There are many agricultural contractors throughout Ireland and all are currently working 24/7 during these summer months.
The roads are awash with tractors and trailers, silage harvesters, balers as contractors look to get the work done as efficiently and as quickly as possible.
Time is of the essence for farmers as given the volatile nature of the Irish climate, they only have a small window to get their work done.
These few months are critical to farmers as it sees the feed being produced for their livestock for the winter time and they need someone they can trust to carry out the work.
That is why many farmers stick to what they know best in regards to contractors, although loyalty would go out the window if it was found that a contractor wasn’t doing the job to their liking.
It is essential for Agricultural Contractors to have the best of machinery available to them for a number of reasons including the fact that modern machinery can get through so much more work than its predecessors, while downtime is a word contractors never want to use. Having a top of the range fleet reduces the chances of breakdowns significantly and that is what farmers like to hear.
For this month’s edition of Irish Tractor, we profile Galway based Agricultural Contractor Raymond Moloney who tells us how he got into this game and he reveals that putting the customer first is always their priority.
Raymond Moloney Plant & Agri Hire was established in 2000 and its customer base has continuously grown over the years, while the majority of customers are repeat custom.
“I come from a farming background. We farmed dry stock, sheep and tillage. My father Michael would do a bit of contracting locally most round baling and wrapping,” said Raymond.
“I decided to start up myself in 2000 and mainly I focus on round baling and wrapping, slurry and some tillage work. Dad would still be involved and does a bit of square baling. Many of the customers that I had when I started out would be still with me, while the customer base has grown a good bit over the years.
“The customers would be within a 15-mile radius of our home place in Monivea, Co Galway, which means during peak season, we can get from farm to farm very quickly.”
Raymond acknowledges the fact that time is everything when the work has to be done and they are willing to put in long hours in order to meets the farmers’ demands.
“Coming from a farming background, we understand the farmers’ needs. We know that during the summer period, we have to work for as long as possible to get the work done.
“The Irish weather is not the most predictable and when you do get a few days or a week of sun, then everyone is looking for you at the one time, so you have to get to each as quickly as possible, which is never the easiest, but we manage.”
To do this, Raymond revealed that he has a modern fleet of machinery, which is upgraded on a regular basis in order to maintain their high standards.
“We have a decent fleet here all of which is relatively new, while we bought a new Claas this year from Quigley’s who are main dealers and offer a very good service. The New Holland came from W.R Shaw, while the Fendt was bought in McHales.”
Raymond employs two people full time, and then another two part-timers are brought in for the summer as they focus on baling for the few months.
“Last year, we baled 14,800 round bales. We bought a new McHale Fusion 3 baler and that helped has made some difference to us. There is also a big demand for square bales down here and in 2013, we actually baled 7,000 of them. We use a baler that is actually 30 years old now, for baling square bales. We keep it well maintained and it is still working as well as it was when my father first bought it.”
Raymond added that they did the majority of their own maintenance and it stressed that this was an essential part of the business.
“Any chance we would get, the machinery would be brought in and checked over. If something needs to be done, we will do it there and then. You can’t be breaking down on the job, that’s the last thing a farmer wants to see. We upgrade the machinery on every year or so, you have to these days in order to keep up with the workload.”
For the tillage work, Raymond operates a 1997 Claas Dominator, which was purchased a few years back, and is still going strong today. The winter months are obviously a quieter period, but that is when slurry and agitating took over, although the ban of spreading slurry during the winter month’s doesn’t help.
“We would do a lot of reseeding work also. We have a disc power harrow and a plough for this type of work and it is a big part of our business.”
Raymond also provides tractor and dump trailer hire, which is generally used during the latter stages of the year also.
“I’m happy enough with the workload that we have at the minute and as long as our customers are happy then we must be doing something right.”
Raymond Moloney Plant & Agri Hire,
Belleville,
Monivea,
Co Galway.
Mob: 087-2976718
e-mail: [email protected]
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 8, September 2015
