Tinsley Contracts in Co Down is a family-run agri contracting firm with a rich tradition in the business. Irish Tractor & Agri learned more about the company and its fleet of John Deere tractors from Samuel and Richard Tinsley.
The busiest period of the year is just around the corner for Tinsley Contracts and father and son combination – Samuel and Richard Tinsley – were good enough to take time out of a busy schedule to fill Irish Tractor & Agri in on what they’re all about.
Originally started from the ground up by Samuel and his father back in the late 1970s, the company began trading as Tinsley Contracts since Samuel’s son Richard came on board more than 10 years ago.
Big things began to happen after that and now the business is operating with a fleet of 12 John Deere tractors, with staff numbers swelling up as high as 20 in the summer time.
For Samuel Tinsley, agri contracting has been the mainstay of his entire working career, having served in his family’s business through five different decades now.
“We’re based at 80 Dromore Road, Dromara, Co Down and I would have been working in agri contracting with my father back in 1979. It’s something I’ve been involved in all of my working life,” explained Samuel.
“We’ve been Tinsley Contracts for about 12 years now and in that time Richard has taken over, things have expanded and it’s looking very positive for the future now. At the moment we’ve nine staff working here and that number runs up to around 18 or 19 during the summer.”
Samuel’s other son Keith is a qualified mechanic who specialises in John Deere machinery, working alongside his father and brother in order to make sure things run smoothly at Tinsley Contracts year round.
Richard, who has been immersed in the business for more than a decade now, gave us the lowdown on the services Tinsley Contracts provide, as well as the ones which they specialise in.
“Silage cutting and slurry spreading are the two main things for us here,” Richard outlined.
“After that we’d do a lot of ploughing, lime spreading, fertiliser, round baling and square baling and hedge cutting as well. Basically, we’d do all the work that an agri contractor would do and it tends to keep us busy the entire year round.”
The signs have very been positive in the build-up towards another summer, according to Samuel.
“We’re busy at the moment,” he stated. “With the milk price over the last few years our customers suffered but it’s turned around now and we’re keeping busy, thankfully.
“Richard has helped to expand this business in a big way since he’s taken over and we’re just looking to keep that going and stay as busy as well can.”
Part of the expansion at Tinsley Contracts has seen their fleet of John Deeres move up to double figures in recent years.
Along with 12 ‘JDs’, the Tinsleys operate mowers, harvesters, JCB shovels, tankers, Claas rakes and also have a new 50-foot rake on the way this summer. They’ve also recent purchased two John Deeres (one of them brand new) to strengthen their fleet ahead of the summer.
“It must be the green blood in us,” Samuel said on their John Deere preference.
“I bought my first John Deere back in 1978 and it went well so I never really strayed away from them. Back then there was hardly another John Deere in the country, so we stuck with them and over the years it has been a great tractor for us.
“We buy them off Johnston Gilpin & Co in Lisburn and we’ve basically been dealing with them since 1978.”
Along with the agri contracting end, the Tinsleys also run their own farm in Dromara with 420 acres of land and 250 cows.
All in all, it tends to keep them busy and Samuel revealed that they intend to get busier with a new venture hopefully being unearthed this year for the family.
“Right now we’re beginning to expand into lorry work and lime transport, which my son Keith looks after. We have three lorries here at the moment,” he stated.
These are exciting times indeed for the Tinsleys and the plan is to try and keep the good times rolling.
Despite many of their clients struggling between poor milk prices and the economic downturn in recent times, they’ve continued to choose Tinsley Contracts first and it says a lot about the calibre of the company.
Some of the family’s long-time customers have been with them as far back as when Samuel first started out working with his own father and now, two generations on, the business is thriving strongly.
Samuel doesn’t make any secret out of the fact that the Tinsleys owe a lot to the clientele which has entrusted them for so many years.
“I think there’s a certain amount of loyalty there,” he said. “We are fast and efficient with regards to all the services that we provide and I think our clients appreciate that.
“Most of our work here would be within a 15-mile radius and we’d know an awful lot of our customers a long time,” said Samuel.
“I’d just like to say that we’re very grateful for the business that they’ve given us over the years. Without them we wouldn’t be here.”
You get the feeling that the appreciation is mutual.
Tinsley Contracts
80 Dromore Road,
Dromara,
Co Down
Tel: +44 7849 370428
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 5, July/August 2017
