Operating out of Tullogher in County Kilkenny, Cotterell Agri is an industry-leading, second-generation agricultural contracting business fronted by brothers John and Steve Cotterell. The Cotterells have been delivering unbeatable services for coming up on half a century and, with the former being an All-Ireland ploughing champion, farmers know they are in good hands!
All-Ireland intermediate champion in 2024, John Cotterell competed in the senior grade at this year’s National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, County Offaly, during the third week of September. With more than 225,000 visitors travelling through the gates across the three days, the 2025 ploughing championships were a resounding success, highlighting the incredible power of rural Ireland.
As a man with an inherent passion for all things farming and machinery related, Kilkenny farmer / contractor John was delighted to be there: “Winning the intermediate All-Ireland at last year’s ploughing championships was massive as that qualified me to compete in the senior competition this year and also to plough for Ireland in the Five Nations in Armagh on September 26th and 27th,” he notes.
“Look, you are competing at the top level now and that’s where you want to be. The aim at the ploughing championships this year, competing in senior, was to finish in the Top Ten on the Wednesday – then you go again on the Thursday and plough in the test match.”
Nothing is easily won in a ploughing match, where competitors always come up against the best of the best here in Ireland: “Competition in Ireland is absolutely ferocious,” John confirms. “Then again, I’ve been consistently ploughing against most of these lads in local ploughing matches as, being based in Kilkenny, you are beside Carlow, Wexford and Laois, which are all very strong counties. I tend to compete well against them, so you are always confident, although the stars need to align too and you need to get a bit of luck on the day…”
Competitive ploughing is a big tradition in the Cotterell family. John and Steve’s dad, Eamonn, who set up the contracting business in 1980, used to do it and, despite being only seven years old, John’s son – also named Eamonn – already has sourced his own plough!
As for the difference between ploughing on a farm and ploughing in a competition, John notes: “The basics of it are obviously the same but the technical side of it is savage and you are down to millimetres. You also need to be very precise with the speed you are travelling at as that affects the way you are working.
“When you are ploughing any land, you are trying to prepare it as best you can for next year’s sowing, by burying the rubble and having a good seed bed to work with. There’s a lot in it and you have to have an eye for it, but one other thing I’d say is if that if you can’t go straight the you won’t do much ploughing!”
Ploughing of course is a small part of the family business, with Cotterell Agri providing a full range of contracting services to local farmers, also including pit and baled silage, slurry spreading, sowing, grain harvesting, lime spreading and fertiliser spreading.
There have been significant upgrades to both the farming and contracting sides of the business in recent years. “We’re expanding the whole time,” says John. “Steve and I bought a 75-acre farm in 2023 and have just added another 15 acres. We’re now farming 800 acres in total – 250 acres of corn, 20 acres of maize and the rest is silage and grazing ground for our own cows.
“The dairy herd now is 375-380 and we also have 70 replacement heifers and the same with calves. We’re keeping 40 beef cattle now as well, so it keeps moving forward. When you are running a farm, you are upgrading, investing and working all the time. The dairy is going very well at the minute and prices are good.
“Contracting is going well also, and there’s a lot of work there to be done. We cut a lot of silage and we’re kept very busy all year around. As well as myself and Steve, we have two more men full-time and then seasonal guys who come in during the spring and summer. Dad is 78 now but he still does plenty of work and we’d be lost without him.”
The tractor fleet comprises five John Deeres (including two 6155Ms, a 6R25 and a new 6M155 with front loader purchased this year) as well as a new Fendt 720 bought last month and two New Hollands (T7 and T5).
A new Claas Jaguar 870 harvester was also added this year, while the silage outfit also includes Claas butterfly mowers, a brand-new Volvo 190H loader, a 22-foot Smyth trailer, two 20-foot RedRock trailers, three 20-foot Smyth trailers, a Claas Linteer 280 rake and a John Deere combi round baler.
The other combines are Claas (Medion 340, Lexion 530), while a 3000-gallon Abbey slurry tank with 7-metre tailing shoe, 2-500-gallon RedRock slurry tank with 7-metre trailing shoe, Richard Western 4200 rear-discharge dung spreader and Bredal K45 lime spreader look after slurry, dung and lime spreading.
For tillage, the four- and five-furrow Kverneland reversible ploughs, Horsche Joker 6RT 6-metre trailed disc harrow, Simba 5-metre trailed disc harrow, Maschio 3-metre rotavator and ring roller have been complemented by the addition this year of a new ELHO Scorpio stone picker.
“We got the stone picker from Kelly’s of Borris and it’s a great machine. We’ve done a lot of work with it,” John enthuses.
“Machinery is getting bigger all the time because there’s more work to do and less time to do it in, so you need more horsepower. That’s the way it is in farming today.
“But we’re very thankful for what we have and it’s going well. It’s a family business and we all pull together. My wife Cathleen, who is an accountant, looks after the financial side of things for both the farming and the contracting – and she makes a big contribution. Sometimes you need that practical voice there to ask the challenging questions so that we can thoroughly weigh our options and come to the best decision possible. Steve’s wife Mary is a great help also- there’s always food or machinery parts needed so everyone chips in together.
“With the system we’re in, we are so busy that the tractors are all new and kept under warranty, so we don’t have to worry about breakdowns, repairs, etc. We know exactly what a tractor will cost over three years or five years. Having Cathleen there to look after the numbers frees myself and Steve up to focus on the work, which is great, because that’s where our passion lies.”
Cotterell Agri,
Tullogher,
County Kilkenny.
Tel: 087 6890962
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cotterellagriltd
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 13 No 3, Winter 2025
