Getting the work-life balance right is a constant struggle that agricultural contractors know only too well.

With strict deadlines to meet, the long working days can put pressure on personal lives and family time is, more often than not, a scare commodity. It’s a delicate juggling act that Padraig Noonan of Noonan Agri Contractors is determined to master because he understands the importance of reaching a happy medium.

Along with his father Moss, mother Marie and brother Seamus, Padraig runs Conna-based Noonan Agri Contractors and making life that bit easier for them and their employees is top of his agenda.

“You have to have a great passion for work but it’s important to have a good work-life balance especially when you are managing people who are working long hours too. It is important to remain calm and cool headed when dealing with situations and making deisions at busy periods.” he pointed out to Irish Tractor & Agri magazine.

“It can get stressful at times but we’re always trying to create a better working environment to help manage the people who work for us. Their families miss out too when they’re not home until late at night, so if we can improve their quality of life as well as there health & safety then that to me is progress.

“I’m not saying you can completely eliminate working long hours or working many days in a row,but it’s trying to improve the general aspects of life around that.”

For farmers, employing the service of contractors can help them free up some valuable personal time and Noonan Agri Contractors has been delivering this for their local farming community for the past five decades.

The main range of services they offer includes silage, tillage, slurry, harvesting and reseeding.

“My father started out with his father Paddy before setting up the business 50 years ago. They used to have cows on the family farm but my father was more into the machinery end of things. When he got involved the cows went out the gate and a few tractors were brought in. He’s been well known around the area as a great engineer, with the ability to create a solution when a part was unavailable in short notice, as well as building the odd self-propelled mower long before there was an option of buying one.”

Growing up, Padraig’s spare hours were spent working in the family business and he joined full-time back in 2004 after completing an Agricultural course in Kildalton and a Agri mechcanics course Reaseheath College, Nantwich in the UK.

“I gained some experience on farms in the UK before returning home. My brother Seamus did Business in Galway and he joined in 2007. We employ six full-time employees,” he revealed. In the end of 2014 for insurance reasons we became a limited company with Noonan Agri Contractors taking over from Moss Noonan sole trader.”

Their fleet of ten tractors, a mix of CaseIH, New Holland, a JCB Fastrac and all associated machinery was kept busy during the course of 2016.

“Business has been good the last year because the weather has been good. That meant we were able to plan out our weeks work in advance with little disruption. As always, there were quite a few late nights but I’d have to say it was a good year in general to get our work done.

“The business is steadily getting bigger just like farms around us are getting bigger. We do the majority of work within a 12 mile radius and the majority of that work is for repeat customers. We are very lucky to have top farmers around us and there loyalty and push for efficiency keeps the whole show on the road.”

Why do these customers keep knocking on Noonan Agri’s door?

“We offer a top quality service,” Padraig answered. “Some of our staff members have been with us for 5, 10 to 30 years or more. They’ve built up a lot of knowledge and experience in that time and that basically is what the business is built on along with the machinery. A machine is only as good as the operator up on it!

“We operate two New Holland combine harvesters (TX68 and 8070), two silage harvesters (Claas 900 and New Holland FR9080), two Volvo loaders (L110E and L70F), a Big M 420 Mower , Steyr mower, Krone rakes, Mastek Umbilical Slurry system as well as slurry tanks, ploughs, Samco maize seeders, lime spreaders, Wakely Roller mill and trailers.

“We take a lot of pride in our staff, our machinery and the quality of our work.”

To help maintain their high standards and always achieve the best results for their clients, Noonan Agri Contractors look after their own fleet maintenance, repairs and servicing where possible, everything else provided is the great service of the many machinery dealers we are lucky to have around us.

What are the main challenges that Padraig & Co face in the day-to-day running of their business?

“Cashflow is always a challenge!” he quipped ” But keeping in contact with suppliers and customers helps curtail that.” Part time staff “Basically, we’re getting busier now, the economy is picking up but getting in part time staff to help during the busy periods is not easy. There are also certain parts of the business that are getting more and more complicated but we try to keep things as simple as we can

“It’s important to us that we provide the best all round service to the farmer which means they can get the best out of the way they farm.”

If that is something that appeals to you, give Padraig and the team at Noonan Agri Contractors a call on the number below.

The Noonan family name is synonymous with reliability and quality of work – the two key characteristics of any successful contracting business.

Noonan Agricultural Contractors

Ballybride

Conna

Co. Cork

Padraig Mob: 087 2537510

Twitter: @NoonanAgri

Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 1, January/February 2017

Noonan Agricultural Contractors