Based just outside of Roscommon Town, Naughton Farm Machinery is a family-run business which offers its customers a comprehensive range of agri services. Irish Tractor & Agri touched base with director Enda Naughton to learn all about the company – from its origins to the state of business today.
These are busy times at Naughton Farm Machinery and the plan for Enda Naughton and the team situated along the racecourse road outside Roscommon Town is to try and keep things that way.
Operating with three full-time staff, and more part-time during the busy summer season, the company has been at its current premises since December 2018 when it made the move from along the Athlone Road.
Naughton Farm Machinery has been on the go since 1998, when it was set-up adjacent to the original family business – Naughton Agri Supplies.
Irish Tractor & Agri caught up with Enda Naughton recently to find out more about what is a thriving business which has been servicing agri customers in the area for decades now.
“Since we moved out here, the business has been growing and growing,” Enda outlined. “We’d usually have quiet enough months in September and October, but the last two years have been different.
“Really since the first lockdown came in March 2020, we’ve been busy all year round. It has been very good and sales of machinery in the last year have been up there with the best years that we’ve had.
“Huge changes are coming though,” he added. “The price of fertiliser is going to double and that’s going to have a huge effect.”
Indeed, the price of machinery seems to be going up and up but business remains strong nonetheless for Naughton Farm Machinery, according to Enda.
The company offers its customers excellent products from well-known brands such as Kuhn, Kverneland, NC and Tanco, while also acting as agents for SIP for close to three years now.
Summer remains the busiest period for the company – something which has been there from the beginning for Naughton Farm Machinery.
The origins of the business as a stand-alone entity date back to late 1990s, with the proprietor having sold fertiliser spreaders, transfer boxes, small mowers etc. since the early part of the decade.
An agent for SIP since 2019, Naughton Farm Machinery now stocks the complete range of grassland machinery, from superb mowers to market-leading rakes and tedders..
Eddie Naughton Agri Supplies is the original family business and has been specialising in animal feeds, chemicals, fertilisers and related products since it began trading back in 1985.
“The dairy sector is going well at the moment which is a help for machinery and sales,” he said.
“Three years ago, a mower cost roughly €20,000 and today they’re somewhere between €25,000 to €27,000. That’s no exaggeration and it shows you the difference in prices today.”
So, what has been the secret to continued success over the years for Naughton Farm Machinery? How has a small start-up grown into the tried and trusted business it is today?
For Enda, looking after the customer above all else has stood to the business over the past two-and-a-half decades.
Putting it simply, Naughton Farm Machinery “won’t leave any man stuck”.
“It’s all about looking after your customers and regardless of where a machine is bought, we will still take the call and go out there and get them going.
“The mobile phone is never switched off and anybody who has had any dealings with us will testify to that.
“We won’t leave any man stuck and the logic behind it is that if you look after all customers then, somewhere down the line, when a new mower or baler has to be bought, then they will remember you and hopefully be prepared to do business.”
You can also be sure that the Naughtons wouldn’t be selling it unless it was a good machine.
It’s something which has certainly stood to the company as well and they’re keen to continue to supply products which are top of the line for years to come.
Looking at the months ahead, Enda says he’s simply eager for more of the same.
“We just hope to go in the same trajectory that we have been going on the last few years,”
“We’re growing year on year and hopefully that can continue again in 2022,” he concluded.
Naughton Farm Machinery
Ballyboughan Business Park,
Racecourse Road,
Roscommon,
Co Roscommon
Tel: 090 662 7645
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 3, May/June 2022
