From his base in Moycullen, Ultan Curran has been delivering unrivalled agricultural contracting services since 1993. With a vast range of specialist machinery at his disposal and a wealth of expertise of both agri and plant / construction, the popular Galway contractor also provides a host of other exceptional services under the Curran Plant & Agri banner.
Curran Plant & Agri is a long-established family business synonymous with consistently delivering top-class agri contracting and plant hire services. Like his father before him and his brothers also, founder and hands-on proprietor Ultan Curran has a deep love and understanding of machinery and how to use it – an appreciation and passion that have been instrumental in the growth and popularity of the business for more than three decades and counting.
“This is my 32nd summer baling silage,” notes a proud Ultan, who has enjoyed immeasurable help and support in building up Curran Plant & Agri from his wife Lisa, eldest daughter Jenna and twins Gavin and Jane. “I started baling silage in 1993 when I was only 18 and went into slurry spreading the following year. I then got a digger – my father and brothers had diggers before me – and I built the business up from there.”
From the humblest of beginnings, Ultan has developed the family business into one of the premier agri contracting and plant hire specialists in the Moycullen area, establishing a reputation for being able to tackle and complete literally any job around a farm, garden or site.
He started out with a Zetor 8145 tractor and a Welger RP12 baler and today runs a fleet of six tractors – a Deutz 6185, Deutz M620, Fendt 716, Fendt 820, Case 110 and a classic Renault which keeps Gavin busy.
As well as baling silage with a pair of McHale 5500s and a Fusion 3, splash plate slurry, power harrowing, Ultan runs a rock splitter and specialises in hard-rock excavation – drilling and splitting large bodies of rock that 50-60-tonne diggers can’t break. “We also have four Volvo dump trucks, which are mainly for self-drive hire, and have track machines from 3 tonne up to 50 tonne.”
Generally, the agri contracting is provided within a 15-20-mile radius and so dependable is the service that Ultan still works for many of the farmers he started out with in 1993. As a lot of the terrain in the area is hilly and / or boggy, sucklers and sheep are popular here but there’s a healthy mix of farmlands and enterprise.
“A McHale baler would slide through anything,” says Ultan. “The first McHale I got was a 550 and I kept it for 14 years and have stuck with McHale ever since. It was baler serial number 78 off the production line that year and I just find that they are extremely durable and built to last. Before that, we used to only get about three years out of a baler. After the RP12, I got a new RP200 and ran a few RP200s but I’ve never looked back since switching to McHale.”
As for the key to delivering an excellent contracting business, Ultan says it’s all about providing a dependable service and being there when you are needed. There’s never any downtime and all the machinery is maintained in tip-top condition at all times. “We do most of the maintenance and repairs ourselves. McHale do the Fendts for us and Steve Molloy Truck & Plant Services does a bit of repairs, too, but outside of that we do the rest of the servicing and repairs.”
The varied nature of the work means that Ultan and Gavin are kept busy all year around. “The hard rock excavation and splitting keeps us fairly busy and you could be doing that on building sites or for slatted sheds or tanks – there’s good demand for that service in both agri and construction,” the Galway man notes.
“I went into crushing stone initially when buying my first stone crusher in England and did that from 1999 up until ’08, before my brother Niall then took over that business [Moycullen Crushing Services Ltd.]. Niall started with me driving a baler and now runs three or four track crushers.
“Indeed, I’ve had a lot of young lads starting with me who have since gone on to start up their own businesses. Off the top of my head, I can think of four young lads who started with me driving a wrapper and they all went on to buy their own machinery and start their own businesses. This is great to see – as far as I’m concerned, there’s always enough work for everybody. There’s always work to do if a man is prepared to work.”
From crushing and screening to topsoil, stone, sand and gravel, concrete, log splitting, engineering work [Ultan left school at 16 and went straight into welding], there’s pretty much nothing that Curran Plant & Agri can’t or won’t do. Every job is invariably finished to the very highest standards and that’s why this outstanding family business continues to thrive and grow from strength to strength…
“From a personal point of view, at the age of 50, I’m happy enough with my lot,” Ultan concludes. “The young lad will be 18 in a couple of years and it’s all about the next generation now. In time, he can decide whether or not he wants to expand or grow the business.
“My brothers Niall, Sean and Eamonn are all into plant hire and I kept going in the agri, too. We’ve all worked hard and it’s been good. Personally, I’d have an awful lot of time for farmers. They are great people and I’ve enjoyed working with them over the years.
“As time goes on it’s sad to see so many of them passing away and to see some of those farms falling by the wayside with the city expanding out into areas where farmers used to be.
“But, at the same time, there are a lot of the farms being kept on, with the younger generations coming through, and I’d like to think that living off the land will always remain a way of life for Irish people.”
Curran Plant & Agri,
Moycullen ,
County Galway.
Tel: 087 260 3745
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 3, September/October 2024
