From their base in Tydavnet in North County Monaghan, Murphy Agri Hire Ltd. provide a comprehensive range of agricultural contracting and environmental services. Irish Tractor & Agri spoke to Mick Murphy to find out more about this exceptional, multifaceted, family-run operation.
With a vast fleet of finely-tuned tractors and specialist machinery at their disposal, Murphy Agri Hire Ltd. offer keen, speedy and professional agri contracting services to farmers and producers in North Monaghan – from slurry any way you want it to ploughing, reseeding, lime spreading, hedge cutting and mulching. Meanwhile, they also specialise in a host of environmental and cleaning services including septic tank and drain cleaning, sludge removal, road, street and factory washing and are fully-licensed and –insured for the disposal of waste.
Meanwhile, reliable gritting and snow ploughing services are also provided to councils and private customers during the winter months.
Complementing the quality and dependability of the services provided, one of the key drivers behind the success and viability of this family business is its flexibility and versatility. By offering such a wide range of services, they are busy all year around…
“We’re kept tipping away and there’s never a quiet day here,” confirms Mick Murphy, who runs the operation alongside his father Martin and brother Shane. “Most of the work is agri but we also offer environmental and cleaning services as well and are on call for that around the clock. With the nature of the work we are doing, everybody wants you today and nobody wants you tomorrow, but you have to be ready to spring into action when the customer needs you.”
A complete agri contracting service is provided, with the exception of silage. Indeed, when Martin first started out in 1987 with his trusty iconic blue Ford 7000, he did some round baling in the early years but the agri side of the business gradually evolved to offer mostly slurry, ploughing, reseeding and lime spreading services as well as compost spreading on mushroom units, dung spreading on poultry units, hedge cutting and dumper / telehandler work.
For slurry, the Murphys run an umbilical system using Agquip dribble bar as well as four tankers – a 2000-gallon NC, 2,600-gallon Agrispread Groundhog, 3,000-gallon Abbey and 4,000-gallon Red Rock, which was bought new this year. They were the first in the region to acquire an innovative, game-changing Groundhog slurry tanker with its axle running through the middle and low centre of gravity, making it ideal for steep land.
Meanwhile, Murphy Agri Hire also run two Red Rock slurry pumps – a Super Flow and a Mega Flow. The slurry services offered are ultra-efficient: “Given that we don’t cut silage any more, we can get straight into the slurry after the first cut of silage – we’d nearly follow the harvester around the field,” Mick states.
“It’s all grassland here and we do a fair bit of ploughing and reseeding – ploughing, levelling, power harrowing, sowing grass seed, spreading lime and spreading dung, too, as there are a lot of free-range hen and indeed commercial hen farmers in this area.”
Uniquely, Tydavnet is close to the Armagh (Middletown), Tyrone (Aughnacloy) and Fermanagh (Roslea) borders. “We cover North Monaghan and do a little bit into the North as well,” Mick points out.
Hedge cutting services are offered via either tractor (with Arbocut 2000 hedge cutter) or excavator (with a McConnel sawhead or heavy-duty mulching head). “We also do some dump trailer work, some low loader work and have telehandlers and draw bales with our own trailers as well,” Mick adds.
The comprehensive range of outstanding agri contracting solutions is complemented by Murphy Agri Hire’s environmental services: “In environmental work, we wash factories for local food processing companies, agri co-ops, animal feed mills and some nursing homes,” the Monaghan man continues. “We have a high-pressure, high-capacity wash bar on the front of one of the tractors for washing and disinfecting roads, streets and yards, while we also do septic tank cleaning and sludge removal, which we are fully licensed to bring to the local treatment plant in Monaghan town. We also offer drain cleaning, with a high-pressure jet for degreasing lines.”
Indeed, diversity is at the heart of the business and, to this end, another unique service offered is portable toilet hire for events and building sites, etc.
Included in the Murphy Agri Hire tractor fleet are a Deutz-Fahr 6210, 6180 and 150 alongside two Same Silver 130s, a Lamborghini Premium 1300 and Ford 7810 two-wheel drive alongside a Kverneland 4-furrow reversible plough, Kuhn 3-metre power harrow, Einbock seeder and Bredal 10-ton lime spreader not to forget the Merlo telescopic loader and a Mustang 2060 bobcat, which is used predominantly for cleaning out poultry houses.
Investment in replenishing, servicing and maintaining all the gear is ongoing as the Murphys leave no stone unturned in ensuring that every piece of equipment is performing at its optimal level. “We look after a fair bit of the upkeep ourselves but we also avail of the services of a local engineer and mechanic, while the newer tractors would go to the main dealer as they are so modern,” Mick says.
Down through the years, Murphy Agri Hire have developed strong working relationships with local farmers and businesses, providing unrivalled agri contracting, environmental and cleaning services to an endless list of satisfied customers from co-ops to factories, producers and local authorities.
Boasting an unrivalled track record of supplying exceptional agri contracting and environmental services for 33 years and counting, Murphy Agri Hire is an industry-leading, second-generation family business that continues to lead the way, its stellar reputation for invariably offering high-quality solutions resulting in a steady stream of repeat custom and new business through positive referrals. One gets the distinct impression that there are few more chapters remaining to be written in this particular success story!
Murphy Agri Hire Ltd.,
Clontycasta,
Tydavnet,
County Monaghan.
Tel: 047 89670
Mobile: 087 3125937 / 087 2788477
Facebook: facebook.com/murphyagrihire
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 9 No 1, January/February 2021
