Tractamotors Agri is one of Ireland’s premier importers and distributors of agricultural machinery. We travelled to the company’s well-appointed facility on Cavan town’s Dublin Road and caught up with manager James Clarke to find out more about this exceptional operation and the excellent range of equipment supplied through dealers nationwide.
The Tractamotors name may be synonymous with quality tyres but the Cavan-headquartered company also has an agricultural division, Tractamotors Agri, which imports and distributes a wonderful range of grassland management equipment and agricultural machinery from all over Europe – including Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Turkey etc. – as well as select items of quality light construction plant.
As ever, Tractamotors Agri currently have a superb selection of gear on hand, ready to be distributed to Irish farmers and contractors through a host of agricultural machinery dealers nationwide.
Despite the constant pressure on farmers and the squeeze on disposable income due to low prices at the farm gate, store manager James Clarke is pleased to report that the business is going strong against the odds: “It’s going well. Every year presents new challenges, one of the main ones being prices for farmers, which impact on everybody.
“The farmer had very little buying power in 2016 and the weather wasn’t too favourable either. The vital summer months weren’t great and they didn’t get that run of fine weather, which is essential. If that time of year passes and the weather hasn’t been great, then they simply won’t spend money on machinery.”
While the economic landscape has been difficult, there will always be demand for machinery and Tractamotors Agri have a great range ready for distribution, some of which were on display at Ireland’s premier farm machinery event – the biennial FTMTA Farm Machinery Show – at Punchestown Racecourse on February 9th, 10th and 11th.
“Tractamotors have been trading for more than 55 years and have imported and distributed agricultural machinery for around 35 years,” James notes. “The company actually started out in this area, importing second-hand tractors from England, and that’s where the name comes from. The tractor sales became huge for a while but they gradually phased that out and got more and more into tyres, which is now the core business.
“We have tyre warehouses in Dublin and Antrim and cover the 32 counties, with seven reps on the road. We carry a full range of premium car and commercial tyres and have also started into agricultural tyres, which ties in nicely with Tractamotors Agri.”
The range of agri machinery and equipment imported and distributed by Tractamotors Agri is comprehensive. For example, they distribute a number of different types of fertiliser spreaders with different disc settings, from Cavallo, Cosmo, Agrex and BMC as well as two leading ranges of tractor-mounted sprayers – the Gaysa premium line of sprayers from Spain and the Taral economy line from Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Marangon disc mower range includes the trailed conditioner model and the three-point linkage conditioner mower as well as standard non-conditioner options. Dealers can also choose from two different three-point linkage two-drum mowers – Mesko-Rol from Poland and Tinaz from Turkey.
“We also source a range of tedders and hay rakes from Mesko-Pol plus a range of Del Morino finishing mowers for sports fields, parks and lawns. These are available as flail or rotavator mowers.”
Farmers might also be interested in some of the plant and construction equipment imported. “We carry the Altrad Belle range of cement mixers – both professional and DIY – with electric, petrol or diesel engines. We also do other items of construction equipment and enjoyed some very good years in that sector up until 2007. It’s coming back to life a little bit again and hopefully it’ll become a major factor for us again.”
One of the challenges facing an importer of agri machinery is knowing – or trying to estimate – how much of each item to import each year. Getting caught with surplus machinery in the warehouse is obviously far from ideal. How difficult is it to avoid this scenario?
“Agri machinery is very seasonal anyway,” notes James. “The first six or seven months of the year are very busy and then the harvesting is all sorted and the back end of the year is very quiet. We import and distribute through dealers in every county in Ireland, so we have to make sure we have what they need.
“This is where experience comes in. We have to make an educated guess on what’ll be in demand as we place our orders in December of the previous year. Of course, even then, factors like farm incomes and weather can affect demand for machinery, so you could still get stuck with stock and obviously pressure comes with that. At the end of the day, you really have to know what you are doing and use your experience and knowledge to make the best possible predictions.
Up to six people are employed in the Tractamotors Agri department during peak season (from an overall group staff of approximately 80) and the team always goes the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction by providing professional delivery and assembly solutions in-house.
“We have a 40-foot artic on the road and handle all our own deliveries. JJ Galligan is the driver and he offers a very professional service,” says James. “Also, a lot of the dealers like to receive the machinery pre-assembled and our mechanics assemble them here on site prior to delivery. We assemble up to 90% of the equipment and that can of course be costly and tedious and time-consuming but it’s all part of the service we provide.”
Looking forward to 2017, James is optimistic that it’s going to be a decent year: “It’s onwards and upwards and we’ll keep at it to the best of our ability. Hopefully the weather will be better for farmers and they will have more income. There are more banks and financial institutions prepared to offer farmers small amounts of money again and that is a positive development.
“We also offer spray testing here now, which is another service that’s useful to local farmers. JJ is a qualified Department of Agriculture sprayer tester and he can provide the testing of tractor-mounted sprayers here on site.”
As well as Tractamotors Agri’s unrivalled range of agricultural equipment, farm and plant machinery and hardware, Tractamotors is No 1 in Cavan for tyres, car service, brakes, shocks and wheel alignment. Meanwhile, Topline Tractamotors is a one-stop-shop for home, garden, DIY and building supplies.
Tractamotors stock all major brands of tyres at competitive prices and boast all the latest machinery the industry has to offer. Staff are trained to the highest standards, which is one of the reasons why Tractamotors is the only tyre depot on the island to have achieved a Pirelli Performance Centre Certificate. The depot offers an unrivalled level of expertise when it comes to recommending, fitting and balancing high performance tyres – an outstanding service complemented by first-class customer care and attention.
Tractamotors Agri,
Dublin Road,
Cavan Town,
County Cavan.
Tel: 049 4375900
Mobile: 0876811085
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 4, June 2017
