Based in Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh, D&B Hicks Agri Contracts is a leading agri contracting firm specialising in pit silage, slurry spreading and timber processing.
With customers as far south as Longford, Westmeath and Meath availing of its slurry spreading services, the family-run business is going from strength to strength. It was set up by father-and-son Barry and David Hicks in 1998 and has earned a reputation for quality, reliability and value-for-money.
“We were previously involved in the poultry industry and had 120,000 laying hens. Our farming is now confined to cutting 50 acres of silage four times a year and selling it,” David explains.
“We ran the poultry and agri contracting businesses side-by-side for a few years before deciding to concentrate exclusively on the latter. We’ve grown steadily and are now cutting 6,000 acres of pit silage and spreading 20 million gallons of slurry a year in eight different counties. We have some great customers and pride ourselves on our top-class service. We treat every job as if it was for ourselves and know exactly what the requirements of our customers are.”
Offering complete customer satisfaction, D&B Hicks Agri Contracts has a wide range of machinery to carry out your work quickly and efficiently, providing you with an alternative to investing in your own expensive equipment. Its success can be attributed to the knowledge, skill and expertise of its staff as well as the quality of its equipment. The Hicks team deliver the value and quality farmers expect from their agricultural contracting partner.
Employing two full-time workers and another five or six part-time at peak times, David and Barry run five New Holland tractors which are a t7.270, a t7.260, a t7.500 and two t7.200s.
“We have a good relationship with Brian Keys Tractors in Dromore, but would do most of the maintenance ourselves. All machines are maintained and repaired regularly to avoid breakdowns and downtime,” David says.
The grass machinery operated by the Hicks include a CLAAS 970 forage harvester, CLAAS butterfly mowers, CLAAS front and side mower, a Case 721 loading shovel with 16ft Redrock buck rake, four Donnelly 18ft silage trailers, two Redrock 20ft silage trailers, a CLAAS 2900 rake, a CLAAS 3600 rake and a CLAAS Volto 800 tedder.
“You can’t beat CLAAS,” David insists.
“They’re the best of the best and have a good trade-in value.”
In terms of slurry equipment, the father-and-son run two Redrock 4,500-gallon tankers, a SlurryKat 3,500-gallon tanker, a new SlurryKat 3,000-gallon tanker, a SlurryKat umbilical system with 9m dribble bar (soon to be upgraded to 12m), a Doda HD35 slurry pump and two Redrock mega flow pumps.
“We were one of the first in Northern Ireland to invest in an umbilical system. We were running 1,000m of pipe at that stage, but now we’re running 1,800m. There was no dribble bar then – it was all splash plate.”
D&B Hicks Agri Contracts’ location on the border, coupled with its impressive slurry fleet, has resulted in a demand for its services down as far as the midlands.
“There doesn’t seem to be as many contractors in Meath, Longford and Westmeath with 4,500-gallon slurry tankers or umbilical systems. We bought a set of floatation tyres a few years ago and they’re another reason why we’re getting enquiries from down there.
“It suits us to work in the south because those counties I’ve mentioned are all within a 40-mile radius of us and the slurry spreading season starts two weeks earlier on January 15. It gives us a head-start on our competitors in the north.
“The counties we have customers in are Fermanagh, Cavan, Leitrim, Tyrone, Monaghan, Meath, Westmeath and Longford.”
The decision to branch into timber processing five years ago means there is no such thing as quiet time of the year for the Erne County contractor.
“The timber work keeps us busy in the winter. It fills the gap between the end of the slurry season on October 31 and the start of the new one on January 15 (in the Republic). The summer months are taken up with silage cutting. On wet days, we often draw pig slurry for a piggery we work for,” David continues.
“We bought a timber processor after seeing an opening in the market for one of them. Between the months of September and April, we go around to farmers, cutting timber and splitting it for firewood. We cut around 5,000 tonnes of hardwood and 2,000 tonnes of softwood timber per year.”
Their timber equipment includes a Uniforest timber processor, a Uniforest log grab, Oriel tree shears, a Seppi mulcher as well as various other saws and attachments. Most of these machines are powered by a new Sany excavator which was purchased from Sleator Plant in Mallusk.
“I saw a Sany digger demonstration at the Balmoral Show and was very impressed. They’re a Chinese brand with an Isuzu engine and Kawasaki pumps. Given that it cost only half the price of a new Hitachi and comes with a five-year warranty, it was a no-brainer really. It has been put to work mulching timber for the Forestry Service among other things.
“We’re also looking to buy a woodchipper for one of the tractors. We feel it would be a good investment with the potential that exists for renewable fuels. We’re also running a JCB 536-70 telehandler for indoor silos and loading timber.”
Looking to the future, David intends to expand his silage cutting service into the midlands, invest in a digester and grow his customer-base further. He is grateful for the support he receives from his mother Hazel, who looks after the bookkeeping, his wife Joanne, children DJ (nine), Chelsea (eight) and Stephen (three), not to mention his father and business partner, Barry.
David and Barry would like to take this opportunity to thank their clients and suppliers for their loyalty and support, as well as their staff or their dedication, hard work and skill.
D&B Hicks Agri Contracts
Garvary,
Derrylin,
Co. Fermanagh,
BT 929QB.
Telephone: 078 18018350
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 2, March/April 2022
