For nearly two decades, AJ Contracts has offered a reliable and competitive range of services to their local agricultural community. We caught up with Alan Jameson-Ewing who filled us in on his burgeoning business.
Alan Jameson-Ewing’s agricultural contracting business (AJ Contracts) has expanded steadily over the last 17 years and the wealth of experience he has garnered has helped him to develop and maintain long-term relationships with his customers.
Alan takes pride in investing in the latest high quality equipment and machinery. The wide range of agricultural machinery at his disposal is extensive which enables him to cater for a full range of services such as hedge cutting, sowing, ploughing, slurry, silage harvest and crop harvesting.
Every contracting business requires a wide choice of modern machines and Alan’s fleet includes Claas Harvester H780, Volvo L7OH Shovel, Krone 420 mower, Triple X Claas Mower 9100, Two 2900 Claas rake and Claas 3600 four loader rake. Tractor wise, AJ Contracts has the use of a Fendt 820, a John Deere 6150R, a John Deere 6170R, a John Deere 6920S, two John Deere 6930 and Massey Ferguson 380 which is on wide wheels all the time for slurry work. The Tyrone based operation has a flexible and adaptive approach and their customers can be assured of reliable service from a trusted contractor.
“I see up the contracting business back in 2000,” Alan revealed in conversation with Irish Tractor & Agri magazine. “There was a neighbour of mine cutting silage at the time and he asked me if I would be interested in taking over a few of his customers.
“I agreed, took on a few men and we just kept getting busier and busier mainly through word of mouth. I’ve been at it ever since.”
Spare time is a scare commodity for Alan as he also oversees the smooth running of the family’s farm. The Ewing’s farming enterprise consists of 280 acres, 80 suckler cows and 250 beef cattle.
“I live in Eglish, Co Tyrone but the farm is located between Aughnacloy and Dungannon. Most of our contracting work is done within a 15 to 20 mile radius of the farm. I employ six in the contracting business.”
Availability of skilled labour is a key requirement to running a successful contracting business. However, in recent years contractors generally have reported increasing difficulty in recruiting and retaining such staff. Alan highlighted the lack of labour as a priority that needs to be addressed in the current market place.
“Getting good help is a big challenge as there are a lot of good men away out of the country,” he pointed out. Overcoming this obstacle aside, Alan is pleased to report that work has been in plentiful supply on the contracting front in recent times.
“We’re very busy and I’d like to thank all of our loyal customers. We carry out a lot of repeat business and have been working for some of our farmers for many years now. They must be happy enough with the service we provide!”
Alan understands the importance of reliability and timeliness when it comes to his line of work.
“We always strive to get the job done when our customers what it done. We ensure all of our machinery is well maintained to get the work done on time.”
To keep the bills down, the majority of the servicing is carried out by Alan and his team.
“We do quite a bit of the repairs and servicing work ourselves and if anything major arises we go to the dealers.”
Not content to rest on his laurels, Alan has plans in the pipeline for further expansion of AJ Contracts.
“We probably will add to the services we provide. For example, we don’t currently do any baling and that maybe something we will look at. We have no combine so we might go down that route.”
Offering his services at competitive rates, Alan aims to assist farmers to meet their goals quickly, efficiently and reliably. AJ Contracts has never shirked any type of new work, and that willingness to adapt has steadily increased its workload. Don’t hesitate to contact Alan to discuss your contracting requirements. He is committed to providing an added value service to local farmers and this is achieved via a personal touch.
AJ Contracts
14 Cadian Road
Eglish Dungannon
County Tyrone
Tel: 078 33946441
Email: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 5 No 7, October/November 2017
