With a magnificent fleet of fresh and immaculately-maintained machinery at his disposal, Mayo man Noel Kelly provides unrivalled agri contracting and plant hire solutions to an ever-growing list of satisfied customers. We travelled to Breaffy and spoke to Noel and his wife Maria about the range of services offered to the local community by this exceptional family-run business.
Serving the farming community throughout County Mayo and the wider construction sector across Connacht, Noel Kelly & Sons is synonymous with high-quality, client-focussed agri contracting and plant hire solutions. The genesis of the business dates back a decade and a half to 2007, when the eponymous Noel started out as a sole trader offering digger work and agri contracting services to local farmers, with Noel Kelly & Sons Plant Hire Ltd. incorporated as a limited company two years ago.
Considering the times that were in it, setting up a business in ’07 was a brave move but it is one that has paid off for the hard-working Mayo contractor – an unassuming man who runs the business in a hands-on fashion and likes nothing better than rolling up his sleeves and looking after customer needs.
Casting her mind back 15 years, Noel’s wife Maria, who runs the business alongside him, reflects: “He took a big gamble investing in that first digger in 2007 as we were heading into a recession. It was a brave move when things were bad. Noel’s thinking was that he wanted to generate work for himself and that first digger certainly kept him in work.
“Back then, he was doing private work for a loyal customer base around the Castlebar / Breaffy area. Those customers were there for him when there was no construction work and, while the business has grown a lot since then, this would not have been possible without the support of those early customers, many of whom Noel still works for today.”
As an agri contractor, Noel has an innate understanding of the needs of his customers as he hails from a farming background himself. As he has been farming and driving machinery all his life, it was almost inevitable that he would get involved in this line of work. Noel initially started working out of the home yard in Moyhenna, Breaffy – where he currently oversees a dry stock enterprise with 130 cattle – and, even though the company is registered to the family home / office address in Foxford, up to 90% of his agri customers are located within relatively close proximity to the original home farm.
Providing fast, efficient and value-added slurry spreading, pit silage and hedge cutting services to a large customer base, Noel operates a stunning fleet of agricultural machinery. At the heart of the agri contracting fleet are five Case tractors, purchased from local dealer Castlebar Farm Machinery.
“They provide me with a great service and their main fitter is a next-door neighbour of mine,” notes Noel, with regard to his affiliation to the Case marque. “I’d generally replace one of the tractors every couple of years. I bought a new Puma last year and will be looking at adding another new one pretty soon. It’s important to keep them fresh and to service them regularly. I also have an older Fiat 11090, which has been well looked after and is as good as any tractor I’ve owned.”
Noel carries out some maintenance and repair work himself and also enlists the help of local mechanic Diarmuid Callaghan to ensure that all the equipment is firing on all cylinders at all times.
The tractors are supplemented by three slurry tankers and an umbilical pipe system with trailing shoe as well as a single-chop harvester, power harrow, Bomford hedge cutter and saw head, and of course a selection of diggers, dump trailers and low loaders. The diggers are also widely used in the plant hire side of the business, where Noel provides both private work and also contract work, for which he has been contracted to Will Bros since 2013 and Mayo-based Michael O’Malley Tarmacadam Contractors for the past three years.
On the plant hire front, the Mayo man runs four Hitachi 130 excavators and one Hitachi 210. This year he took possession of a brand-new Hyundai 55 rubber duck and two new Kubota diggers. In addition to the aforementioned contracts with Wills and Michael O’Malley Tarmacadam, he always has one or two diggers on private work – clearing land and scrub, drainage, site clearance, groundworks, etc.
At the time of writing, ongoing infrastructure projects included the major N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project, which is a joint venture between Wills and BAM. While excellent machinery is a prerequisite for providing both agri contracting and plant hire services, the equipment would be of little use without good men to operate it. To this end, Noel is delighted to have so many great drivers and operators in his crew:
“We have 18 lads in total here at present and I couldn’t speak highly enough of them,” he reveals. “They are all good lads and you won’t do very much without good men around you. I’ve also had great support from my family over the years and that has been very important in making a success of the business.”
Indeed there is another generation of Kelly’s coming up in the form of Noel and Maria’s children Darragh (6), Shane (2) and a baby girl Ella (10 months) who someday may be involved in the business. Indeed the two lads are already machinery mad.
The Mayo man goes out of his way to invariably provide optimal service levels and dependability / customer care have contributed enormously to the success of Noel Kelly & Sons. “When you tell somebody that you are going to be there at 8am, then you should be there at 8am and not at ten-past,” he notes. “It’s all about giving a good, reliable service and being good to your word.”
Continuous investment ensures that the fleet is constantly expanding and improving and Noel is pleased to report that 2021 was his busiest year to date. “I’m happy at the size I’m at right now, however, and will continue to provide all my customers with a good service,” the personable agri contractor concludes. A man of few words, Noel Kelly is more than happy to instead let his outstanding work do the talking!
Noel Kelly & Sons Plant Hire Ltd.,
Corlummin,
Foxford,
County Mayo.
Tel: 087 7794643
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 3, May/June 2022
