For coming up on three decades, Derry O’Donovan Ltd. has been serving the agricultural community across West Cork and beyond with unrivalled farm machinery and buildings solutions, backing up exceptional products with unbeatable service levels. We touched base with the affable Cork man to get an update on his industry-leading, customer-focussed, family-run operation.
There’s not a farmer or contractor in the Rebel County who hasn’t heard of Derry O’Donovan – a name synonymous with quality agri machinery and buildings, with each pice of equipment of infrastructure invariably supported by an aftersales service that has been setting the standard for 28 years now.
From its base in Timoleague, Derry O’Donovan Ltd. provides a wonderful, comprehensive selection of agricultural machinery to cover every need and eventuality. Meanwhile, complementing the highly-respected agri machinery sales, parts and service business, all types of CE-certified farm buildings are constructed including milking parlours, dairy and beef housing units, grain stores, storage sheds, slurry storage tanks, walls, silage pits, etc. Serving the agri, commercial and industrial / warehousing markets, the team at Derry O’Donovan can design and construct entire buildings from top to bottom, including all steelwork and concrete work.
By looking after his customers, Derry has built up a loyal customer base and benefits from a large volume of repeat business. “Most of them have been with me for years and you always pick up new customers as the years go on,” he confirms. “Customers keep coming back and we look after them all as best we can. You always do your best for people. Even in boom times, you treat them right and give everybody the service and time they deserve. Last year was very tough on everybody but we worked together and got there.”
Covering a vast catchment area that incorporates Bandon, Innishannon, Cork, Macroom, Skibbereen, Clonakilty into the Castletownbere / Schull area and down into Kinsale, the business is going strong at the moment on all fronts. “It’s mostly dairy around here,” Derry relates. “The majority of the farmers I deal with are dairy, and some are dry stock, while there is good tillage land down Kinsale way as well as a bit of dairy. Dairy is getting bigger all the time with more lads getting into it and expanding their businesses.”
They say that variety is the spice of life and between machinery and sheds, Derry O’Donovan Ltd. covers a broad range of services… “That’s what people need in the countryside. With sheds and machinery, we can offer a lot of different services, often to the same customers – equipment, buildings, silage pits, concrete work, walls – a broad range of work. Building up good relationships with customers is very important. When they trust you, they will ring you for advice and we always make ourselves available to give that advice and to help out in any way we can.”
In the current economic climate, with costs and overheads skyrocketing across the board and with the price of raw materials and equipment very much on an upward trajectory, how difficult is it to give customers value for money? “It has become very hard – not just for us, but it’s hard on farmers and contactors as well. The bottom line at the moment is that they are not getting value and we are not getting value. You are pricing jobs one day and then you have more price increases and the pressure on everybody just to break even is crazy.
“The price of steel, concrete and machinery have all risen steeply. Steel sheeting, for example, has gone up from €10 per square metre to €18 inside twelve months – an 80% increase where you might only have seen a 3-4% increase previously. Increases like that are unsustainable. Everything is rising and it’s certainly problematic. We’re on a dicey road at the moment and could hit another recession overnight, because this is crazy stuff.”
Holding the prestigious Farmhand dealership for West Cork, Derry O’Donovan Ltd. is main dealer for the full range of Krone, Amazone, Quicke, APV and Zuidberg machinery as well as stocking and servicing a full range of Conor products and Smyth trailers. A wide selection of quality second-hand machinery is also stocked, with the in-house team of vastly-experienced technicians and a comprehensively-stocked parts department combining to ensure the ultimate in aftersales care.
The celebrated Krone range includes mowers, tedders, rakes, wagons and balers, while popular Amazone products include spreaders, sprayers, power harrows, seed drills and cultivators. APV is the world leader in grass seeding technology and the range includes tined grass harrows and seeders. Meanwhile, Conor manufactures slurry tankers, trailing shoes, slurry pumps, diet feeders, bale wrappers, toppers, shear grabs and bale handlers, while Smyth are renowned for the quality of their silage trailers and dump trailers.
Exceptional workmanship and service contribute enormously to the ongoing success and popularity of Derry O’Donovan Ltd.: “In any business, that’s what keeps you there,” the eponymous founder / proprietor continues. “You rely on your staff and I’m only as good as those who help me along. I’m very fortunate to have experienced men here who have been with me for years and I really appreciate their loyalty because it’s very hard to get good lads now. My wife Moira contributed hugely to the business down through the years. She invested a lot into the business and stood by me and helped build it up. Our daughter Aoife (16) is very involved today and she loves it, while Margaret and Kenneth do a great job in the office, keeping on top of things.”
It certainly isn’t the conventional 9-5 business model… “You have to be in a position to offer your customers 24/7 service if they need it,” Derry confirms. “When somebody calls us afterhours or on a Sunday, we will do our best for them. When the heavy grass season starts, you could have 20 such calls in quick succession and you have to be ready and prepared to do your best. Last year the silage season went across three long weekends and it was crazy. Everybody was on hand to work together. Farmers and contractors are under immense pressure for those three weekends. They really are great men and we wouldn’t survive without them. There is no other industry where people will invest so much money for a month’s work.”
Having grown up on a family farm, Derry understands implicitly the needs of farmers and contractors. Further maintaining that proud family tradition, his brother runs a 2,500-sow pig unit next door. “We’re trying to do something better every year, to keep active and to continue looking after our customers,” he notes. “Even though costs keep rising and you seem to be doing more work now for the same money or less, you keep going and keep providing a service.”
At the heart of the business is proven, industry-leading products from internationally-renowned brand names. “Krone is a great brand, as are Amazone, Conor and Smyth. We are selling the machines as fast as we can get them. When you have a good product, it’s easy to sell. People want them and demand is strong because they are good products that perform efficiently and hold their value.
“We get very good trade-ins, too. Farmers are also very particular about their second-hand machinery – and rightly so. We check everything and make sure it is fully-serviced and working perfectly before we let it out. We put it through our workshop rigorously and that’s a huge part of our work. New machines are obviously more straightforward and we get great back-up from our suppliers – from Farmhand in Dublin, Smyth Trailers in Carlow and Conor Engineering in Clare – all family-owned businesses providing excellent back-up service. They want to grow and you grow with them and it’s one big partnership.”
Supplementing this brisk trade in agri machinery, the sheds / buildings / structural steel / concrete work aspect of the business is also going strong. “Whatever the customer wants we can provide, from a full turnkey cattle shed, storage shed or milking parlour to an industrial unit, we can do everything from start to finish. We also do concrete works – yards, shuttering tanks, walls, slurry tanks – and groundworks. We’d be at that all year, it never stops.”
Derry O’Donovan Ltd. has been looking after the needs of the farming community in West Cork for 28 years already and, judging by the founder’s enthusiasm to continue providing the best-possible products and service, there are a few more chapters remaining to be written in this particular success story.
Derry O’Donovan Ltd. (Machinery & Buildings),
Cooligboy,
Timoleague,
County Cork.
Tel: 023 8846053
Fax: 023 8846869
Mobile: 087 2680775
Email: [email protected]
Web: derryodonovanmachinery.ie
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 3, May/June 2022
