Pat Walsh Agri Services has earned a glowing reputation for its excellence in agricultural contracting from the days of its origins back in the late 1970’s. Irish Tractor and Agri spoke to the man himself to learn more about the history of the business and find out what they have been up to lately.
Based in Swords, North Co Dublin, Walsh Agri has built up a proud tradition of providing its customers with an excellent service and it’s little wonder why business is booming for them right now.
The company has seen a decent expansion since being officially set up two years ago, with the latest addition a brand new Massey Ferguson 7718 VT and Massey 2170 square baler.
Pat Walsh is the kind of man who knows you have to spend money to make money sometimes, having learned the tricks from his namesake father throughout the 1980’s and mid 1990’s
Pat Walsh Senior may have passed away twenty years ago, but the legacy he left behind in his work all through the north Co Dublin area and beyond, still lives on through the good work his son is carrying out at present
Despite a hectic summer schedule, Pat was able to take time to explain to Irish Tractor and Agri what his business is all about.
“We are based in Lispopple, Swords, Co Dublin and Walsh Agri services is established two years, but we have been contracting a lot longer than that,” Pat outlined.
“We have two full time working here. Jimmy O’Rourke has been with us many years and is head of our maintenance department and Sam Allwood started with us this season while my partner Michelle looks after the accounts for us.
“My dad passed away twenty years ago and had a dairy farm up until 1978. After he gave that up he concentrated on contracting work and it still remains the family business today.
“We do a lot of bulk fertilizer for farmers in the area and round bales silage. We would do 1,200 bales for ourselves running two balers, a McHale Fusion 3plus and a McHale 550 as we have a spring calving suckler herd of over 100 cows and finish all the calves to beef.”
The company specialises in grass services but practically offers its clients the full package when it comes to Agri Contracting thanks to Pat’s investment in some top of the line machinery.
“We supply a substantial amount of hay and haylage to the large equine business in North Co Dublin,” explained Pat.
“We do all our own mowing as well and in general with us its start to finish. A lot of our customers that I’m spreading fertiliser, I have been spreading for them for years.
“My father has been doing this since I was a kid and we still have a few of his customers today. I started working for him the year I finished my Inter Cert, investing in my first baler at the age of 16 with the help of my uncle Brian who to this day still helps out with a lot of wise advice.”
For Pat, Agri Contracting has been his profession since he was a teenager. It’s what he knows best and he has been keen to invest strongly in it since putting his name over the door. Many of his older customers are happy to be working with a familiar name .
“We have really expanded the business lately,” he said. “We have got some new customers and although a lot of my father’s customers would have retired there are still some of them with us. We are grateful that they stuck with us down through the years.”
Retaining the customers that his father had is not down to luck either, as Pat is renowned for providing an excellent service all year round.
“It’s something that has to be done,” according to the man himself. “If you want to stay in Agri Contracting you have to deliver exactly what your customers want as the industry continues to grow more and more competitive with each passing year.”
Repeat business is absolutely crucial in this game Pat stated.
“We work seven days a week sometimes here to make sure our customers are satisfied, and I would usually start mowing at 5 or 6am and may not get finished until late at night, those are the demands sometimes and you just have to deal with them.”
He added: “Silage runs into the harvest and on top of that a lot of our straw goes to the North and West of Ireland.”
Along with commitment to long hours, staying on top in Agri Contracting usually requires some state of the art machinery to ensure an excellent job is carried out for customers.
Pat doesn’t think twice about the right investment and at the start of the year added another gem to his machinery fleet.
“I have four tractors here and recently bought a brand new Massey Ferguson 7718 at the start of this year.
“So I have one Massey and four John Deeres and I deal with WBD, Agri Care, Meath Farm Machinery, and Mid Louth Machinery, because of the service they provide. They all give an excellent service and I can have no complaints with what they have done for me so far.”
With plenty of contracting specialists out there investing heavily, particularly around the capital -what is it that sets Walsh Agri Services aside from the rest and ensures their customers keep coming back?
The man himself isn’t shy to reveal why he thinks the Walshs have had such success in their chosen field down through the years.
He concluded: “I think it’s a loyalty thing. You get to build up a relationship with the people you are working for and it just builds from there.
“People know that you have made the investment and they know that it has to be paid for. So there is a loyalty element and then the fact that they know that I won’t let them down.”
What more could you ask for?
Pat Walsh Agri
Lispopple
Swords
Co Dublin
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 6, September 2017
