Based in Co Armagh, McGuigan Brothers Agri Contracts has grown into a trusted agri outfit for its clients over the past three decades. Irish Tractor & Agri heard more about what the company has to offer from one half of its head of operations Malachy McGuigan ahead of what should be another busy summer.
As the summer season approaches, McGuigan Brothers Agri Contracts in Middletown, Co Armagh are gearing up for another couple of busy months and, at this stage, it’s almost routine for the clan.
Silage cutting, manure-spreading, ploughing and re-seeding are the most popular services the company supplies to its clientele and with an excellent fleet of Case tractors, coupled with reliable service, it’s hard for them to look elsewhere for their agri needs.
For Malachy McGuigan, this is a business which he has been immersed in for the majority of his working life.
Born and bred in Middletown, Malachy and his brother Kevin learned their trade after having worked in ploughing alongside their late father Michael, who was instrumental in bringing them into the agri business.
Malachy’s interest in the industry was piqued after that and today he and his brother carry out an agri contracts service for local clients 12 months a year, as he informed Irish Tractor & Agri recently.
“We’re in Middletown, Co Armagh and I suppose you could say that the company is 30 years on the go now at this stage,” Malachy outlined.
“My sons Mark and Paudie work with me here and we have a team of three workers all year round and up to 10 workers during the summer. Basically, what we do here is silage, hedge cutting, slurry spreading with umbilical system and tankers, ploughing and re-seeding.”
The services stretch beyond that too, as it’s safe to say that the McGuigans aren’t ones to leave their clients found wanting in other departments of agri services. Indeed they offer quite close to the full spectrum when it comes to agri services.
Malachy isn’t shy to admit that business has been tough for the first few months of 2018 and he knows that busier times are ahead.
The plan for the coming weeks and months is to make up for lost time, with the weather, particularly in March, having wreaked a bit of havoc.
“To be honest, at the moment we’re a bit behind but you have to just stay at it,” Malachy stated.
“We do be flat out during the summer here and we’ve two harvesters and a wagon going over those couple of months. Our customers need us to be there for them during the summer and we always make sure that we are – that’s why they come to us.”
Some of McGuigan Brothers Agri Contracts’ customers have been with them the entire 30 years, while others have come on board after hearing the good word, getting in touch and being thoroughly satisfied with their service.
Now silage, slurry spreading, ploughing and re-seeding are the bulk of services that the company provides all year round for customers and the McGuigans ensure to carry out a top class job each and every time.
Where they are now is a far cry from where they started off from and is the result of providing an excellent service over the course of three decades.
Malachy revealed that when he first started out it was with just a single tractor and now the summer season sees his company operating with a fleet of 12 in order to keep up with the demand.
“I started off with one Case tractor and never really looked back from there,” he stated plainly.
“We have built up a good client base here and the majority of them would be in and around a 10-mile radius, so we can’t really complain about that.
“I’ve been working with some of them that long now that they know at this stage I’d never let them down. It’s important that they know that and I think that’s why they keep on coming to us first.”
The other reason is the quality of work which McGuigan Brothers Agri Contracts consistently produce.
All year round the McGuigans operate with “six or seven tractors”, according to Malachy, with their Case tractors coming from Alexander Mills in Benburb, which has been a supplier of agriculture machinery and farming supplies to the farming industry from 1945.
Come the summer, the fleet gets bumped up to 12 tractors so as the demand is met and this summer shows no signs of being any different to the last few which have seen the McGuigans flat-out up around Middletown.
During the summer the McGuigans also get two other contractors to help out with the mowing and raking, they are Trevor Johns and Paul McKenna.
“Hopefully, we can keep going like we’ve been going over the past few summers and maybe pick up one or two new clients on the way. That’s how it has been over the last couple of years,” Malachy concluded.
McGuigan Brothers Agri
Contracts
Middletown,
Co Armagh
Mob: 086 268 4316
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 6 No 5, August 2018
