Celebrating 15 years in business, Brendan Byrd Agri Contractors in Co Cavan continues to grow from strength to strength in the industry. Irish Tractor & Agri spoke to the man himself to find out all about the business and his impressive fleet of New Holland tractors.
Starting up on your own is no easy feat, but Brendan Byrd has always had a knack for making the difficult things look easy.
Born and bred in Kilnaleck in Co Cavan, Brendan and his family have been running Brendan Byrd Agricultural Contractors since 2001 and, so far, they’ve been making a success of it, with the company have grown year on year since its inception.
Brendan has been involved in farming all of his working life, with both land and cattle of his own, and when the time came he felt it was right to step out and start up an agri contracting outfit of his own.
It’s a decision he hasn’t looked back from, as the busy times are set to get a whole lot busier again now for him and his family, with the summer months around the corner once again.
“We’re based in Drumbee, Kilnaleck in Co Cavan and we’d be officially set-up since 2001,” explained Brendan.
“We have three full-time staff working here which includes my sons Jamie and Gavin and also Cathal Traynor, and in the summer time we’d take on extra lads to help out with the grass cutting and that.”
Brendan Byrd Agri Contractors is far from a seasonal business, however. The range of different services in which they provides sees them kept busy all year round, with digger work one of the main aspects of the business during the winter time.
When Brendan first set-up the business in 2001, he took plenty into consideration; including how to keep an agri outfit ticking over 12 months of the year.
Looking back on it now, he is happy with the decision to offer his customers all the different aspects of agri contracting.
“We do everything related to agri contracting. From silage to slurry spreading, ploughing and digging. Anything to do with agri, we do it,” Brendan confirmed.
“Up until now we were on a sewer job in Cavan town. P&S Civil Works are the main contractors on it for which I have been employed by for the past 30 years.”
Gaining contract work for 18 months with an outfit like P&S Civil Works is a far cry from when Brendan first started up his outfit with a lone tractor.
Indeed he started he started off small before developing the company into an business which caters for the requirements of numerous farmers within the local region, while also offering a digger service for the likes of building contractors and other outfits.
“Basically when I started off it was with one tractor back in 2000,” Brendan explained. “I bought the tractor and started spreading slurry and cut about 700 acres then after that and from there it just kept getting bigger and bigger. After a while, I got into the digger work and it has been a real benefit to us during the winter.
“I also recently bought a McHale F5500 and changed the harvester as well; I’ve a new one sitting in Ronnie Martin’s in Bailieborough that I’ve yet to take out.”
It all points to busy times for Brendan and his family, but he concedes that the most hectic time of the year is now right around the corner.
“Business at the moment is grand,” said the Cavan native. “Right now we’re concentrating on re-seeding and building up to the summer months when it will be all silage cutting and baling.
“Next month (June) the grass starts again and that will put everything into overdrive, but that’s the way we like it.”
He added: “The last two summers were quite damp but we got through them. We’re busy now again so hopefully the rain stays off and we have a bit of consistent weather so we’re not rushing to get everything cut in a short space of time.”
Along with that, Brendan has his own farm to look after but he’s happy to be kept preoccupied by both duties.
“I have 60 acres myself and 30 acres rented and we have around 100 head of cattle. We were milking 50 cows there this evening, so you could imagine having the silage to do on top of that,” he pointed out.
“Like I said, from now until September will be crazy and the baling keeps it going until all hours sometimes and that’s just what you have to do when you’re in this line of work.”
As for the fleet he operates with, Brendan tends to stick with the New Holland brand when it comes to his tractors, as he feels they’re very reliable.
While he jokes that “the buying is over for now”, down through the years Brendan has never been afraid to invest in his fleet and his top class machinery is another reason why his clientele come to him first ahead of his competitors.
“I’ve a T-70 40, a T 7210, a JCB 320, a TM 140 and a TM120,” he stated.
“John Deere would be the brand that we hire when we do hire. We also have 16-foot trailers and 2,000 gallon tankers. There’s an EX 135 Hitachi there as well.”
Concluding, Brendan gave his assessment as to why he feels his customers have stuck with him over the past 15 years.
“All of our customers would be local,” he confirmed. “I think they come to us because we give a good service and when I say I’ll be there at such a time, I’ll be there.
“I think you need to offer that kind of reliability to make it in this kind of work. We have good machinery too, which is always a help, and carry out a professional service.”
What more could you ask for than that?
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 5, June 2016
