting around test centres in Omagh, Stormont and Hillsborough for them,” said Steven.
“You’d also have animals that have been dumped in waterways and that, so that’s another part of it.”
He continued: “A lot of my customer base would be long-time customers. I’m a sole collector with Malcom Keys, a big pig producer, and I think the likes of those companies are dealing with us because of the services that we provide and how we’re trying to constantly keep down our prices.”
Travelling distances day in and day out sees Steven requiring a sufficient fleet to meet the business demand and he has always put his trust in the Volvo brand.
“We’ve six Volvo trucks that we buy off Dennisons in Ballyclare,” he said.
“We’re registered collectors in the south of Ireland as well and we’re in Dundalk every week working for various small farmers down there. I’m also the only collector which is HAZCHEM approved for infectious materials in Northern Ireland.”
The trucks themselves are state-of-the-art and perfectly equipped to handle all the needs of a fallen professional animal collector, as Steven explained:
“Every one of our lorries has an on-board weighing system and with the system we have they can wash their own wheels. We’d like to think that we’re ahead of others when it comes to do with the biosecurity end of things.”
Staying ahead of the competition has been something the Hanna family have been good at ever since delving into their own business start-up.
Steven knows the industry he’s in inside out thanks to having worked with his father, Cecil, in the same business back in the days when he was a youngster.
“My dad and my granddad would have both been in this line of work,” said Steven, whose brother Raymond passed away too young three years ago.
“I knew the whole business when I was a kid and was working from my father when I finished school. My father was well known by many of the local farmers and he was the only man out collecting.
“Back then it was free for farmers, so you can imagine how busy he would have been during that period.”
Nowadays many farmers across different parts of Northern Ireland are happy to pay SC Hanna for the first class service that they provide.
However, in concluding, Steven revealed that business has certainly become tougher for them in recent years.
“Certain things tend to affect this kind of work. As the farmers’ livestock prices go down, it definitely plays a part in affecting us,” he said.
“Another thing is the amount of collectors that have popped up all over the place in the last few years. You have to stay ahead of the game and hopefully we’ll continue to do that for years to come and just keep ticking over.”
SC Hanna
Address:
119 Dromara Rd,
Hillsborough, Co Down, BT26 6PE
Tel: 07860 682177
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 6, July/August 2016
